Performance of the wide-ranging models for fluidized bed reactors

Modeling of a bubbling/turbulent fluidized bed reactor has been studied for catalytic reactions in the presence of different catalysts. The performance of the fluidized reactor has been investigated by three different hydrodynamic models: (i) simple two-phase model, (ii) dynamic two-phase model and (iii) generalized bubbling/turbulent model. It has been shown that the simple two-phase model is suitable only for slow reaction rates. The dynamic two-phase model and generalized bubbling/turbulent model are able to predict the performance of the fluidized bed reactor satisfactorily over a wide range of gas superficial velocities. The performance of the dynamic two-phase model could be further improved by choosing the proper constants. In the case of the generalized bubbling/turbulent model, a more realistic distribution function for the probability of being in the turbulent regime of fluidization would further enhance the performance of this model.