Numerical simulation study on gas-solid flow characteristics and SO2 removal characteristics in circulating fluidized bed desulfurization tower

Circulating fluidized bed flue gas desulfurization technology is widely used in the world. The computational particle fluid dynamics (CPFD) numerical simulation method was used to study the gas-solid two-phase flow and desulfurization characteristics in the circulating fluidized bed desulfurization tower. The CPFD method is based on the MP-PIC method, which uses the stochastic particle method for the particle phase and the Euler method for the fluid phase to solve the dense particle flow. The established model was firstly verified by the experimental results of gas-solid flow field and desulfurization efficiency. Then, the effects of flue gas parameters on the flow field in the desulfurization tower and the effects of flue gas parameters, SO2 inlet concentration, and Ca/S on desulfurization efficiency were numerically simulated. An effective optimization scheme was also proposed to improve the desulfurization efficiency. The research results showed that the CPFD simulation results were in good agreement with the experimental results, which proved the reliability of the method. The particle motion state in the bed of the desulfurization tower presents a core-annular flow. As the flue gas inlet flow increased, the distribution of flue gas and particles has a serious deviation, and the desulfurization efficiency also decreased. The desulfurization efficiency will decrease with the increased of SO2 inlet concentration and increased with the increased of Ca/S. According to the distribution of SO2 concentration in the bed, three characteristic desulfurization zones can be proposed, namely, the initial mixing process zone, the high-efficiency desulfurization process zone, and the low-efficiency desulfurization process zone. Installing a baffle at the bottom of the desulfurization tower can optimize the distribution of gas-solid two-phase flow in the bed and the desulfurization efficiency.