Hydrodynamic Analysis of Gas-Liquid-Liquid-Solid Reactors using the XDEM Numerical Approach

Multiphase reactors are abundantly used in many industries. Among them, few reactors
deal with four phases called gas-liquid-liquid-solid systems, which received less attention due to
their complex situation. Numerical study of such complex systems is not easy and requires loads of
computational effort. In this study, a discrete-continuous numerical model known as eXtended
discrete element method (XDEM) is proposed to investigate the hydrodynamic behaviour of fluid
phases passing through the packed bed of solid particles. This model is applied to the dripping
zone of a blast furnace. In this zone, two distinct liquid phases, namely liquid iron and slag, flow
through a pile of coke particles while exchanging momentum. In this work, besides the solid-fluid
and gas-liquid interactions, the liquid-liquid interactions are also studied and the phases' mutual
effects are discussed. In addition, a sensitivity study on the slag viscosity is performed, which
shows the importance of liquid phase properties on the system behaviour. The results evaluation
shows that the liquid iron accelerates the downward flow of the slag and the slag decelerates the
downward flow of the liquid iron phase due to the resistance force caused by their relative velocity.