Particuology 25 (2016) 5158

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Particuology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/partic

Simulation of mass balance behavior in a large-scale circulating

uidized bed reactor
Artur Blaszczuk a, , Anna Zylka a , Jacek Leszczynski b
a
Czestochowa University of Technology, Institute of Advanced Energy Technologies, Dabrowskiego 73, 42-200 Czestochowa, Poland
b
AGH University Science and Technology, Faculty of Energy and Fuels, Department of Hydrogen Energy, Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Cracow, Poland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: We determine using a compound model the inuence of the mass of granular matter on the behavior
Received 3 November 2014 of a supercritical circulating uidized bed (CFB) reactor. Population balance enables a stationary-regime
Received in revised form 10 March 2015 modeling of the mass ow of granular matter inside a CFB unit in a large-scale. The simulation includes
Accepted 9 April 2015
some important dynamic processes of gas-particle ows in uidized bed such as attrition, fragmenta-
Available online 20 July 2015
tion, elutriation, and fuel combustion. Numerical calculations with full boiler loading were performed
of operational parameters such as furnace temperature, furnace pressure, feeding materials mass ows,
Keywords:
and excess air ratio. Furthermore, three bed inventory masses were adopted as experimental variables in
Bed inventory mass
Mass ow of solids
the simulation model of mass balance. This approach enables a sensitivity study of mass ows of granular
Circulating uidized bed matter inside a CFB facility. Some computational results from this population balance model obtained for
Population mass balance model a supercritical CFB reactor are presented that show consistency with the operational data for large-scale
Sensitivity analysis CFB units.
2015 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of
Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Bed inventory mass is a very important parameter in regard
to successfully operating a circulating uidized bed (CFB) reactor.
This operational parameter inuences the heat transfer (Blaszczuk
& Nowak, 2014; Blaszczuk, Nowak, & Jagodzik, 2014; Lakatos,
Sle, & Mihlyk, 2008), the combustion process (Basu, 2006;
Myhanen & Hyppnen, 2011; Saastamoinen & Tourunen, 2012;
Scala & Chirone, 2010), and hydrodynamics (Chalermsinsuwan,
Boonprasop, Nimmanterdwong, & Piumsomboon, 2014; Qi, Zhu,
& Huang, 2008) in CFB reactors. The complex hydrodynamics and
combustion processes occurring inside a CFB boiler are very dif-
cult to model and obtain accurate numerical predictions. A few
numerical (Adamczyk et al., 2014; Nikku, Myhanen, Ritvanen,
& Hyppnen, 2014; Redemann, Hartge, & Werther, 2009; Wang,
Luo, Ni, & Cen, 2003; Yang & Gou, 2006) and experimental data
(Baszczuk, Komorowski, & Nowak, 2012) from large-scale CFB
reactors are available in the literature. According to these authors,
the bed inventory mass is one of the main parameters having an
inuence on the solids concentration prole along the height of
Corresponding author. Tel.: +48 34 32 50 933; fax: +48 34 32 50933.
E-mail address: ablaszczuk@is.pcz.czest.pl (A. Blaszczuk).
the furnace chamber and heat transfer behavior inside the fur-
nace chamber. In this instance, the authors proposed using the
population balance to model the behavior in large-scale CFB reac-
tors. Based on the simulation model, it is possible to control bed
hydrodynamics and monitor large-scale CFB boilers. Nevertheless,
previous simulations of mass balance still have some limitations
when describing the particle properties and physical/chemical pro-
cesses in CFB boilers (Yang, Yue, Xiao, Lu, & Liu, 2005). A 1D model
of a CFB boiler, which is widely used in the literature, emphasizes
some important factors that inuence the ash balance in CFB boil-
ers such as ash formation, attrition and size reduction, residence
time, and segregation in a dense bed. The model predicts only the
mass balance at different operating loads in the same boiler (Yang
et al., 2005) but does not take into account combustion processes.
The dynamic simulation model of the particle population in a CFB
combustor with an external heat exchanger is widely known. The
model enables the mass ows of solids to be calculated as well as the
corresponding particle-size distributions (PSDs) at any point inside
the combustion system (Grosschmidt, Habisreuther, & Bockhorn,
2007). In another study by Klett, Hartge, and Werther (2005), the
particle population balance for a CFB combustor was analyzed. The
population balance of particles enables the behavior of individual
particles to be taken into account during attrition and transport.
Apart from particle operation conditions and the size distribution
of particles, the residence time of particles in the CFB reactor is also

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2015.04.003
1674-2001/ 2015 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
52 A. Blaszczuk et al. / Particuology 25 (2016) 5158

Nomenclature
ar as received
A ash content in Eqs. (2) and (3) l a kind of granular material (i.e., coal, ash or lime-
Abed cross-sectional area of the bed inventory (m2 ) stone)
C parameter in Eq. (5)
dk equivalent diameter of the k-th particle class (m) Subscripts
f probability density function (m1 ) attr attrition of solids
f modied probability density function (m1 ) bed bed
l
fbed (dk ) an unknown particle distribution of the l-th granular bott discharge of bottom ash
material (m1 ) com fuel combustion
g acceleration due to gravity (m/s2 ) down recirculation of bed inventory between CFB furnace
H height of furnace (m) and return system
Hsep separator height (m) elut elutriation of bed inventory
h geometric coefcient for the cross-section of solids feed feeding
separator frag fragmentation of granular materials
l (d ) attrition rate constant of granular materials (s1 )
Kattr g gas
k
l
Kbott (dk ) discharge constant (s1 ) k particle class indicator
l
Kcom (dk ) combustion-rate constant of the k-th particle class max maximum
(s1 ) min minimum
l
Kelut (dk ) elutriation constant (s1 ) N class number
p particle
Kjl (dk ) a characteristic function of some internal processes
rebod recirculation of bottom ash
KR solid recirculation rate re recirculation of y ash
M moisture content in Eq. (3) s suspension
m total mass of mixture of granular materials (kg)
m1 , m2 ; n1 , n2 ; s1 , s2 characteristic constants in
RosinRammler function
m l (dk ) mass ow rate for the k-th particle class (kg/s) taken into account in modeling the abrasion and shrinkage of par-
mbed total uidized bed inventory mass (kg) ticles. The impact of these operational parameters was described
m l f (dk ) mass ow function of feeding process (kg/s) in detail in Klett et al. (2005) and will not be presented here.
jl (dk ) mass ow function of internal process (kg/s)
mi In this work, numerical calculations for full boiler loadings were
performed for four basic operational parameters: furnace tempera-
me jl (dk ) mass ow function of external process (kg/s) ture, furnace pressure, mass ow rate of the feeding materials, and
p mass fraction of the l-th granular material excess air ratio. Moreover, the physical (i.e., attrition, fragmenta-
RR(dk ) RosinRammler function tion, and elutriation) and chemical (i.e., fuel combustion) processes
Rrur a vortex diameter (m) that mainly occur in CFB reactors were taken into account. The key
sac coefcient for accumulation function (m1 ) objective of this work was to use three different levels of bed inven-
Umf minimum uidization velocity (m/s) tory masses, which were considered as experimental parameters
U0 supercial gas velocity (m/s) in the simulation model of mass balance. This approach enables a
Ut terminal velocity (m/s) sensitivity study to be performed of mass ows of solids inside a
SA/PA secondary air to primary air ratio large-scale CFB facility.
Tbed furnace temperature (K)
Qb thermal power (kW) Description of population balance model
Wdc lower heating value (LHV) (kJ/kg)
V volume (m3 ) The approach taken in modeling a supercritical CFB reactor
V g gas stream volumetric ow rate through compact assumes the transport of granular matter between the combus-
separator (m3 /h) tion chamber and the return leg. The population balance takes into
Xb CFB reactors load account the dynamics of gas-particle ows (e.g., attrition, fragmen-
Xl mass fraction of the l-th granular material in total tation, and elutriation) and combustion processes. The quantities
mass in the CFB system occurring in the bed inventory are a result of the mass ows of the
x ratio feeding materials (i.e., fuel, sorbent, and ash obtained from burned
Z height above the air distributor (m) fuel) and of the two solids exiting the CFB facility (specically, bot-
tom ash and the y ash). In our study, the simulation assumes the
Greek symbols particles are spherical and classies all particles in terms of their
drag a function described by Bis (2010) mean size (Blaszczuk, Leszczynski, & Nowak, 2013). This partition-
dk length of the k-th particle class (m) ing is necessary to obtain balance formulae for a given particle class.
b CFB reactor efciency In the current approach, the balance equations take into account the
p pressure drop (kPa) external and internal processes occurring in the CFB reactor. These
 density (kg/m3 ) two groups of processes depend on the unknown distribution of
particles which depends on the mutual coupling between feed-
Superscripts ing, and the external and internal processes. An internal process
ac accumulation is a process involving transitions between classes of particles; see
ad air dried basis Leszczynski (2013) for details. External processes are responsible
for changes in the quantitative features of the particle distribution.
For each distinct particle class of solids considered (i.e., fuel, sor-
bent, ash from burnt out fuel) balancing equations are established
 A. Blaszczuk et al. / Particuology 25 (2016) 5158 53

for the external processes using mathematical difference equations

(Lakshmikantham & Trigiante, 2002):

jl (dk ) = m
me lfeed (dk ) m
lelut (dk ) + m
ldown (dk ) m
lbott (dk )

lcom (dk ) + m
m lre (dk ) + mlrebod (dk )

lfrag (dk+1 ) m
m lfrag (dk )
+ dk
dk

lattr (dk+1 ) m
m lattr (dk )
+ dk = 0 (1)
dk

In this balance equation, subscripts feed, elut, down, bott, com,

re, rebod, frag, and attr signify feeding, elutriation of the bed
inventory, circulation of the bed inventory between the CFB furnace
and the return system, discharge of bottom ash, fuel combustion,
recirculation of y ash, recirculation of bottom ash, fragmenta-
tion of granular materials, and attrition of solids, respectively.
Superscript l index indicates the three granular materials, namely,
bituminous coal as a main fuel, ash obtained from burned coal, and
limestone as sorbent. Subscript k enumerates the particle classes
and subscript j denotes the number for both external and internal
processes. Moreover, the parameter dk denotes the length of the
k-th particle class.
The balancing equations take into account the characteristics of
the CFB facility. A sketch of a supercritical CFB reactor with a capac-
ity of 966 MWth is shown in Fig. 1; a precise description is given
(Baszczuk et al., 2012; Blaszczuk et al., 2013; Baszczuk, Nowak, &
Jagodzik, 2013).
Some fundamental equations, Eqs. (2)(9), for the external pro-
cesses used in the population balance are given in Table 1. However,
formulae needed for estimating several factors (i.e., elutriation con-
stant, discharge constant, combustion constant, and attrition rate)
and also the thermal properties of typical ue gas of a coal-red u- Fig. 1. Sketch of the 966-MWth supercritical CFB reactor indicating certain basic
idized bed can be found in (Basu, 2006; Bis, 1991; Blaszczuk et al., processes.
2013; Ghadiri & Zhang, 2002; Leszczynski, 2013; Tomeczek, 1992;
Wirth, 1991; Zhang & Ghadiri, 2002) and will not be given here. supercritical CFB reactor. In our work, mbed is calculated using the
The CFB reactor was operated under stationary conditions with- semi-empirical formula (Howard, 1989):
out recirculation of the bottom ash and y ash into the furnace
mbed (p g )g
chamber. Therefore, the following components of the balancing pbed = (10)
p Abed
Eq. (1), m lre (dk ) and m
lrebod (dk ), are not taken into account in the
simulation mass balance model. In Eqs. (6)(9), the total uidized where pbed is the pressure drop inside the furnace chamber, mbed
bed mass mbed is estimated from the pressure data (i.e., pres- the mass of the bed inventory, p the bed particle density, g the
sure drop pbed ) inside the furnace chamber of the CFB reactor uidizing gas density, Abed the cross-sectional area of the bed inven-
which were established during performance tests of the 966-MWth tory, and g the gravitational acceleration.

Table 1
Formulation of balance equations for external processes.

External processes Formula

Xb Qb f
Feeding process 1 (dk ) =
mf Af (dk )dk for ash (2)
b Wdc 1
Xb Qb f
2 (dk ) =
mf (1 A M)Af2 (dk )dk for coal (3)
b Wdc
f
mf s f3 (dk )dk
3 (dk ) = m for sorbent (4)
   
2C 2 Hsep
Recirculation of bed inventory ldown (dk ) = m
m lelut (dk ) 1 exp h (5)
2
drag Rnur V g
Elutriation m l
lelut (dk ) = Xl mbed Kelut l
(dk )fbed (dk )dk (6)
Discharge lbott (dk ) = Xl mbed Kbott
m l l
(dk )fbed (dk )dk (7)
Combustion m l
lcom (dk ) = Xl mbed Kcom l
(dk )fbed (dk )dk (8)
Attrition lattr (dk ) = Xl mbed Kattr
m l l
(dk )fbed (dk )dk (9)
54
The unknown PSD of the l-th granular material is a non-linear
function calculated using the following expression:
j (dk ) + m
mf lattr (dk+1 ) + m
lattr (dk )
l
fbed (dk ) =
Xl mbed dk ((1 s )Kelut
l
(dk ) + Kbott
l
(dk ) + Kcom
l
(dk ) + Kattr
l
Here, m lattr (dk ) denotes the mass ow for the accumulation pro-
cess and is calculated using the following formulae:
lattr (dk ) = 0 for k > hj
m
hj+1
exp
sac dk
j
lattr (dk )
m = hj lattr (dk )(1 xjac ) for k hj
m
sac dk
k=1
exp j
N1
where sjac
is the coefcient for the accumulation function
introduced by Leszczynski (2013).
For the dense region in a CFB furnace, the total mass of particu-
late solids within the bed (i.e., fuel, ash, and sorbent) is the sum of
three components:
mbed = ml = mc + ma + ms
l=c,a,s
where mc denotes the mass of fossil fuel within the bed, ma the
mass of ash in the bed inventory, and ms the mass of limestone in
the bed. The mass fraction of the l-th granular material within the
bed is calculated using:
Vl
Xl =
Vbed
where Vl denotes the l-th solid volume in the bed and Vbed the bed
volume estimated based on the bed height in the dense region of
the furnace chamber and the cross-sectional area of the bed inven-
tory. In this study, the bed height for the dense region inside the
furnace chamber Hbed = 0.47 m and the cross-sectional area of the
bed inventory Abed equals 292.5 m2 .
Performance test on supercritical CFB reactor
A performance test was necessary to validate the impact of the
mass of the granular matter in simulations modeling the behavior of
a large-scale supercritical CFB facility. The study was performed for
a supercritical CFB reactor with a capacity of 966 MWth , located at
the Tauron Generation S.A. Lagisza Power Plant, Poland. This reactor
has a height of 48.0 m and a cross-sectional area has 27.6 m 10.6 m
in the transport zone, where the heat transfer surfaces in form of
the membrane water-walls are located. The uidization grid with
nozzles for primary air is on the bottom of the combustion cham-
ber, whereas secondary air nozzles are located at three levels above
the grid in the two sidewalls. The CFB reactor design incorporates
altogether eight INTREXTM heat exchangers, one for each solids sep-
arator. Furthermore, the CFB steam generator contains a furnace
and a low-temperature ue-gas heat recovery system. The solids
separators are arranged in parallel, four separators on two opposite
walls of the furnace. The separators are formed of membrane walls
which are covered with a thin refractory lining of high heat con-
ductivity and are resistant to erosion. The INTREXTM integrated heat
exchanger is located in the furnace and serves to extract heat from
the hot circulating material that is returned from the separator, or
solids taken directly from the lower part of the furnace.
The performance test was carried out with a maximum-
continuous-rating (MCR) load of 100% to investigate the effect of
bed inventory mass in simulations of population balance. Four mea-
surement series under stable operation conditions lasting 8 h were
conducted. In this work, as condential commercial information is
A. Blaszczuk et al. / Particuology 25 (2016) 5158
(11)
(dk ))
(12)
(13)
Fig. 2. Temperature distribution inside the furnace chamber of a supercritical CFB
reactor.
(14) included, some process data used in testing are given in dimen-
sionless scale and normalized by the maximum value of furnace
data. The furnace data such as temperature and pressure were
recorded by an ADAM-6000 data acquisition system (Advantech
Equipment Corporation, Taiwan, China) located between 0.2 and
42.2 m above the primary air distributor level. All measurement
ports were 25 mm in diameter and were purged regularly with
compressed air. To measure the bed temperature, nine probes with
(15) K-type thermocouples (type 206, Czaki Thermoproduct, Poland)
were installed on the front wall of the CFB reactor. Probes were
placed along the vertical direction in the furnace chamber at non-
dimensional spacings Z/H of 0.005, 0.02, 0.04, 0.10, 0.16, 0.50,
0.64, 0.87, and 1.00, respectively. Fig. 2 gives the vertical prole
of the temperature in the furnace chamber at 100% MCR unit load.
The highest bed temperature was recorded at Z/H = 0.64. This was
because the zero pressure area within the CFB furnace and gas-solid
ow structure is localized, as is the active heat transfer surfaces
(superheaters) in this region of the combustion chamber.
In the bottom region of the combustion chamber, the high bed
temperature results from the effect of secondary air on the fuel
combustion process. The combustion reaction in the bottom region,
where the oxidant concentration is high, is much stronger than near
the exit region of furnace chamber. The O2 concentration changes
rapidly near the secondary air inlet (i.e., the region between 2 m
and 6 m above the level of the air distributor). During performance
testing, the furnace temperature difference T is 24 K. The regis-
tered furnace temperature was in the range typical for CFB boilers
(Sekret, 2011).
Pressure taps were provided at 0.25, 0.4, 0.6, 1.0, 2.0, 2.5, 5.0,
8.3, 24.0, 31.0, and 42.4 m above the air-distributor level and were
connected to the transducers by a shielded cable of 6.3-mm diame-
ter. The variation of pressure with height in the furnace chamber is
shown in Fig. 3, decreasing exponentially, with a dense phase at the
bottom and a dilute phase in the upper region of the CFB furnace.
This trend is consistent with the results obtained for large-scale CFB
facilities (Basu, 2006). Fig. 3 also indicates that in the furnace cham-
ber, the pressure drop equals 6.62 kPa. Moreover, a high pressure
gradient was observed in the bottom region. This situation arises
because of the highly turbulent ow and high circulation ux of
solids in this region of the furnace chamber.
In Table 2, the mass fractions of solids are given for the super-
critical CFB reactor. These parameters were determined based on
the mass ows of feed materials (coal and limestone) and mate-
rials led out of the furnace chamber (y ash and bottom ash).
Bottom ash and y ash collected in the storage silos were used to
 A. Blaszczuk et al. / Particuology 25 (2016) 5158 55

Table 4
Analysis data of Polish limestone (wt%) on performance test (Czatkowice limestone
mine).

Component Value

Ca 38.07
CaO 53.30
Mg 0.49
MgO 0.82

Table 5
Model input data.

Parameter Value

Capacity (MWth ) 966

CFB reactor efciency (%) 94.21
Bed temperature (K) 1139
Excess air ratio 1.21
Bed pressure (kPa) 6.16
Pressure drop (kPa) 6.62
Supercial gas velocity (m/s) 5.21
Fig. 3. Pressure prole versus relative furnace height in a supercritical CFB reactor.
Fuel density (kg/m3 ) 1300
Sorbent density (kg/m3 ) 2530
Table 2 Ash density (kg/m3 ) 2690
Solids mass fraction (wt%) at the 966-MWth supercritical CFB reactor.

Solids Value
characteristics of Czatkowice limestone from Poland, in which CaO
Bituminous coala 90.0
is the main component; both Mg and MgO content were substan-
Limestonea 10.0
tially lower (<1.0%). The XRF analysis of a limestone sample was
Circulating materialb 99.86 performed to an accuracy of 0.02%.
Fly ashb 0.13
Bottom ashb 0.01
a
Results and discussion
Feeding materials.
b
Materials led out of furnace chamber.
Our mass balance model along with the performance test results
was used in the simulations of the 966-MWth CFB reactor. To per-
determine these ows. By closing the damper, which is installed form the sensitivity study, some geometrical construction data and
under each silo, the increase in mass inside the silo can be mea- process data of the coal-red CFB reactor were used. The model
sured. Mass ows of solids of feeding materials (i.e., coal and input data listed in Table 5 were obtained from the performance
limestone) were determined based on 5-min-interval changes in test of this CFB reactor.
weight contained in each silo. In contrast, the mass ow of the Fig. 4 shows the PSD of the test granular materials, which were
circulating material was calculated from the recirculation rate of obtained from the performance test and sieve analysis. Details
solids and the compact separator efciency from the performance about the procedure and device applied to the sieve analysis were
test. presented by Blaszczuk and Nowak (2014) and will not be described
During the performance test, fossil fuel from the Ziemowit coal here. Nonetheless, the PSD of ash was obtained from 2-kg fuel sam-
mine in Poland was used. The ultimate and proximate analysis data ple, which was incinerated in a mufe furnace at 850 C. In Fig. 4, the
are given in Table 3. Determination of proximate parameters of the corresponding PSDs of three solids samples are presented. These
bituminous coal was made in accordance with normalized stan- experimental data were used as an indispensable starting point to
dards for fossil fuel in Poland, whereas the ultimate analysis data estimate the steady-state size distribution of the bed inventory and
were obtained by means of the LECO TrueSpecTM analyzer (LECO
Corporation, St. Joesph, MI, USA). All analytical data for fossil fuel
are averages from four repetitions for each fuel component giv-
ing an accuracy of 0.01 wt%, the exception being the caloric value
parameter. For a lower heating value, this parameter was measured
with an accuracy of 0.20 MJ/kg.
Limestone as sorbent was used in the performance test for
in situ sulfur capture in the supercritical CFB reactor. The collected
limestone samples were subjected to an XRF analysis performed
using an X-ray uorescence spectrometer (PW 4025/00 MiniPal,
Philips, Netherlands) with a semiconductor detector at ambient
pressure in the presence of an inert gas (helium). Table 4 gives the

Table 3
Ultimate and proximate analysis of the tested Polish coal (Ziemowit coal mine).

Ultimate analysis (air dried basis) Proximate analysis (as-received)

ad
Carbon, C (wt%) 57.33 Caloric value, Qar (MJ/kg) 22.28
Hydrogen, Had (wt%) 4.62 Volatile matter, Var (wt%) 26.07
Oxygen, Oad (wt%) 5.70 Ash, Aar (wt%) 8.09
Nitrogen, Nad (wt%) 0.97 Total moisture, Mar (wt%) 18.47
Sulfur, Sad (wt%) 1.31 Fig. 4. Measured PSDs in the combustion chamber of a 966-MWth supercritical CFB
reactor.
56 A. Blaszczuk et al. / Particuology 25 (2016) 5158

Table 6
RosinRammler parameters for the three granular materials.

Parameter Solids samples

Coal Ash Limestone

p 0.47523 0.76781 0.81273

m1 0 0 0
n1 1.77746 1.9123 2.50604
s1 0.00277 2.66237 104 2.49457 104
m2 0.00488 2.7315212 104 3.00905 104
n2 2.40659 0.8254 5.04351
s2 0.00395 0.00221 1.12489 104

the simulation of population balance for the commercial supercrit-

ical CFB reactor. The PSDs of coal, ash, and limestone are marked
by different symbols for each granular material and were approxi-
mated by the RosinRammler function, Fig. 6. Distributions of feeding material mass ow rate for the 966-MWth supercrit-
 n1 ical CFB reactor.
dk m1

RR(dk ) = (1 p) 1 exp
s1
errors between the computed values for cumulative oversize and
the experimental data for bottom ash do not exceed 20%. The main
 n2 reason for this is the occurrence of particles with soft structure.
dk m2
Moreover, this indicates that the proposed mass-balance model is
+ p 1 exp
s2
(16) a useful tool to assess and monitor the PSDs during operations of
large-scale CFB reactors.
Fig. 6 depicts the distribution of feeding material mass ow at
where m1 , m2 ; n1 , n2 ; and s1 , s2 are the characteristic constants for
the 966-MWth supercritical CFB reactor. Changes in granular mat-
the solids and p represents the mass fraction of the l-th granular
ter mass have no impact on feeding material mass ow in the CFB
material.
reactor. Simulations were performed to establish process condi-
The individual parameters of RosinRammler function were
tions that prevail in the combustion chamber at full unit load. To
estimated using a least-squares technique. The obtained param-
stabilize operations within the CFB reactor, feeding material mass
eters for the RR functions are given in Table 6. The slope of the
ow should be almost at the same level. Reducing the height of the
PSD function for coarse particles (i.e., above the 0.5 oversize) is
bed inventory is equivalent to decreasing the CFB-reactor load and
unique to each granular material. However, the RR functions have
also dropping the pressure within the combustion chamber.
a similar shape for ne particles below the 0.2 oversize for all gran-
Fig. 7 shows the mass ow rate of bed inventory trans-
ular materials. The cumulative oversize curve of the RR function for
ported by elutriation from the region of dense uidized bed to
limestone indicates that the sorbent has more coarse particles with
the region of a dilute phase in the upper part of the CFB com-
hard structure than coal and ash.
bustion chamber. Clearly, the optimum particle size of the bed
Fig. 5 shows a comparison between the mean PSDs predicted by
inventory, which is elutriated to the region with low suspension
the mass-balance model and the sieve analysis data. The computer
density (s < 4 kg/m3 ) in the furnace chamber, is in the range from
results from population mass balance model for y ash were in
5.0 105 to 2.05 104 m.
good agreement with the experimental data obtained based on the
The amount of bed inventory elutriated from the bottom to the
sieve analysis. However, there are deviations between modeled and
top of the combustion chamber is directly related to the mass of
measured PSDs for bottom ash.
the bed inventory located in the connes of the furnace chamber.
From Fig. 5, attrition has an essential inuence on the PSD of
Increases in the bed inventory mass proportionately increases the
bottom ash. For mean particle size of bottom ash covered in a
mass ow rate of particles elutriated. Within the range of changes in
range of d60 d80 , simulation results exhibit good agreement with
bed inventory mass analyzed, the maximum particle size elutriated
the sieve analysis data. For ne and coarse particles, the calculated

Fig. 7. Elutriated bed inventory mass ow rate for a large-scale CFB facility at dif-
Fig. 5. Measured and modeled PSDs for y ash and bottom ash. ferent bed inventory masses.
 A. Blaszczuk et al. / Particuology 25 (2016) 5158
Fig. 8. Attrited bed inventory mass ow rate for a large-scale CFB reactor at different
bed inventory masses.
under CFB conditions ranged from 1.23 104 to 1.5 104 m. For
each analyzed bed inventory mass, there is a recognizable char-
acteristic peak, which corresponds to maximal ow rate of that
particle size. Mass ow rate distributions of bed inventory elutri-
ated to the dilute phase in the combustion chamber impacts particle
attrition, especially in the dense phase of solids at the bottom of the
reactor. Fig. 8 presents the mass ow rate of bed inventory attrition.
Over the range of particle sizes, there are four characteristic peaks.
Each peak corresponds to a particle size that is dominant during
attrition. The characteristic peaks in the PSD for the bed inventory
are a result of the structure of particles among the feeding granular
materials. The higher mass ow rates during the attrition process
arise because of the soft structure of ne particles. The coarse par-
ticles characterized by a hard surface structure have almost zero
mass ow rates, particularly those in one of two particle-size ranges
5 104 5 103 m. The presence of these characteristic peaks is a
consequence of the variation in internal circulation of bed inventory
between the combustion chamber and the return leg system.
The results of the numerical calculations were generated for
the solid recirculation-rate range of KR = 6368 and separation
efciency of solid phase of 99.6899.84%. The operating parame-
ters of the return-leg system also have a signicant inuence on
particle distributions within the circulating material between the
combustion chamber and return-leg system. Fig. 9 presents the dis-
Fig. 9. Distributions of circulating material mass ow rate in a supercritical CFB
reactor at different bed inventory masses.
57
Fig. 10. Distributions of y-ash mass ow rate in a supercritical CFB reactor at
different bed inventory masses.
tributions of circulating material mass ow rate as a function of
particle size of the solid phase. For each bed inventory mass, char-
acteristic peaks appear that corresponded to a size of particle which
is recirculated in the combustion chamber by means of the return-
leg system. The results generated by the population balance model
conrm a certain regularity, i.e., an increase in bed inventory mass
is accompanied by a slight decrease in particle size, which can be
observed at maximum mass ow rate. With a vefold increase in
bed inventory mass in the combustion chamber, a decrease can
be observed in the dominant particle size in the circulating mate-
rial mass ow rate from dmin = 1.23 104 m to dmax = 1.5 104 m.
Furthermore, the mass ow rate for particles in the range of bed
inventory mass analyzed increased nearly four times, and these
large changes arise from the attrition process. The greater the bed
inventory mass, the more importance the attrition process has on
mass ow rate during solids separation in the compact separator.
There is a qualitative similarity of the mass ow rate distribu-
tion for y ash to the distribution of circulating material mass ow
rate (Fig. 10). This result from the fact that for both granular mate-
rials, the distribution of mass ow affects the same parameters of
the return-leg system, i.e., the effectiveness of the compact sepa-
rator and the circulation rate of the bed inventory. Nevertheless, it
is worth noting that for the y-ash mass ow rate, there is only
one dominant particle size in all cases of bed inventory masses
analyzed. For each bed inventory mass, a characteristic peak in
the particle size at maximum mass ow rate was obtained. The
dominant particle size in the mass ow of granular material exit-
ing the CFB reactor was xed at 1.03 104 m for all uidized bed
inventory masses considered.
A completely different characteristic occurs for the mass ow
rate distribution of bottom-ash. From Fig. 11, it is impossible to
distinguish unambiguously only one characteristic particle size in
distributions of bottom-ash mass ow rate. Instead, three char-
acteristic peaks are distinguishable for bed inventory masses in
the range from 24.67 103 to 49.35 103 kg. Distributions of
bottom-ash mass ow rate for the highest bed inventory mass is
characterized by one dominant particle size, i.e., 1.45 104 m,
which corresponds to a maximal mass ow rate. The charac-
teristic peaks in the distributions of bottom-ash mass ow rate
for each analyzed bed inventory mass derive from the impact of
discharge from the combustion chamber. The results generated
by simulations using the population balance model have been
obtained assuming a constant discharge constant for ash removal
of 3.55 105 s1 . Together with a decrease in bed inventory mass,
a signicant inuence of discharge constant on bottom-ash mass
ow can be seen in the function of particle size of the material.
58 A. Blaszczuk et al. / Particuology 25 (2016) 5158
Fig. 11. Distributions of bottom-ash mass ow rate in a supercritical CFB reactor at
different bed inventory masses.
Conclusions
The study conrmed some theoretical predictions concerning
the impact of granular matter mass on the behavior of a com-
pound model for a supercritical CFB reactor. The change in granular
matter mass has no impact on feeding material mass ow, but
inuences the distribution of bed inventory elutriation mass ow
and the distribution of the bed inventory attrition mass ow. An
increase in granular matter mass causes increases both in these
mass ows. With bed inventory mass ranging between 24.67 103
and 98.7 103 kg, four characteristic peaks corresponding to the
dominant particle size undergoing attrition were identied. The
dominant particle sizes depended on the surface structure of the
bed inventory particles. Coarse particles with a hard structure have
almost zero mass ow in contrast to that for ne particles with a
soft structure. Furthermore, an increase in granular matter mass
led to an increase in circulating material mass ow. Maximum cir-
culating material mass ow was observed at a particle size equal to
1.23 104 m. Attrition during the separation of solids in the com-
pact separator has a signicant effect on the circulating material
mass ow. The distribution of the circulating material mass ow
is characterized by similarity in quality regarding the range of the
particle size for the bed inventory undergoing the elutriation pro-
cess. The variation of granular matter mass has some impact on
y-ash mass ow and bottom-ash mass ow. The increase in gran-
ular matter mass is caused by an increase in y-ash mass ows and
a reduction in bottom-ash mass ows. The diameter of particles
is a very important geometric parameter for both mass ow dis-
tributions of y ash and bottom ash. The results generated by the
population mass balance model indicate only one dominant par-
ticle size (i.e., 1.03 104 m) in distributions of y-ash mass ow,
which corresponds to the maximum value for the mass ow. Dis-
tributions of bottom-ash mass ow indicate multimodal character.
The characteristic peaks in the distributions of bottom-ash mass
ow arise from the inuence of the discharge system within the
furnace chamber of CFB reactor. The bed inventory needs to be
maintained in terms of both quantity and quality. Quantity means
the total mass of solids inside the CFB furnace whereas quality
denotes the size distribution of particles in the bed. The simula-
tion model is a good tool enabling the PSD to be monitored during
operation conditions of large-scale CFB combustion systems.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the staff of Tauron Gener-
ation S.A. Lagisza Power Plant for technical support in supplying
operating data. This work was nancially supported by Scientic
Research Grant No. BS-PB-406/301/11.
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