Technology offer: Characterization and Optimization of chemical and electrochemical reactors by CFD methods

Technology offer: Characterization and Optimization of chemical and electrochemical reactors by CFD methods

Technology offer Characterization and optimisation of chemical and electrochemical reactors by CFD methods Reference: TO-CFD SUMMARY The Department of Physical Chemistry (Applied Electrochemical Group LEQA) of the University of Alicante has a high experience and know-how in the characterization, modelling and optimisation of electrochemical reactors by different methods. Classical methods have been used in order to characterise and study systems (study of RTD curves, Residence Time Distribution, study of direct visualization of coloured tracers inside the compartment as well as other classical techniques such as the study of mass transport by electrochemical procedures). Now, systems are being optimized with a more powerful technique based on the computer simulation of the system hydrodynamics. That technique is usually called CFD method (Computational Fluid Dynamics) A laboratory and a pilot plant fully equipped with the necessary infrastructure are available in order to develope the characterization study of the system and a calculus station is available for the simulations and optimizations of the systems by CFD techniques. This technology could be of interest to several industries: chemical, water treatment, tannery, metal-processing, etc. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION We understand as CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) the computational analysis of the systems where are involved fluid flows, heat transfer and other associated phenomena like chemical reactions. It is a relatively new technique and include a wide range of applications, from and industrial or academic point of view. Some examples of the application of this technique are: 2

Study of aircrafts and vehicles Hydrodynamics of ships Power plants: Combustion in a IC engines and gas turbines Turbomachinery: flow inside rotating passages, diffusers, etc. Electrical and electronic engineering: cooling of equipment including microcircuits Chemical process engineering: mixing and separation, polymer moulding External and internal environment of buildings: wind loading and heating / ventilation Marine engineering: loads on off-shore structures Environmental engineering: distribution of pollutants and effluents Hydrology and oceanography: flows in rivers, estuaries, oceans Meteorology: weather prediction Biomedical engineering: blood flows through arteries and veins And, electrochemical engineering: optimisation of fuel cells and electrochemical reactors The main reason why CFD has lagged behind other optimisation techniques is the tremendous complexity of the underlying behaviour. The availability of affordable high performance computing hardware and the introduction of user-friendly interfaces have led to a recent upsurge of interest and CFD is poised to make an entry into the wider industrial community in the 1990s. There are several unique advantages of CFD over experimental based approaches to fluid system design: Substantial reduction of lead times and cost of new designs Ability to study systems where controlled experiments are difficult or impossible to perform (e.g. very large systems) Ability to study system under hazardous conditions at and beyond their normal performance limits (e.g. safety studies and accident scenarios) Practically unlimited level of detail of results The variable cost of an experiment, in terms of facility hire and/or man-hour costs, is proportional to the number of data points and the number of configurations tested. In contrast CFD codes can produce extremely large volumes of results at virtually no added expense and it is very cheap to perform parametric studies, for instance to optimise equipment performance. In this way, it is logical to use this tool in order to optimise any system. First of all, we can study the system in its actual situation and after make the appropriate changes in 3

order to optimise it. And all without the need of making a physical prototype to test our changes until we are sure the hydrodynamics of our system will work as we want. Then, we can test a lot of configurations faster than by other classical methods and get an optimal design in shorter time. LABORATORIES Physical Chemistry department has fully equipped laboratories to test electrochemical reactors configurations in their first scale-up. PILOT PLANT The Department of Physical Chemistry also has a pilot plant fully equipped with the necessary infrastructure in order to development the pre-industrial phase and scaling-up of the processes. The pilot plant has developed several electrochemical reactors to produce chemicals at pre-industrial and industrial level. 4

CALCULATION SYSTEM At this moment we have a calculation system made up of six Pentium IV 2GHz PCs, with 2 Gb of RAM memory each one. This system has allowed us the optimisation of electrochemical filter press reactors made at the university of Alicante. We have obtained a very good results in simulation experiments which have been validated by other classical and established electrochemical methods. All that know-how have been reflected in 6 publications, 7 communications in national congresses, 6 communications in international congresses and 1 invited conference. Example of reactor without optimisation (blue zones imply inactive zones) Example of reactor with CFD optimisation (blue zones imply inactive zones) 5

INNOVATIVE ASPECTS OF THE TECHNOLOGY It is a new and powerful tool to optimise systems. It is a low cost technology with a wide range of applications CURRENT STATE OF THE TECHNOLOGY The technology has been already tested at laboratory level and the research team has two years of experience in this field. The procedure has been tested in electrochemical filter press reactors and has been carried out successfully. All the technicians and management staff have the experience necessary to guarantee the success of the projects. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS Concerning the use of the equipment, development and scaling of processes, process feasibility, etc, all information is protected by know-how. MARKET APPLICATIONS This technology could be of interest to several industries as it has been exposed in the Technical Description chapter. CO-OPERATION SOUGHT The Department of Physical Chemistry of the University of Alicante has the knowhow and facilities required to develop the optimisation of electrochemical system and we do not discard the option to study other kind of chemical systems. Partner interested in establish know-how agreements or technical projects for that purpose are sought. 6

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY PHYSICS (LEQA GROUP) PROFILE The Group of Applied Electrochemistry and Electrocatalysis at the Department of Physical Chemistry at University of Alicante was created in 1983. The staff comprises of one Full Professor, two Senior Lecturers, two Associate Professors, two electrochemical pilot-plant technicians, one electronic engineer and several post and pre-doctoral research students. The research carried out by the group is focused on both fundamental and applied electrochemistry in a wide range of research fields like the preparation and characterization of nanoparticles, organic and inorganic electrosynthesis, waste water electrochemical treatment, design and characterization of electrochemical reactors, and engineering of sonoelectrochemical processes. One of the aim of this group is to develop electrochemical processes for industrial purposes in a wide range of subjects and the development of the new technologies. In this way, the department presents a long experience (at industrial scale) in: Development of redox batteries and an 2 kw / 20 kwh accumulator based on Fe (III) / Fe (II) and Cr (III) / Cr (II) couples. Electro-organic synthesis of high value pharmaceutical products in an environmentally friendly way. Several patents are held for the synthesis of l-cysteine derivatives and citiolone (some of them PCT mode). To carry out electrochemical processes at industrial scale, we have designed and built an electrochemical pilot plant at the University in which, in co-operation with a Spanish industry, we have been able to synthesise 14Tm of carboxymethyl l-cysteine, a widely used pharmaceutical product. Recovery of lead from lead oxide secondaries such as used lead batteries (a BRITE-EURAM project). In this project we were in charge of the study and development of the cathodic process, lead deposition, at a pre-industrial scale, of the recovery of NaCl by electrodialysis and of the elimination of lead from the wastewater by electrochemical means. Development of a pre-industrial prototype for the electrochemical treatment of wastewater from a textile industry. All these works developed up to pilot or industrial scale were carried out with a final purpose to demonstrate the feasibility of the process at an industrial scale. To do all this work, we have not only acquired a deep knowledge about Electrochemistry (both Fundamental and Applied) but also the expertise for developing different types of electrodes - single crystal, DSA, gas diffusion 7

electrodes etc., and different electrochemical reactors. All of this has contributed to our wide experience in the development of electrochemical processes at a preindustrial scale. CONTACT DETAILS Víctor Manuel Pérez Lozano Phone: +34 96 590 3467 Fax: +34 96 590 3803 E-Mail: otri@ua.es URL: http://sgitt-otri.ua.es/es/empresa/ofertas-tecnologicas.html 8