Chemical and Process Engineering: New Frontiers

Mixing of granular materials is unquestionably important. Mixing solids is common in industrial applications and frequently represents a critical stage of the processes. The effect of mixing determines the quality of the products. Achieving a gas or liquid mixture ideally homogeneous in terms of composition in the case of dissolving components is not that difficult, while in case of granular materials that usually differ in sizes and densities, obtaining a homogenous mixture is practically impossible. The aim of the paper is to present the kinetics of mixing of a multicomponent, nonhomogeneous granular mixture. For the first time in mixing of granular materials, a reference has been made to the terminology used in kinematics of fluid mixtures to determine the state of the mixture: turbulent or laminar. By means of statistical analysis the mixing process was divided into two stages. The initial phase of the process was called the stage of turbulent changes, due to large differences in the quality of the observed mixtures; the final step of the process was called the stage of laminar, stable changes, where further mixing did not result in a significant improvement in quality. The research was conducted in industrial conditions in a two-tonne mixer.

The first step towards condition based maintenance of the milling plant is the implementation of online condition monitoring of the mill. The following paper presents and analyses methods of monitoring the key performance factors of a vertical spindle mill that is suited for implementation on older power stations, i.e. the quantity (mass flow rate) and quality (particle fineness) of the pulverised fuel produced by the mill. It is shown herein that the mill throughput can be monitored on-line using a simple mill energy balance that successfully predicts the coal throughput within 2.33% as compared to a calibrated coal feeder. A sensitivity analysis reveals that the coal moisture is a critical measurement for this method to be adopted as an on-line mass flow monitoring tool. A laser based particle size analyser tool was tested for use in the power plant environment as an online monitoring solution to measure pulverised fuel fineness. It was revealed that several factors around the set-up and operation of the instrument have an influence on the perceived results. Although the instrument showed good precision and repeatability of results, these factors must be taken into account in order to improve the accuracy of the reported results before the instrument can be commissioned as an on-line monitoring solution.

The paper presents the results of numerical computations performed for the furnace chamber waterwalls of a supercritical boiler with a steam output of 2400 × 103 kg/h. A model of distributed parameters is proposed for the waterwall operation simulation. It is based on the solution of equations describing the mass, momentum and energy conservation laws. The aim of the calculations was to determine the distribution of enthalpy, mass flow and fluid pressure in tubes. The balance equations can be brought to a form where on the left-hand side space derivatives, and on the right-hand side – time derivatives are obtained. The time derivatives on the right-hand side were replaced with backward difference quotients. This system of ordinary differential equations was solved using the Runge-Kutta method. The calculation also takes account of the variable thermal load of the chamber along its height. This thermal load distribution is known from the calculations of the heat exchange in the combustion chamber. The calculations were carried out with the zone method.

The study investigates chemical modifications of coal fly ash (FA) treated with HCl or NH4HCO3 or NaOH or Na2edta, based on the research conducted to examine the behaviour of Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions adsorbed from water solution on treated fly ash. In laboratory tests, the equilibrium and kinetics were examined applying various temperatures (293 - 333 K) and pH (2 - 11) values. The maximum Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions adsorption capacity obtained at 293 K, pH 9 and mixing time 2 h from the Langmuir model can be grouped in the following order: FA-NaOH > FA-NH4HCO3 > FA > FA-Na2edta > FA-HCl. The morphology of fly ash grains was examined via small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and images of scanning electron microscope (SEM). The adsorption kinetics data were well fitted by a pseudo-second-order rate model but showed a very poor fit for the pseudofirst order model. The intra-particle model also revealed that there are two separate stages in the sorption process, i.e. the external diffusion and the inter-particle diffusion. Thermodynamics parameters such as free energy, enthalpy and entropy were also determined. A laboratory test demonstrated that the modified coal fly ash worked well for the Cd(II) and Pb(II) ion uptake from polluted waters.

The subject of the CFD analysis presented in this paper is the process of biomass indirect co-firing carried out in a system composed of a stoker-fired furnace coupled with a gasification reactor. The installation is characterised by its compact structure, which makes it possible to minimise heat losses to the environment and enhance the physical enthalpy of the oxidising agent – flue gases – having a favourable chemical composition with oxygen and water vapour. The test results provided tools for modelling of biomass thermal processing using a non-standard oxidiser in the form of flue gases. The obtained models were used to optimise the indirect co-combustion process to reduce emissions. An overall effect of co-combustion of gas from biomass gasification in the stoker furnace is the substantial reduction in NO emissions by about 22%.

Heating surfaces in power boilers are exposed to very high heat flux. For evaporator protection against overheating, internally helically ribbed tubes are used. The intensification of the heat transfer and the maintenance of the thin water layer in the intercostal space, using ribbed tubes, enables better protection of the power boiler evaporator than smooth pipes. Extended inner surface changes flow and thermal conditions by influencing the linear pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient. This paper presents equations that are used to determine the heat transfer coefficient. The results of total heat transfer, obtained from CFD simulations, for two types of internally ribbed and plain tubes are also presented.

The possibility of producing chitosan by enzymatic deacetylation of chitin has been the subject of numerous investigations over the last twenty years, but to date no satisfactory method has been developed. In this paper the influence of chitin chain conformation and chitin particle crystallinity on the enzymatic deacetylation of chitin is investigated to determine the relative importance of these two factors on the process. It is shown that the high crystallinity of chitin is the main obstacle to converting chitin to chitosan by enzymatic deacetylation.

Culture supernatant containing laccase produced by Cerrena unicolor strain was used to examine laccase partitioning between phases in an aqueous two-phase system. The investigated system consisted of polyethylene glycol 3000 and sodium phosphate buffer adjusted to pH = 7. Influence of several parameters on partitioning was measured, including phase forming components’ concentrations, tie line lengths, phase volume ratio, supernatant dilution, process temperature and halogen salt supplementation. Partitioning coefficients up to 78 in the bottom phase were achieved with yields of over 90%. Tie line length and phase volume ratio had significant effect on enzyme partitioning.

In the paper flow dynamic similarity criteria have been presented to reflect the macroscopic flow pattern in the combustion chamber of large-scale circulating fluidised bed boilers. The proposed scaling rules have been verified on two cold models of CFB boilers operating in Tauron Wytwarzanie S.A. - El. Lagisza division (scale factor 1/20) and Fortum Power and Heat Poland Sp. z o. o. Czestochowa division (scale factor 1/10) – working with the power of 966 MWth and 120 MWth, respectively. As follows from the results of measurements, regardless of CFB boiler’s geometry the use of a defined set of criterial numbers allows to obtain satisfactory agreement between the suspension density distributions registered in the CFB boilers and scaling models.

This paper presents the possibility of reducing the demand for nonrenewable primary energy for buildings using a new conceptual adsorption system of cooling and heating supplied by solar energy. Moreover, the aim of this study is to shorten the payback time of investment in the standard adsorption cooling system through its integration with the heating system. Research has been carried out for an energy-efficient medium-sized single-family building with a floor area of 140 m2 and a heat load of 4.2 kW and cold load of 4.41 kW. It has been shown that the use of an adsorption system of cooling and heating supplied by solar energy decreased the demand for nonrenewable primary energy by about 66% compared to the standard building that meets the current requirements.

This article presents changes in the operating parameters of a combined gas-steam cycle with a CO2 capture installation and flue gas recirculation. Parametric equations are solved in a purpose-built mathematical model of the system using the Ebsilon Professional code. Recirculated flue gases from the heat recovery boiler outlet, after being cooled and dried, are fed together with primary air into the mixer and then into the gas turbine compressor. This leads to an increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the flue gases fed into the CO2 capture installation from 7.12 to 15.7%. As a consequence, there is a reduction in the demand for heat in the form of steam extracted from the turbine for the amine solution regeneration in the CO2 capture reactor. In addition, the flue gas recirculation involves a rise in the flue gas temperature (by 18 K) at the heat recovery boiler inlet and makes it possible to produce more steam. These changes contribute to an increase in net electricity generation efficiency by 1%. The proposed model and the obtained results of numerical simulations are useful in the analysis of combined gas-steam cycles integrated with carbon dioxide separation from flue gases.