Application of Filtered Model for Reacting Gas Solid Flows and Optimization in a Large-Scale Methanol-to-Olefin Fluidized-Bed Reactor

A reactor model for a methanol-to-olefin (MTO) reaction system was constructed by incorporating a filtered drag model, a filtered gas solid heat-transfer model, and an MTO kinetic model to probe large-scale reactor behavior and explore optimization. First, the efficiency of several typical gas solid heat-transfer models and kinetic models was evaluated by comparing predicted results with experimental data. Second, the effect of two significant operation parameters, namely, reaction temperature and water-to-methanol ratio, were studied based on the above-mentioned model. Predictions suggested an optimum catalyst residence time (similar to 33 min) and an average coke content (similar to 6.74%) of this MTO system. In addition, relatively high temperature maximized ethylene production, and the water introduced into the feed significantly attenuated coke deposition. This work is the first to conduct coarse-grid simulations by using the developed effective filtered-CFD coupled model to probe the reaction flow and explore optimization for a large-scale MTO reactor.