ANALYZING THE HYDRO DYNAMICS AND THE CHEMICAL REACTIONS IN PULP DIGESTER SYSTEMS USING CFD MODELLING

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis is to use differential analysis and finite volume method (FVM) to model and analyze a continuous pulp digester in order to create a detailed picture of the flow behaviour and chemical reactions in the digester. This information will be used to optimize wood chip flow and reactions and to diagnose and avoid faults such as hang-ups and channelling.As digesters increase in size, the importance of control of the liquor flow in the wood chip bed also increases. Pulping reactors are often faced with production disturbances that cause reduced fibre quality, non-uniform chemical reactions and damaging channelling phenomena.The models that are proposed in this thesis aim to consider the fluid dynamics, thermodynamics and chemical reactions together in order to create a model with more detail than has been previously reported.The digester is of the continuous type and has a circular cross-section, with a height of 60 m and a diameter that increases stepwise from 6 m at the top to 7 m at the bottom. The geometry of the digester, including an internal pipe with three different diameters, three inlet flows at three levels of the digester, inlets and outlets at the top and bottom, and a number of peripheral circulation pipes connected to the screens at three levels, is represented in simulations by a 2D axisymmetric model constructed in Gambit.The interactions between the two phases - the wood chips and the alkaline liquor - are studied using the finite volume method (FVM). Eulerian and Mixture numerical methods are evaluated for solving a mass transfer multiphase model with a porous matrix, species transport and reaction system in FLUENT. Variable porosity is used to model channelling in the digester.Comparisons of the results of simulations with real digester data indicate that the multiphase model, with the species transport and mass transfer modules accurately predict the pulping chemical reactions inside the digester and are able to evaluate pulp quality.The species transport model with reaction scheme is able to predict the mass balance equation and stoichiometry of the pulping reaction. The porous media scheme complements this approach to give a more complete view of pulp production, including the effect of faults in the process.The approaches to the FVM described in this thesis enable an accurate view of the pulping process which can contribute to improved control and optimization of the process.