Technical Report 242, c4e-Preprint Series, Cambridge

Authors: Astrid Boje, Jethro Akroyd, Stephen Sutcliffe, and Markus Kraft*

Reference: Technical Report 242, c4e-Preprint Series, Cambridge, 2019

Associated Themes:
 

• Hybrid particle model combined with overlapping spheres detailed particle model
• Robust and efficient hybrid approach used to study industrially relevant conditions
• Energy balance included to allow flexible reactor modelling framework
• Particle structure resolved by primary coordinate tracking compared with real product

We apply a hybrid particle model to study synthesis of particulate titania under representative industrial conditions. The hybrid particle model employs a particle-number description for small particles, and resolves complicated particle morphology where required using a detailed particle model. This enables resolution of particle property distributions under fast process dynamics. Robustness is demonstrated in a network of reactors used to simulate the industrial process. The detailed particle model resolves properties of the particles that determine end-product quality and post-processing efficiency, including primary particle size and degree of aggregate cohesion. Sensitivity of these properties to process design choices is quantified, showing that higher temperature injections produce more sintered particles; more frequent injections narrow the geometric standard deviation of primary particle diameter; and chlorine dilution reduces particle size and size variance. Structures of a typical industrial particle are compared visually with simulated particles, illustrating similar aggregate features with slightly larger primary particles.

PDF (10.1 MB)