Modeling and simulation of heat transfer in a packed bed furnace

Abstract

This research contains the development and simulation of a mathematical model for the heat transfer in a bed of sand particles. The research was carried out at HIMA Cement Limited, Kasese Uganda on a hot gas generator that utilizes ambient air through a heated bed of sand to generate process air for drying pozzolana, an additive used in cement manufacture. A mathematical model is developed using energy balance equations. For the gas phase, the resulting governing equation, a second order linear ordinary differential equation, is numerically solved using MATLAB, a numerical computing software. The effects of volumetric flow rate of the fluid temperature on the thermal performance of the furnace are also investigated. The obtained results are then used to predict the outlet temperature of air from the bed, at varying inlet air flow rate. Furthermore, an inlet air flow rate required to obtain an outlet air temperature of above 873K is determined