CFD EVALUATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF POPULATION BALANCE EQUATION ON LIQUID DISPERSION IN A VENTURI SCRUBBER

Abstract

In this work the influence of including the Population Balance Equation (PBE) in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of a Venturi Scrubber was performed in order to analyze the dispersion of liquid injected in the equipment. The results of simulations with and without the PBE were compared, and the inclusion of the effects of the models of droplet breakage and coalescence were analyzed. The results showed that the inclusion of PBE had little effect on the pressure drop in the Venturi Scrubber. The contours of volume fraction of the droplets showed that the inclusion of PBE allowed to evaluate the variation of droplet diameter and its dispersion in the equipment. CFD simulations using the PBE can contribute to the design of Venturi Srubbers in order to verify the dispersion of injected fluid provided by the corresponding geometry.