Numerical simulation of mass transfer of a spherical particle assemblage with the cell model

The cell model was applied to simulate the mass transfer in a swarm of spherical solid particles under intermediate Reynolds numbers based on the numerically resolved flow field in the cell. Simulations were conducted in the range of 1≤Re≤500, 0.4≤ε≤0.9 and 1≤Pe≤3000. Numerical simulation results suggest the significant effect of swarm voidage ε and the Peclet number Pe, and indicate that the conventional definition of the mass transfer factor as a simple function of Re(1−ε), as found in empirical correlations in the literature, fails to account for the effects of Pe and the voidage. Comparison of the simulation results for the mass transfer factor with two recommended correlations is reasonable and the deviation from the correlations seems to increase as Re/(1−ε)>100. This suggests the need for further improvement on cell models for the high Reynolds number range.