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ISSN Online: 2379-1748

9th Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference (TFEC)
April, 21-24, 2024, Corvallis, OR, USA

VERIFYING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPLEX POLYMERIZATION CHEMISTRY INTO A RIGOROUS AUTOCLAVE LDPE REACTOR CFD MODEL

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DOI: 10.1615/TFEC2024.icp.050652

Abstract

Fluid simulations are cost-effective and zero-waste alternatives for research and development of polymer reactors. However, their usefulness is limited, as many polymer-specific simulation software packages assume a homogeneous mixture of reactants, overly simplifying the physics. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations provide more insight into this process, as they can predict internal gradients and detailed 3-D geometry effects. However, integrating chemistry into CFD is no simple task. This work seeks to verify the implementation of free radical polymerization chemistry into a plant-scale CFD reactor model for Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE). The first three steps of verification utilize a Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR) which assumes uniform mixing. At each verification step, chemical complexity was progressively increased, and the results were compared to an industry-standard polymer software package, Aspen, that makes the same assumption. On average, CFD only differed from Aspen by 0.067%, 0.501%, and 0.459% across all metrics at the outlet for each of the first three steps, respectively. This verifies that the chemistry implementation was performed correctly. The fourth step, while incomplete, transfers the complex chemistry to the plant-scale reactor model. The completion of this step will produce one of the most accurate CFD polymer reactor simulations to date and sets a precedent for other reactor models, as the same process can be followed for any chemical process.