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Heat transfer characteristics in regenerator cell for gaseous organic compound treatment

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Abstract

Regenerative combustion technology can efficiently decompose organic gases with high thermal efficiency. This capability is attributed to the regenerator and the periodic gas switching technology. However, published findings regarding the regenerator were inconsistent with some important parameters, and investigations into the regenerative chamber did not provide a comprehensive explanation of the heat transfer characteristics. Therefore, a regenerator cell was investigated in this study. The temperature distribution pattern inside the cell was simulated after model verification. The effects of the superficial velocity, switching time, side width, and wall thickness of the regenerator cell on the outlet temperature, energy recovery ratio, and heat-transfer coefficient were investigated. The outlet temperature, heat transfer, and energy recovery ratio of the regenerator cells varied monotonically during each period. The average energy recovery ratio and heat transfer coefficient indicated that the side width of the regenerator cell was the most significant factor. Meanwhile, the switching time and wall thickness did not significantly affect the energy recovery ratio. The superficial velocity and wall thickness did not significantly affect the heat transfer coefficient.

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Abbreviations

η h :

ERRs for the heating period

η e :

ERRs for the exothermic period

G a :

Air mass flux in the heating and purge periods

G g :

Gas mass flux in the exothermic period

c ao :

Specific heat capacity of outlet air

c go :

Specific heat capacity of outlet gas

c ai :

Specific heat capacity of inlet air

c gi :

Specific heat capacity of inlet gas

T ao :

Air outlet temperature

T go :

Gas outlet temperature

T ai :

Air inlet temperature

T gi :

Gas inlet temperature

Q :

Heat transferred in the regenerator cell

K :

Heat-transfer coefficient

m :

Mass of gas

A :

Heat transfer area of the regenerator cell

Δt :

Logarithmic mean temperature difference

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program (Research on structural performance test and containment capacity of containment under severe accidents, 2020YFB1901403), China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harbin Institute of Technology, Weihai, Shandong, 264209, China

    Fulin Liu, Kaiming Ren, Junyan Pei, Xuze Zhao & Xiaowen Hao

Authors
  1. Fulin Liu
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  2. Kaiming Ren
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  3. Junyan Pei
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  4. Xuze Zhao
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  5. Xiaowen Hao
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Correspondence to Xiaowen Hao.

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Xiaowen Hao is an Associate Professor at the School of New Energy, Harbin Institute of Technology, Weihai, China. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Thermophysics from Shandong University. His research interests include thermal storage study of heat regenerators, combustion control of VOCs, and hydrogen energy technology.

Fulin Liu is a Master’s student of the School of New Energy, Harbin Institute of Technology, Weihai, China. His research interests include electrofluid flow and heat transfer, thermal management techniques, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

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Liu, F., Ren, K., Pei, J. et al. Heat transfer characteristics in regenerator cell for gaseous organic compound treatment. J Mech Sci Technol 37, 1001–1010 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0139-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0139-9

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