Reaction fronts in a porous medium. Approximation techniques versus numerical solution

Journal Article · Wed Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/ie00042a011· OSTI ID:63300

Escobedo, F; Viljoen, H J ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering

The combustion of a gas fuel inside a porous media, as found in radiant porous burners (PRB), is one of the most promising novel combustion concepts. The flame sheet approximation (FS) and a novel polynomial approximation technique (PA) are compared in terms of their capability to describe reaction fronts of highly exothermic reactions in a porous medium. A one-phase model and a two-phase model of a system with adiabatic walls and a radiant output (to approximate the case of a porous radiant burner) are included in the analysis. By matching the reaction zone solution found by either the FS or PA method with the solutions of the nonreacting zones, the temperature, conversion, and position of the reaction zone were determined. Numerical solutions for catalytic and noncatalytic oxidation reactions were used to compare the predictions of both approaches. It was found that although both techniques yielded good approximations to the solutions, the PA technique proved to be more accurate, producing results with 3.5% of the numerical results. Both methods can find useful application in the analysis of this class of problems.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 63300
• Journal Information: Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, Journal Name: Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 34; ISSN IECRED; ISSN 0888-5885
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

40 CHEMISTRY
42 ENGINEERING
CALCULATION METHODS
COMBUSTION WAVES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DESIGN
FLOW MODELS
GAS BURNERS
GAS FUELS
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
POROUS MATERIALS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS