A probabilistic approach to radiant field modeling in dense particulate systems

BUSCIGLIO, A.; ALFANO, O.M.; SCARGIALI, F.; BRUCATO, A.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 142 p. 79 - 88

0009-2509

Radiantfield distribution is an important modeling issue in many systems of practicalinterest, such as photo-bioreactors for algae growth and heterogeneousphoto-catalytic reactors for water detoxification.In thiswork, a simple radiant field model suitable for dispersed systems showingparticle size distributions, is proposed for both dilute and dense two-phasesystems. Its main features are: (i) only physical, independently assessableparameters are involved and (ii) its simplicity allows a closed form solution,which makes it suitable for inclusion in a complete photo-reactor model, wherealso kinetic and fluid dynamic sub-models play a role. A similar model can bederived by making use of concepts developed in the realm of stereology. Theresulting equation is similar, yet not identical, to that obtained with theprobabilistic approach, due to the fact that in stereology the front plane, orthe focus plane, may well cut through particles, a circumstance excluded bothin the probabilistic model and in actual photoreactors.The twomodels are compared with pseudo-experimental data obtained by means of Monte Carlo simulations, and the probabilistic model isfound to give rise to the best agreement.