Circulating Fluidized Bed Steam Reformers (CFBSRs) represent an important alternative for the production of syngas for the Fisher-Tropsch (FT) process and for hydrogen production. Most research regarding this novel CFBSRs did not consider its hydrodynamic characteristics. In this work, the riser Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were investigated using two phase Eulerian-Eulerian approach coupled with kinetic theory of granular flow with k-epsilon model to describe the turbulence of each phase. The model equations were solved via the commercial CFD package FLUENT, which uses the finite volume numerical approach. Cold flow simulations were carried out under the fast fluidization regime and results were validated qualitatively against available experimental data. The radial segregation of the catalyst, the velocity distribution of both phases and other characteristics of the flow were captured by the simulation. This work showed that for operation under high density and high flux conditions, solids flux should be higher than 300 kg/m2s and inlet void fraction lower than 85%.
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