Numerical simulation of multicomponent hydrocarbon flow and heat transfer in a regenerative catalytic oxidizer

Kang Yujie; Yang Guangrun; Wang Jingxiao; Shen Zhongjie; Xu Jianliang; Dai Zhenghua; Liu Haifeng

doi:10.1016/j.cjche.2025.08.016

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Numerical simulation of multicomponent hydrocarbon flow and heat transfer in a regenerative catalytic oxidizer

Updated：2026-03-13

- Numerical simulation of multicomponent hydrocarbon flow and heat transfer in a regenerative catalytic oxidizer
- Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol. 89, Issue 1, Pages: 145-156(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  National Energy Coal Gasification Technology Research and Development Center and Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Coal Gasification, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
  Liaoning Petrochemical University, Fushun 113001, China
- Author bio：
  
  Corresponding authors. E-mail addresses: xujl@ecust.edu.cn(J. Xu)
  hfliu@ecust.edu.cn(H. Liu).
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1016/j.cjche.2025.08.016
  CLC：
- Received：07 April 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-08-13，
  
  Accepted：15 August 2025，
  
  Online First：09 October 2025，
  
  Published：2026-01
- Accepted：
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Kang Yujie, Yang Guangrun, Wang Jingxiao, et al. Numerical simulation of multicomponent hydrocarbon flow and heat transfer in a regenerative catalytic oxidizer[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2026, 89(1): 145-156.
DOI：

Kang Yujie, Yang Guangrun, Wang Jingxiao, et al. Numerical simulation of multicomponent hydrocarbon flow and heat transfer in a regenerative catalytic oxidizer[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2026, 89(1): 145-156. DOI： 10.1016/j.cjche.2025.08.016.

摘要

Abstract

Regenerative catalytic oxidizers (RCO) are widely used to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) due to their energy-saving and stability. In this study

a multi-component catalytic reaction model was constructed to numerically investigate the reaction process of hydrocarbon-containing VOCs in RCO using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. To obtain the conversion characteristics of multi-component hydrocarbons

the effects of intake load

equivalence ratio

and the composition of multi-component hydrocarbons on the flow

heat transfer

and conversion rate of the reactor were analyzed. A feasibility study plan targeting the hard-to-convert components was also proposed. The results indicated that as the load increases

the conversion rates of the various components decrease

while the reaction rates increase. Moreover

increasing the flow velocity intensifies turbulence and enhances the collision frequency between the gas and the wall surfaces. This

in turn

amplifies the resistance effect of the porous medium. As the equivalence ratio of VOCs to oxygen increases

the oxygen-deficient condition leads to a decrease in the molecular weight of the hydrocarbons involved in the reaction. The reaction temperature also shows a downward trend. A comparative analysis of the catalytic combustion characteristics of multi-component VOCs and single-component gases reveals that adding ethane and propane can facilitate methane oxidation.

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Keywords

references

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