Collaborative Simulation of Reacting Flow and Controller in Chemical Looping Systems

As chemical reactors and industrial processes become more complex and diverse, process controllers are increasingly required to optimise system performance and ensure stable operation. This is particularly true in energy-intensive industries, where multiphase reactive systems are highly dynamic and sensitive to fluctuating conditions. Among these, chemical looping technologies, including chemical looping combustion (CLC) and chemical looping gasification (CLG), stand out as promising solutions for carbon capture and hydrogen (H2) production. They rely on interconnected reactors and oxygen carriers (OCs) to facilitate fuel conversion and inherent CO2 separation. However, current research methods provide limited insight into detailed in-reactor behaviours and system responses to advanced controllers, leaving operational challenges unresolved. This thesis introduces an innovative collaborative simulation framework that integrates transient Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models with process controllers to observe and regulate multiphase reactive flows. For the first time, detailed reacting flow patterns and system-level dynamics under active control are demonstrated, addressing critical challenges such as OC circulation, gas and fuel leakage, H2 production, CO2 capture, and low-rank fuel utilisation. The research is organised into four aspects. 1. An innovative numerical collaborative model is developed to describe the reacting flow details and simulate the response to a process controller. This model is applied to a single CLC fuel reactor (FR) to demonstrate its preliminary effectiveness. 2. The collaborative method is then advanced to a full loop CLC system including an FR and an air reactor (AR) with a more comprehensive MIMO control method to demonstrate the full effectiveness of this method. 3. The advanced method is further applied to a full loop CLG system for H2 production by Victorian brown coal (VBC), where the fuel leakage is actively mitigated for enhancing H2 productivity. 4. A soft real-time digital twin of a full loop CLG system fuelled by solid waste is developed based on the collaborative method. The digital twin operates under three scenarios: a steady case, a fluctuated case, and a controlled case, offering a robust framework for advancing waste-to-hydrogen technologies. Together, these contributions demonstrate significant progress in coupling high-fidelity simulations with advanced control methods. While chemical looping systems serve as the central application in this work, the frameworks developed are transferable to a wide range of energy-intensive industrial processes, where real-time monitoring, predictive modelling, and closed-loop control are essential for improving efficiency, stability, and sustainability.

Grantor dc:publisher

UNSW, Sydney

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Yu, Guoyin

• Collaborative simulation
• Chemical looping
• Hydrogen production
• Process control
• Digital twin
• Reactive flow
• Solid waste utilisation
• Carbon capture
• anzsrc-for: 400401 Carbon capture engineering (excl. sequestration)
• anzsrc-for: 400407 Process control and simulation
• anzsrc-for: 400406 Powder and particle technology
• anzsrc-for: 400402 Chemical and thermal processes in energy and combustion

Statement dc:rights

• open access
• CC BY 4.0
• free_to_read

Licence

• https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/31837

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/106405