This Ph.D thesis describes an investigation into the operation of the Blue Circle Cauldon Works precalciner vessel. The vessel is part of the cement making plant and it serves the purpose of providing a furnace that is maintained at approximately 900C to calcine the limestone in the raw meal prior to cementation in the kiln. At Cauldon, tyre chips are used as a support fuel. It was the aim of this work to predict the likely behaviour of the gases and particles in the precalciner by using Computational Fluid Dynamics modelling. The commercial code Fluent was used. Investigation of the likely trajectories and combustion behaviour of tyre chips was particularly important. In this way it was hoped that a method of assessing the suitability of alternative waste fuels for incineration in the precalciner might be established. CFD models were constructed that simulated the precalciner with all main reactions and energy exchanges occurring. The first model predicted the behaviour of the precalciner burning coal and the full load of raw meal. Subsequent models assessed the sensitivity of the first model to changes in the boundary conditions. Further models were developed together with experimental work to assess the combustion and aerodynamic behaviour of the tyre chips. Alternative injection points for the tyre chips were investigated. This type of precalciner had not previously been modelled elsewhere. Similar models were found for the operation of the precalciner without tyre chips but the geometrical accuracy of the models was improved in this work due to improvements in commercial CFD code. No similar study of tyre chip combustion has been made elsewhere. CFD was used successfully to model a precalciner vessel with tyre chip and coal combustion and the full raw meal loading simulated. Adjustments can be made quickly to the model to assess minor geometrical alterations. Alternative fuel injection points can be quickly assessed using the model.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:366414 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Giddings, Donald |
| Publisher | University of Nottingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10116/ |
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