Recent developments in the application of particle-resolved CFD to fixed-bed reactors

Particle-resolved computational fluid dynamics (PRCFD) has recently been widely adopted by multiple research groups for the mathematical modeling of fixed-bed chemical reactors. At present, simulations are limited to handling a few hundred to a thousand particles, but real fixed-bed reactors can consist of tens to hundreds of thousands of particles. The question is how to anchor PRCFD models to real-world fixed-bed reactors. This review focuses on approaches to that question, including developing the ability to obtain more useful PRCFD models by increasing the number of particles or including more realistic reaction kinetics, improving PRCFD methodology, applying PRCFD to new reactor configurations and non-spherical particle shapes, and using PRCFD to provide a fundamental understanding that can be transferred into effective continuum models at the full reactor scale. Future directions are discussed, including the use of tools such as machine learning to extend the capabilities of PRCFD modeling.