Experimental and numerical study of coal swirl fluidized bed drying on 10⁰ angle of guide vane

Currently, low-rank coal is widely used as fuel in power plants. The swirl flow method is quite effective used to increase heating value through the drying process. This research studies the characteristics of low-rank coal drying using a swirl fluidized method with 10⁰ angle of blade inclination experimentally and numerically. Coal with a moisture content of 25.17 % and a size of 6 mm was dried by dry air with a temperature of 55 °C, the relative humidity of 10.5 % and flow rate of 0.06 kg/sec. Moisture content is measured by the ASTM D3173. Numerical simulations performed in 3 dimensional, transient and multicomponent. The results of the experiment show that drying was effective in the first 5 minutes, which reduced moisture ratio to 0.26 while the simulation results reduced moisture ratio to 0.28. Numerical simulations show the pathline, velocity vectors, temperature, and humidity contours. Particle trajectory as simulation results agrees to the experiment.