Modelado de una reacción exotérmica en tanque agitado aplicando dinámica computacional de fluidos para la detección de posibles fugas térmicas

Abstract

The present Curricular Integration work dealt with the development of a modeling, using CFD software, of an exothermic reaction in a stirred tank applying computational fluid dynamics for the detection of possible thermal leaks, because their presence could potentially lead to accidents inside the reactor. An analysis of the variables and parameters of the esterification of 2-butanol with propane anhydride was carried out to determine the criteria and operations necessary for the simulation of the reaction. In addition, 3 types of modeling of the same reaction were developed in 3 different dimensions: 1D, 2D and 3D. By means of high impact bibliographic references, the simulation was checked and validated with very similar results obtained for the temperature and time variables, the latter being the one in which these thermal leaks occur. In the 1D and 2D modeling, thermal leakage results were obtained with maximum temperatures of 130 ℃ and 127 ℃ respectively, while according to Rudniak et al. 2004, for the 0D and 2D modeling the maximum temperatures of thermal leakage were 133 ℃ and 129 ℃. Likewise, in the developed 3D modeling, the highest recorded thermal leakage temperature is 113 ℃, on the other hand in Rudniak et al. 2004 the highest peak temperature is 111 ℃. Thanks to this validation process, credibility was added to the results, reinforcing the accuracy of the simulation methodologies employed, it was also concluded that 3D modeling is the most convenient and realistic option for a thermal leak detection system because it considers all relevant factors and parameters of real world agitated tank systems, due to the fact that it showed substantial similarity with the experimental findings and the hybrid 2D/3D model of Rudniak et al. 2004.