Investigation of the Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in Fluidized Bed Combustor and Fluidized Bed Cooler During the Thermal Sand Reclamation Process to Improve its Performance

Foundries play a crucial role in recycling metals However, they face challenges, especially with sand, which is essential for making molds. During casting, sand gets contaminated from binder materials, making it impossible to reuse and causing environmental issues when disposed of. Sand reclamation, like thermal sand reclamation (TSR), helps by cleaning the sand through burning these contaminants. Using computer simulations, this project aims to study the TSR system designed by Gudgeon Thermfire International Inc. We aim to optimize heat and fluid flow with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Initially, we’ll create a model to study fluid dynamics and then add heat transfer. We’ll analyze factors like gas velocity and fluid height to make the process more efficient. By simulating gas-solid fluidized bed dynamics with ANSYS Fluent software, we aim to enhance foundry sustainability by improving sand reclamation efficiency. This project uses advanced modeling, simulation, and optimization to achieve this goal.

Faculty Supervisor:

Chao Zhang;Jesse Zhu

Student:

Partner:

Gudgeon Thermfire International

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

The University of Western Ontario

Program: