Comparative study: Experimental and simulation data carried out through CFD for the hydrodynamic and mass transfer parameters for pirate acid leaching using ozone as oxidizing agent

Abstract

In this work is presented a hydrodynamic and mass transfer study using the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) for typical experimental measurements and theoretical calculations for pyrite (FeS2) dissolution in acid media using ozone as an oxidizing agent, which occurs in a laboratory glass reactor. \nThe hydrodynamics for the reactor employed, was evaluated with the Navier-Stokes equations (κ-ɛ) RNG turbulence model and the VOF multi-phase model. The results of the hydrodynamic simulation study show that the reactor can operate at a speed range of 1.2 to 4.4 m/s at a total pressure of 12.5 Pa; the Reynolds numerical profile indicates that the flow has a turbulent behavior inside the reactor. For the mass transfer simulation, the model of finite velocity-Eddy dissipation was used for solving the kinetic of the reaction, and was performed for 3 different particle fractions: -106 +75 µm, -38 +25 µm and -25 µm. The simulation results present satisfactorily differences of 17%, 13% and 2% respectively, in comparison with experimental data for pyrite dissolved.