A mathematical model of waste tyre pyrolysis process is developed in this work. Tyre material decomposition based on a simplified reaction mechanism leads to main product lumps: noncondensable (gas), condensable (pyrolytic oil) and solid (char). The model takes into account kinetics of heat and mass transfer in the grain of the shredded rubber material as well as surrounding gas phase. The main reaction routes were modelled as the pseudo-first order reactions with a rate constant calculated from the Arrhenius type equation using literature values of activation energy determined for main tyre constituents based on TG/DTG measurements and tuned pre-exponential parameter values obtained by fitting theoretical predictions to the experimental results obtained in our laboratory reactor. The model was implemented within the CFD software (ANSYS Fluent). The results of numerical simulation of the pyrolysis process revealed non-uniformity of sample’s porosity and temperature. The simulation predictions were in satisfactory agreement with the experimentally measured mass loss of the tyre sample during pyrolysis process investigated in a laboratory reactor.

The trend of reducing electricity consumption and environmental protection has contributed to the development of refrigeration technologies based on the thermal effect of adsorption. This article proposes a methodology for conducting numerical simulations of the adsorption and desorption processes. Experimental data available in the literature were used as guidelines for building and verifying the model, and the calculations were carried out using commercial computational fluid dynamics software. The simulation results determined the amount of water vapor absorbed by the adsorbent bed and the heat generated during the adsorption process. Throughout the adsorption process, the inlet water vapor velocity, temperature, and pressure in the adsorbent bed were monitored and recorded. The results obtained were consistent with the theory in the literature and will serve as the basis for further, independent experimental studies. The validated model allowed for the analysis of the effect of cooling water temperature on the sorption capacity of the material and the effect of heating water temperature on bed regeneration. The proposed approach can be useful in analyzing adsorption processes in refrigeration applications and designing heat and mass exchangers used in adsorption systems.

The ethanol fire hazards will become more frequent due to the new established targets for the consumption of renewable energy sources. With this in mind, this paper aims to widen the current knowledge on CFD modelling of such a fire. As previous works rely heavily on the data of small pool fire diameters (below 1 m), this research deals with ethanol pool fire on a one-meter test tray, using our own experimental data. A mathematical model was developed and solved using a commercial CFD package (ANSYS Fluent). A new hybrid RANS-LES (SBES) model was employed to calculate turbulent stresses. Generally, the simulation results showed a good fit with the experimental results for flame temperatures at different elevations. In particular, a minor discrepancy was only observed for the top thermocouple (1.9 m above the tray). The flame heights computed with the CFD model were on average higher than the experimental one. Good agreement was observed for the radiative fraction and the axial temperature profile on the plume centreline. The latter showed an almost perfect fit between the temperature profiles obtained from CFD simulations and those calculated from the plume law for temperature.