Modeling Methodology to Study the Internal Fluid-Dynamic of a Gas Filter

A numerical simulation of the flow in a carbon dioxide filter is shown in this paper. The filter is used in the urea production plant and it is connected to the suction of a compressor. The filter housing has a Tee shaped duct and an internal cartridge with a cylindrical shape. The Tee shape allows the cartridge’s assembly. The external diameter of the duct is bigger than the cartridge reducing the stream area to ensure a good filtration. To simplify the manufacturing process, the first design of the cartridge has 9mm diameter holes distributed in circular and longitudinal pattern. It has 14mm and 8mm center distance in longitudinal side and circular side. The filter has an inlet diameter of 20” and a divergent outlet of 24”. The aim of this study is the analysis and optimization of the filter geometry in terms of total pressure between its inlet and outlet side. Moreover an optimization of the basket’s holes distribution was done. First of all the 2D model of a first filter geometry was compared with a 3D model. The comparison showed a good agreement of results. Then the outlet diameter, the inlet angle and the holes arrangement have been studied with a bi-dimensional CFD modeling approach. The final goal of the whole activity was to introduce a methodology to optimize a very complex geometry by using a simplified bi-dimensional model with low computational costs.