Use of CFD as a design tool for a phospheric acid plant cooling pond

Abstract

Phosphate fertilizer plants are installations constantly evolving which make their design a challenging task. Phosphogypsum, a by-product of the manufacture of phosphoric acid, is piled up, forming stacks which may eventually alter the process efficiency as they encroach on process cooling ponds and locally modify the airflow fields. The easier access to high performance computing and the improvement of software capabilities allow to fully consider today the use of CFD within tight-schedule industrial projects, even the ones involving large-size geometry. As an example we describe how CFD can be efficiently used as a design tool for the revamping of a phosphate fertilizer complex. The use of recently emerged multi-software optimization tool is also explored as a way to enhance the engineering time dedicated to this problem.