Water purification of organic inclusions in a reverse flow filtration combustion reactor

A new technology of water purification of organic inclusions or solutes by using a filtration combustion reactor with alternating flow direction is investigated numerically. An acetone aqueous solution served as a model liquid. The lean combustibility limit (LCL) was determined for a wide range of flow rates, different values of the heat exchange coefficient, length of the reactor, and for different sizes of packed bed particles. It is demonstrated that thermal insulation has the strongest effect on the LCL. A minimum concentration of acetone in water that provides self-sustaining combustion may be as low as cmin = 13.5% for the reactor length L = 0.4 m. The nonmonotonic behavior of the LCL dependence of the flow rate for short reactors and coarse particles has been demonstrated. The physical aspects of this feature was discussed.