Open-Source Software for Power Generation

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) developed the MFIX (Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchanges) software as a physics-based model of multiphase reactors to solve scale-up problems for advanced power plants. Advanced power plant technologies require multiphase reactors for processing fossil fuels; for example, coal (solids-phase) is reacted with steam and air (gas-phase) in a gasifier. The scale up of such multiphase reactors is notoriously difficult; engineers cannot reliably predict commercial-scale (large) reactor performance merely based on pilot-scale (small) reactor performance. NETL’s effort has resulted in the development of MFIX, which is being transferred through the open-source method (www.mfix.org) and collaborative projects with end users.

MFIX simulates heavily-loaded gas-solids flows, commonly encountered in fossil fuel processes and in other industries such as chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and mineral. MFIX calculates the detailed motion of gas and solids in a general process vessel, allowing for the effects of heat transfer and chemical reactions. In 2001, MFIX was declared open-source software, a novel technology transfer mode increasingly being used by software developers. This has allowed the flow of this technology to universities, national laboratories and industry as well as enabled a reverse flow of technology into MFIX from external researchers. Now there are around 1000 registered MFIX users from over 250 institutions worldwide. The software is being used by a number of universities to advance multiphase science, which has resulted in numerous publications and 15 graduate theses over the last five years.

MFIX simulation of pilot scale KBR/Southern transport

A collaborative project between NETL and gasifier developers has resulted in MFIX being used for advanced gasifier design. For the last three years NETL researchers have been using MFIX to simulate the transport gasifier at the Power Systems Development Facility, Wilsonville, Alabama. The simulations convincingly showed the gasifier developers that the model does not merely reproduce what is already known, but provides insight into unobserved phenomena, which they could later experimentally verify. Also MFIX was used to predict the expected gasifier behavior almost a year before certain design modifications were completed.