Effects of chemical reactions and radiation on a participating solid-gas flow with variable thermophysical properties

This paper investigates the combined effects of radiative heat transfer and chemical reactions on a participating gas–solid flow. A semi-analytical model is developed to investigate the effects of temperature dependent thermophysical properties using a similarity transformation method. It is observed that radiation significantly influences the boundary layer flow during the CuCl2 hydrolysis reaction. Larger radiation parameters and the presence of the chemical reaction led to an increase in the boundary layer thickness. Effects of the chemical reaction on the thermal boundary layer decrease in the presence of radiation. A study of the concentration profile shows that radiation, solid mass fraction, and variable thermophysical properties collectively influence the species concentration distribution near the surface, suggesting enhanced mass transfer and reaction rates. The combined influence of varying thermophysical properties and thermal radiation leads to a reduction in the chemical species concentration near the surface. This occurs from enhanced mass transfer, an increase in the reaction rate, or changes in fluid properties with temperature causing faster diffusion of species away from the boundary. The results offer useful new insights in predicting heat transfer in participating solid–gas flows during the CuCl2 hydrolysis reaction.