*Article* **Numerical Investigation on the Evaporation Performance of Desulfurization Wastewater in a Spray Drying Tower without Deflectors**

**Debo Li 1,2,\*, Ning Zhao 2, Yongxin Feng <sup>2</sup> and Zhiwen Xie <sup>2</sup>**


**Abstract:** The desulfurization wastewater evaporation technology with flue gas has been widely applied to dispose of desulfurization wastewater. This paper investigates the effect of flue gas flow rate and temperature, wastewater flow rate and initial temperature, and droplet size on the evaporation performance of the desulfurization wastewater in a spray drying tower without deflectors. The results show that the flue gas flow rate and temperature affect the evaporation performance of desulfurization wastewater. The larger flow rate and higher temperature of flue gas correspond to the faster evaporation speed and the shorter complete evaporation distance of the wastewater droplet. Decreasing the flow rate and increasing the initial temperature of the desulfurization wastewater is advantageous to enhance the evaporation speed and shorten the complete evaporation distance of the wastewater droplet. Reducing the droplet size is beneficial to improve the evaporation performance of the desulfurization wastewater. The orthogonal test results show that the factors affecting droplet evaporation performance are ranked as follows: flue gas flow rate > wastewater flow rate > flue gas temperature > wastewater initial temperature > droplet size. Considering the evaporation ratio and the complete evaporation distance, the optimal setting is 14.470 kg/s for flue gas flow rate, 385 ◦C for flue gas temperature, 0.582 kg/s for wastewater flow rate, 25 ◦C for wastewater initial temperature, and 60 μm for droplet size. These studied results can provide valuable information to improve the operational performance of the desulfurization wastewater evaporation technology with flue gas.

**Keywords:** desulfurization wastewater evaporation technology; evaporation performance; orthogonal test; simulation
