Application of CFD to model fast pyrolysis of biomass

The article deals with the CFD modelling of fast pyrolysis of biomass in an Entrained Flow Reactor (EFR). The Lagrangian approach is adopted for the particle tracking, while the flow of the inert gas is treated with the standard Eulerian method for gases. The model includes the thermal degradation of biomass to char with simultaneous evolution of gases and tars from a discrete biomass particle. The chemical reactions are represented using a two-stage, semi-global model. The radial distribution of the pyrolysis products is predicted as well as their effect on the particle properties. The convective heat transfer to the surface of the particle is computed using the Ranz-Marshall correlation.     

Development of fragmentation models for solid fuel combustion and gasification as subroutines for inclusion in CFD codes

This work arises from substantial problems found in the modelling of the gasification and combustion of solid fuel, both coal and biomass in the following different systems:

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Coal fired non-slagging cyclone combustors.

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Pre-calciners on cement plant.

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Fuel rich inverted cyclone combustors used to simulate the time temperature history of large utility boilers.

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Cyclonic gasifiers for sawdust and direct firing of small gas turbines.

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Deposition studies for slagging and fouling in large utility boilers.

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Prediction of final carbon in ash from pulverised coal systems.

Commercial CFD codes such as Fluent are well developed and have well proven routines for lagrangian tracking of burning particles through complex flow fields. However what has become apparent in numerous studies is that existing models for solid fuel combustion can be adjusted to predict the initial flow field aerodynamics, sometimes the temperature, but fall down when particles have to be followed completely through a system. This is manifested with cyclone combustors and gasifiers via enhanced retention of burning particles in centrifugal force fields, which can only be resolved by changes in the particle size distribution and thus fragmentation as the particle gasify or burn. This problem also becomes apparent in studies of processes in pre-calciners and in deposition in large utility boilers and furnaces.The paper will review the literature of the fragmentation of pulverised coal and biomass during gasification, devolatilisation and combustion and relate it to observed phenomena in the type of system under consideration. The difficulties of incorporating models of fragmentation in CFD codes such as Fluent are discussed. Then the implementation of such a model in Fluent is described, together with results from a number of different systems. It is concluded that the model so implemented shows improved prediction in many difficult areas, but still needs development to better reflect actual fragmentation conditions in different experimental systems.It is concluded that the model needs to be further extended beyond the single step fragmentation at present used, especially to include many of the fine particles known to be generated in such systems.     

Development of Ni catalysts for tar removal by steam gasification of biomass

Catalytic performance of Ni/CeO₂/Al₂O₃ catalysts prepared by a co-impregnation and a sequential impregnation method in steam gasification of real biomass (cedar wood) was investigated. Especially, Ni/CeO₂/Al₂O₃ catalysts prepared by the co-impregnation method exhibited higher performance than Ni/Al₂O₃ and Ni/CeO₂/Al₂O₃ prepared by the sequential impregnation method, and the catalysts gave lower yields of coke and tar, and higher yields of gaseous products. The Ni/CeO₂/Al₂O₃ catalysts were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, temperature-programmed reduction with H₂, transmission electron microscopy and extended X-ray absorption fine structure, and the results suggested that the interaction between Ni and CeO₂ became stronger by the co-impregnation method than that by sequential method. Judging from both results of catalytic performance and catalyst characterization, it is found that the intimate interaction between Ni and CeO₂ can play very important role on the steam gasification of biomass.     

NOx formation in natural gas combustion—a new simplified reaction scheme for CFD calculations

Computational fluid dynamics is a widely used tool in optimizing natural gas burners, for instance, for emission issues. Especially, a further reduction of NO_x emissions is of interest. However, due to computational efforts calculating three-dimensional turbulent flames, there is the necessity for simplified models in order to simulate the combustion reactions and the NO_x formation, respectively. Hitherto, models describing thermal NO and prompt NO formation, respectively, were applied in a post-processing step. Beforehand, the flow field including combustion has been determined in the three-dimensional geometry. However, in the former work, it was shown that prompt NO formation is of minor significance. For temperatures higher than 1600 °C, thermal NO formation is dominating. At lower temperatures, the N₂O/NO and NNH route have significant contribution.Though, the widely applied prompt NO model captures the observed trends acceptable, it lacks of physical bases. Besides low temperature NO formation is more related to N₂O/NO and NNH route, it assumes the prompt NO formation to be proportional to the fuel concentration. The detailed reaction mechanism show NO formation more related to fuel oxidation rate, i.e. radical concentration.Thus, in this work, a new simplified model combining thermal NO formation, N₂O/NO, and NNH route is proposed. It applies steady-state approximation for the intermediate species, i.e. N, N₂O, NNH, and NH. In this way, their concentrations can be obtained by four algebraic equations and rate of NO formation can be calculated without any model parameter, solely based on reaction kinetics. Moreover, the concentrations of O₂, N₂, H₂, and H₂O as well as the radicals O, H, OH, and HO₂ have to be known from combustion calculations.The model was evaluated against the predictions of a detailed reaction mechanism, showing good agreement in a wide range of conditions. Neglecting prompt NO formation affects predicted NO emissions only under very fuel rich conditions. Under these circumstances, total NO formation is low, anyway. Thus, the performance of the presented model is not influenced by the lack of prompt NO formation.     

CFD simulation and optimization of effective parameters for biomass production in a horizontal tubular loop bioreactor

The focus of the current study was to perform an experimental investigation and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation of flow hydrodynamics in a forced-liquid horizontal tubular loop bioreactor for the production of biomass. The simulations were performed using the FLUENT commercial CFD package, a segregated unsteady solver and a two-phase Eulerian multiphase model. To validate the simulation results, several experiments were performed in a pilot bioreactor. In addition, the design of experiments methodology using a Taguchi orthogonal array (OA) was applied to evaluate the influence of four factors on the hydrodynamic behavior of the bioreactor. The effective parameters considered for optimization were air inlet velocity, liquid inlet velocity, bubble diameter, and viscosity. An L₉ OA was used to conduct the Taguchi experiments to study the significance of these parameters and the possible effects of any two-factor interactions. The optimum conditions and most significant process parameters affecting the hydrodynamic behavior were determined using an analysis of variance model. The results showed that the liquid inlet velocity had the most influence on the air volume fraction in the bioreactor. A subsequent confirmatory test demonstrated that the results were within the confidence interval.     

Development of new nickel based catalyst for biomass tar steam reforming producing H2-rich syngas

Mayenite (Ca₁₂Al₁₄O₃₃ or 12CaO.7Al₂O₃) was previously developed and applied as Ni support for biomass tar steam reforming in the absence and presence of H₂S by our group because of its high oxygen restoring property in the structure [C. Li et al., Appl. Catal., B. 2008]. In this study, catalyst Ni/mayenite (mayenite as support) was prepared by impregnation method with nickel nitrate hexahydrate. Experiments were tested in a fixed-bed reactor, toluene as a tar model compound. The influence of the catalyst preparation and operating parameters (reaction temperature, steam to carbon ratio and space time) on catalyst activity and products selectivity were studied, and a long-time evaluation (more than 76 h) also exhibited excellent resistance to coking. These results were compared to these obtained by commercial-like catalysts: Ni/CaO_x/MgO_1−x and our previous NiO/mayenite, showing that Ni/mayenite exhibited excellent property for biomass tar reforming, with higher H₂ yield than that of Ni/CaO_x/MgO_1−x, and higher CO selectivity than that of NiO/mayenite. For kinetic model, the first order reaction used for toluene with activation energy of 80.24 kJ.mol^− 1 was coincident with literature data.     

CFD modelling of the fast pyrolysis of biomass in fluidised bed reactors, Part A: Eulerian computation of momentum transport in bubbling fluidised beds

The fluid-particle interaction inside a 150 g/h fluidised bed reactor is modelled. The biomass particle is injected into the fluidised bed and the momentum transport from the fluidising gas and fluidised sand is modelled. The Eulerian approach is used to model the bubbling behaviour of the sand, which is treated as a continuum. The particle motion inside the reactor is computed using drag laws, dependent on the local volume fraction of each phase, according to the literature. FLUENT 6.2 has been used as the modelling framework of the simulations with a completely revised drag model, in the form of user defined function (UDF), to calculate the forces exerted on the particle as well as its velocity components. 2-D and 3-D simulations are tested and compared. The study is the first part of a complete pyrolysis model in fluidised bed reactors.     

三桨叶搅拌釜相同混合时间条件下的CFD模拟及放大研究

搅拌釜的放大主要依靠实验或经验进行,目前已有的各种放大规律由于相似理论的出发点不同,缺乏统一的评价标准.采用CFD技术为统一的放大理论基础,针对4个几何相似的三桨叶搅拌釜,以完全混合所需要的时间T99相同为放大基准,对搅拌釜内的湍流场以及搅拌转速、单位容积消耗功率等随搅拌釜几何放大后的变化规律进行了研究.结果表明,采用CFD技术作为统一的放大理论基础,准确、可靠.     

A model for the evaporation of biomass pyrolysis oil droplets

This paper presents a numerical model for the evaporation and pyrolysis of a single droplet of pyrolysis oil derived from biomass. Continuous thermodynamics theory for multi-component droplet evaporation is used, with the fuel being represented by four fractions: organic acids, aldehydes/ketones, water, and pyrolytic lignin, each of which is described by a separate distribution function. Pyrolysis of the lignin fraction is included, and detailed properties for all fractions are presented. The model is compared with the results of suspended droplet experiments, and is shown to give good predictions of the times of the major events in the lifetime of a droplet.     

The characteristics of inorganic elements in ashes from a 1 MW CFB biomass gasification power generation plant

This paper investigated the characteristics of inorganic elements in ashes from biomass gasification power generation (BGPG) plant. The ash samples of the gasifier ash, separator ash and wet scrubber ash were collected in a 1 MW circulating fluidized bed (CFB) wood gasification power generation plant. Particle size distribution of ashes was determined by gravimetric measurement and super probe analyzer. The concentrations of trace elements and major ash-forming elements, such as As, Al, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, K, Mg, Na, Ni, Pb, Ti in different ashes as a function of particle size were determined by Inductive Coupled Plasma Spectrometer. The concentrations and distribution coefficient and enrichment factors of the inorganic elements in ashes were studied. X-ray fluorescence spectrometer and X-ray powder diffraction were used to provide information on the characteristics of the ashes. The results showed that most of the trace elements had an enrichment tendency in the finer size particles. A considerable amount of the ashes was residual carbon. Most of the volatile e.g. halogen elements and alkali elements existed mainly in wet scrubber ash and enriched in fly ash. Most of the Si, Ni, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cd were found in separator ash, indicating an enrichment of heavy metal elements in separator ash. K, S, Mn, Cu mainly existed in gasifier ash.     

The technical feasibility of biomass gasification for hydrogen production

Biomass gasification for energy or hydrogen production is a field in continuous evolution, due to the fact that biomass is a renewable and CO₂ neutral source. The ability to produce biomass-derived vehicle fuel on a large scale will help to reduce greenhouse gas and pollution, increase the security of European energy supplies, and enhance the use of renewable energy. The Värnamo Biomass Gassification Centre in Sweden is a unique plant and an important site for the development of innovative technologies for biomass transformation. At the moment, the Värnamo plant is the heart of the CHRISGAS European project, that aims to convert the produced gas for further upgrading to liquid fuels as dimethyl ether (DME), methanol or Fischer–Tropsch (F–T) derived diesel. The present work is an attempt to highlight the conditions for the reforming unit and the problems related to working with streams having high contents of sulphur and alkali metals.     

Multitubular reactor design as an advanced screening tool for three-phase catalytic reactions

A parallel throughput screening system coupled with GC/MS analysis system was constructed. The system consists of six parallel tubes which can be filled with catalyst materials (particles, nets, monoliths). Different catalyst materials, particle sizes and temperatures were evaluated in catalytic three-phase hydrogenation of citral over Ni/SiO₂ catalyst. The reactor system showed good reproducibility.     

Development of a tool, using CFD, for the assessment of the disinfection process by ozonation in industrial scale drinking water treatment plants

Foreseen standards regarding microorganism content for drinking water require assessment of the capability of existing plants to reach the upcoming requirements. This paper presents the development of a tool to assess this capability in a commonly encountered key step of water disinfection: ozonation. In this paper, this tool is applied to the test case of an ozonation channel of the Belgian drinking water producer Vivaqua. This tool is based on a mathematical model of the momentum and mass transport phenomena in an ozonation channel. The gas–liquid flow is coupled to ozone mass transfer and kinetics describing the ozone and microorganisms concentrations decay. The degradation of Bacillus subtilis spores, as a representative of resistant microorganisms, is implemented in the model. The model takes explicitly into account the bubble size variation and its impact on mass transfer. Bubbles sizes and kinetics parameters are estimated based on dedicated experiments. The model is partially validated by comparing simulations results, obtained using computational fluid dynamics, to experimental residence time distributions, residual ozone concentration and Bacillus subtilis spores degradation efficiency measurements obtained on the studied ozonation channel. It is shown that, at the industrial scale, bubble diameter variation has a significant impact on ozone concentration in the liquid at the reactor exit. Using the tool, it is also shown that, the ozonation channel of Vivaqua can be used to achieve degradation of resistant microorganisms but only with its maximal flow rate and concentration of ozone injection. Moreover, at low operating temperature, some microorganisms that present latency towards reaction with dissolved ozone might hardly be destroyed.     

Gasification reaction kinetics on biomass char obtained as a by-product of gasification in an entrained-flow gasifier with steam and oxygen at 900-1000 °C

The purpose of this study was to investigate the gasification kinetics of biomass char, such as the wood portion of Japanese cedar char (JC), Japanese cedar bark char (JB), a mixture of hardwood char (MH) and Japanese lawngrass char (JL), each of which was obtained as a by-product of gasification in an entrained-flow type gasifier with steam and oxygen at 900-1000 °C. Biomass char was gasified in a drop tube furnace (DTF), in which gasification conditions such as temperature (T_g), gasifying agent (CO₂ or H₂O), and its partial pressure (P_g) were controlled over a wide range, with accompanying measurement of gasification properties such as gasification reaction ratio (X), gasification reaction rate (R_g), change of particle size and change of surface area. Surfaces were also observed with a scanning electric microscope (SEM). By analyzing various relationships, we concluded that the random pore model was the most suitable for the biomass char gasification reaction because of surface porosity, constant particle size and specific surface area profile, as well as the coincidence of R_g, as experimentally obtained from Arrhenius expression, and the value is calculated using the random pore model. The order of R_g was from 10⁻² to 10⁻¹ s⁻¹, when T_g = 1000 °C and P_g = 0.05 MPa, and was proportional to the power of P_g in the range of 0.2-0.22 regardless of gasifying agent. Reactivity order was MH > JC > (JB, JL) and was roughly dependent on the concentration of alkali metals in biomass feedstock ash and the O/C (the molar ratio of oxygen to carbon) in biomass char.     

Development of an integrated reduced fuel oxidation and soot precursor formation mechanism for CFD simulations of diesel combustion

In this reported work, a reduced chemical mechanism of surrogate diesel fuel was developed for diesel engine simulations. The aim here was to employ an appropriate reduction scheme to create a compact yet sufficiently comprehensive model which can accurately account for in-cylinder diesel combustion and soot precursor formation processes. The Combustion Engine Research Center (CERC) mechanism of Chalmers University of Technology was used as the base mechanism since this is the most extensively validated and applied mechanism. The reduction scheme involved firstly identifying and then eliminating unimportant species/reactions in the ignition and soot precursor formation processes through the computed production rates and temperature sensitivity coefficients using CHEMKIN-PRO software. Subsequently, reactions were assimilated based on the quasi-steady state assumption (QSSA). The final reduced mechanism, which consists of 109 elementary reactions with 44 species, was first validated under 48 shock tube conditions. Ignition delay (ID) periods predicted by the reduced and base CERC mechanisms were found to be in good agreement, although percentage errors of up to 20% were observed. Further validation was performed by incorporating the reduced mechanism into multi-dimensional CFD code, ANSYS FLUENT through a plug-in chemistry solver, CHEMKIN-CFD. Here, simulation results of combustion characteristics and soot production profiles were compared against data from an experimental study on a heavy-duty, direct injection diesel engine. Simulated peak pressures in cases with short and long ID periods were identical to those recorded from experiments and the maximum ID offset was maintained to within 1 crank angle degree. Spatial and temporal evolutions of in-cylinder soot were also captured successfully in both cases. Significant qualitative relationship between input parameters and soot evolution was elucidated from this study. The implementation of the reduced mechanism has achieved a 38% reduction in computational runtime when compared with that of the base mechanism.     

Fluidization of extremely large and widely sized coal particles as well as its application in an advanced chain grate boiler

A pyrolysis combustion technology (PCT) was developed for high-efficiency and environment-friendly chain grate boilers (CGBs). The realization of the PCT in a CGB requires that extremely large and widely sized coal particles should be first pyrolyzed in a semi-fluidized state before being transported into the combustion chamber of the boiler. This article was devoted first to investigating the fluidization of 0-40 mm coal particles in order to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the PCT. In succession, through mixing 0-10 mm and 10-20 mm coal particles in different proportions, multiple pseudo binary mixtures were prepared and then fluidized to clarify the effect of particle size distribution. With raw steam coal used as the feedstock, the superficial gas velocity of about 2.0 m/s may be suitable for stable operation of the fluidized-bed pyrolyzer in the CGB with the PCT. In the fluidization of widely sized coal particles, approximately half of the coal mass is segregated into the bottom section of the bed, though about 15% of 10-20 mm large particles are broken into 0-10 mm small particles because of particle attrition. The experimental results illustrate that an advanced CGB with the PCT has a high adaptability for various coals with different size distributions.     

焦炉煤气低NOx燃烧技术研究进展

介绍了焦炉煤气燃烧NOx排放情况和NOx生成机理,总结了废气循环、空气分级、燃料分级、高温贫氧、浓淡偏差燃烧、低NOx燃烧器、催化燃烧等低NOx燃烧技术的研究进展,指出实现焦炉煤气低NOx排放燃烧是以后的研究重点。低NOx燃烧技术与传统的焦炉、锅炉等燃烧方式相结合,可望实现焦炉煤气的高效、低污染排放燃烧。     

Modelling of dense and complex granular flow in high shear mixer granulator—A CFD approach

In the aspect of granulation process control, the numerical simulations appear to be a cost-effective and flexible tool to investigate the flow structure of granular materials in mixer granulators of various configurations and operating conditions. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used in this study to model the granular flow in a vertical high shear mixer granulator. The simulation is based on the continuum model of dense-gas kinetic theory [Gidaspow, D., Bezburuah, R., Ding, J., 1992. Hydrodynamics of circulating fluidized beds, kinetic theory approach. In: Fluidization, vol. VII, Proceedings of the 7th Engineering Foundation Conference on Fluidization, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 75-82] with consideration of inter-particle friction force at dense condition [Schaeffer, D.G., 1987. Instability in the evolution equations describing incompressible granular flow. Journal of Differential Equations 66 (1), 19-50]. This study aims to verify this numerical method in modelling dense and complex granular flows, where the solids motion obtained from the simulation is validated against the experimental results of positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) technique [Ng, B.H., Kwan, C.C., Ding, Y.L., Ghadiri, M., Fan, X.F., 2007. Solids motion of calcium carbonate particles in a high shear mixer granulator: a comparison between dry and wet conditions. Powder Technology 177 (1), 1-11]. In general, the Eulerian based continuum model captures the main features of solids motion in high shear mixer granulator including the bed height and dominating flow direction (the tangential velocity). However, the continuum based kinetic-frictional model is not capable of capturing the complex vertical swirl pattern. Quantitative comparison shows over-predictions in the tangential velocity and stiff drops of the tangential velocity at the wall region. These results demonstrate the deficiency in transmitting forces in the bed of granular materials which indicate the necessity to improve the constitutive relations of dense granular materials as a continuum.