Spouted and spout-fluid bed combustors. 2: Batch combustion of carbon

A batch combustion model of carbon particles in a spouted bed has been developed based on the concept of carbon residence time in each region of the spouted bed (annulus, spout and fountain). Both isothermal and nonisothermal particles are considered, with the assumption of no temperature gradient inside the particle. Model predictions in terms of carbon conversion and burnout time were in good agreement with experimental data obtained from a laboratory scale spouted bed combustor. For comparison, an experimental study on a spout-fluid mode was also carried out.     

Spouted and spout-fluid bed combustors 1: Devolatilization and combustion of coal volatiles

The devolatilization and volatile combustion of a single coal particle in spouted and spout-fluid beds have been studied. The results showed that the flame extinction time increases with the particle diameter, and decreases with the bed temperature. When the bed temperature and the air flow rate were fixed, the operation modes (spouted or spout-fluid bed) showed less effect on the mean flame extinction time. A mathematical model of the spouted bed mode for preignition and postignition periods has also been developed assuming the devolatilization rate to be controlled by heat transfer and multireaction pyrolysis kinetics based on volatile products. Ignition, heat transfer back from the volatile flame to the particle surface, variation in flame temperature, and the hydrodynamics of SB are taken into account. The model predictions, with some adjusting parameters, were in good agreement with experimental results.     

下吸式固定床的生物质H2O/CO2气化数值模拟研究

利用Aspen Plus 软件建立干桦木屑在下吸式固定床气化炉中的气化模型,模拟值与文献实验值吻合良好。利用Aspen Plus的灵敏度分析模块模拟分别以水蒸气（H₂O）和二氧化碳（CO₂）为气化剂时气化剂/生物质碳比（GC值）对气化结果的影响,并结合H₂O、CO₂各自的特点研究其复合气化。结果表明,H₂O气化时可获得富氢煤气,但其净CO₂排放量较高;CO₂气化时碳转化率及冷煤气效率较低,但净CO₂排放量较低;H₂O、CO₂复合气化使碳转化率及冷煤气效率略有降低,但可有效减少气化系统中的净CO₂排放量。     

下吸式固定床的生物质O2/CO2分段气化流程模拟

建立干桦木屑在下吸式固定床气化炉中的Aspen Plus气化模型,该模型预测煤气组成和煤气热值,与文献试验结果吻合良好。利用灵敏度分析模块模拟了氧碳比、CO₂/C对气化结果的影响,并提出O₂/CO₂分段气化流程,对比常规的CO₂气化特征,分析了CO₂/C对气化结果的影响。结果表明,纯氧气化时可获得高H₂和CO浓度的气化气,但其净CO₂排放量较高,氧碳比增加使碳转化率逐渐增加、冷煤气效率先增加后降低;CO₂作为气化剂时,随着CO₂/C的增加,净CO₂排放量逐渐减少,但碳转化率及冷煤气效率大幅降低;与常规CO₂气化相比,O₂/CO₂分段气化在保持低CO₂排放量的同时,可有效增加气化过程中的碳转化率及冷煤气效率。     

温度对中试规模的喷动流化床煤部分气化行为的影响

在构建的热输入2MW的中试规模加压喷动流化床部分气化试验装置上,对徐州烟煤的加压部分气化行为进行了研究.重点考察了气化温度对煤气成分、煤气热值、碳转化率和煤气产率等气化指标的影响.研究结果表明,煤气各组分的浓度,特别是甲烷浓度对气化温度非常敏感,碳转化率和煤气产率随温度的升高而增加,在试验的温度区间内,温度对煤气热值影响不大.部分气化炉所产生的煤气和半焦的热值均满足第二代增压流化床联合循环发电系统的要求.     

Modeling of single coal particle combustion in O2/N2 and O2/CO2 atmospheres under fluidized bed condition

A one-dimensional transient single coal particle combustion model was proposed to investigate the characteristics of single coal particle combustion in both O₂/N₂ and O₂/CO₂ atmospheres under the fluidized bed combustion condition. The model accounted for the fuel devolatilization, moisture evaporation, heterogeneous reaction as well as homogeneous reactions integrated with the heat and mass transfer from the fluidized bed environment to the coal particle. This model was validated by comparing the model prediction with the experimental results in the literature, and a satisfactory agreement between modeling and experiments proved the reliability of the model. The modeling results demonstrated that the carbon conversion rate of a single coal particle (diameter 6 to 8 mm) under fluidized bed conditions (bed temperature 1088 K) in an O₂/CO₂ (30:70) atmosphere was promoted by the gasification reaction, which was considerably greater than that in the O₂/N₂ (30:70) atmosphere. In addition, the surface and center temperatures of the particle evolved similarly, no matter it is under the O₂/N₂ condition or the O₂/CO₂ condition. A further analysis indicated that similar trends of the temperature evolution under different atmospheres were caused by the fact that the strong heat transfer under the fluidized bed condition overwhelmingly dominated the temperature evolution rather than the heat release of the chemical reaction.     

Fuel characteristics of gasified coconut shell in a fluidized and a spouted bed reactor

In this study, an attempt has been made to gasify coconut shell in a fluidized and a spouted bed reactor. The effects of the gasification temperature on individual gas components, their yields and heating values for both types of beds have also been studied. The fluidized bed appears slightly superior to the spouted bed both in respect to heating value and gas yield over the temperature range studied.     

Experiments on chemical looping combustion of coal with a NiO based oxygen carrier

A chemical looping combustion process for coal using interconnected fluidized beds with inherent separation of CO₂ is proposed in this paper. The configuration comprises a high velocity fluidized bed as an air reactor, a cyclone, and a spout-fluid bed as a fuel reactor. The high velocity fluidized bed is directly connected to the spout-fluid bed through the cyclone. Gas composition of both fuel reactor and air reactor, carbon content of fly ash in the fuel reactor, carbon conversion efficiency and CO₂ capture efficiency were investigated experimentally. The results showed that coal gasification was the main factor which controlled the contents of CO and CH₄ concentrations in the flue gas of the fuel reactor, carbon conversion efficiency in the process of chemical looping combustion of coal with NiO-based oxygen carrier in the interconnected fluidized beds. Carbon conversion efficiency reached only 92.8% even when the fuel reactor temperature was high up to 970 °C. There was an inherent carbon loss in the process of chemical looping combustion of coal in the interconnected fluidized beds. The inherent carbon loss was due to an easy elutriation of fine char particles from the freeboard of the spout-fluid bed, which was inevitable in this kind of fluidized bed reactor. Further improvement of carbon conversion efficiency could be achieved by means of a circulation of fine particles elutriation into the spout-fluid bed or the high velocity fluidized bed. CO₂ capture efficiency reached to its equilibrium of 80% at the fuel reactor temperature of 960 °C. The inherent loss of CO₂ capture efficiency was due to bypassing of gases from the fuel reactor to the air reactor, and the product of residual char burnt with air in the air reactor. Further experiments should be performed for a relatively long-time period to investigate the effects of ash and sulfur in coal on the reactivity of nickel-based oxygen carrier in the continuous CLC reactor.     

Thermochemical conversion of brown coal and biomass in a pressurised fluidised bed gasifier with hot gas filtration using ceramic channel filters: measurements and gasifier modelling

Biomass (wood and Miscanthus pellets) and Rhenish brown-coal were gasified using a 1.5 MW_th (max.) pressurised fluidised bed gasification (PFBG) installation. NO_x precursor and tar emissions were studied by varying process parameters like the fuel type, pressure, temperature and air factor. Carbon conversions were well above 80%. Fuel-nitrogen conversion into NH₃ was mostly above ca. 50%. Fuel-nitrogen conversion into HCN was significantly lower. Results were in-line with comparable investigations with bottom feeding. Measurements of the gas composition for Miscanthus gasification were compared with a steady-state model based on elementary reaction chemistry and heterogeneous gas–char reactions related to the emission of nitrogen species. A flash pyrolysis model (FG-DVC-biomass version) was applied to determine the initial yields. Measurements and model simulation results were in reasonably good agreement.     

Pilot scale autothermal gasification of coconut shell with CO2-O2 mixture

This paper explored the feasibility and benefit of CO₂ utilization as gasifying agent in the autothermal gasification process. The effects of CO₂ injection on reaction temperature and producer gas composition were examined in a pilot scale downdraft gasifier by varying the CO₂/C ratio from 0.6 to 1.6. O₂ was injected at an equivalence ratio of approximately 0.33–0.38 for supplying heat through partial combustion. The results were also compared with those of air gasification. In general, the increase in CO₂ injection resulted in the shift of combustion zone to the downstream of the gasifier. However, compared with that of air gasification, the long and distributed high temperature zones were obtained in CO₂-O₂ gasification with a CO₂/C ratio of 0.6–1.2. The progress of the expected CO₂ to CO conversion can be implied from the relatively insignificant decrease in CO fraction as the CO₂/C ratio increased. The producer gas heating value of CO₂-O₂ gasification was consistently higher than that of air gasification. These results show the potential of CO₂-O₂ gasification for producing high quality producer gas in an efficient manner, and the necessity for more work to deeply imply the observation.     

A numerical model of a fluidized bed biomass gasifier

A one-dimensional, steady state, numerical model was developed for a fluidized bed biomass gasifier. The gasifier model consists of a fuel pyrolysis model, an oxidation model, a gasification model and a freeboard model. Given the bed temperature, ambient air flow rate and humidity ratio, fuel moisture content and reactor parameters, the model predicts the fuel feed rate for steady state operation, composition of the producer gas and fuel energy conversion. The gasifier model was validated with experimental results. The effects of major mechanisms (fuel pyrolysis and the chemical and the physical rate processes) were assessed in a sensitivity study of the gasification model. A parametric study was also conducted for the gasifier model. It is concluded that the model can be used for gasifier performance analysis.     

Overview of combustion and gasification of rice husk in fluidized bed reactors

Rice is cultivated in more than 75 countries in the world. The rice husk is the outer cover of the rice and on average it accounts for 20% of the paddy produced, on weight basis. The worldwide annual husk output is about 80 million tonnes with an annual energy potential of 1.2 × 10⁹ GJ corresponding to a heating value of 15 MJ/kg. India alone generates about 22 million tonnes of rice husk per year. If an efficient method is available, the husk can be converted to a useful form of energy to meet the thermal and mechanical energy requirements of the rice mills themselves. This paper provides an overview of previous works on combustion and gasification of rice husk in atmospheric bubbling fluidized bed reactors and summarizes the state of the art knowledge. As the high ash content, low bulk density, poor flow characteristics and low ash melting point makes the other types of reactors like grate furnaces and downdraft gasifiers either inefficient or unsuitable for rice husk conversion to energy, the fluidized bed reactor seems to be the promising choice. The overview shows that the reported results are from only small bench or lab scale units. Although a combustion efficiency of about 80% can normally be attained; the reported values in the literature, which are more than 95%, seem to be in higher order. Combustion intensity of about 530 kg/h/m² is reported. It is also technically feasible to gasify rice husk in a fluidized bed reactor to yield combustible producer gas, even with sufficient heating value for application in internal combustion engines. A combustible gas with heating value of 4-6 MJ/Nm³ at a rate of 2.8-4.6 MW_th/m² seems to be possible. Only very little information is available on the pollutant emissions in combustion and tar emissions from gasification. The major conclusion is that the results reported in the literature are limited and vary widely, emphasizing the need for further research to establish suitable and optimum operating conditions for commercial implementations.     

Alkali retention/separation during bagasse gasification: a comparison between a fluidised bed and a cyclone gasifier

Biomass fuelled integrated gasification/gas turbines (BIG/GTs) have been found to be one of the most promising technologies to maximise electricity output in the sugar industry. However, biomass fuels contain alkali metals (Na and K) which may be released during the gasification processes and cause deleterious effects on the downstream hardware (e.g. the blades of gas turbines). Much research has therefore been focused on different kinds of gas cleaning. Most of these projects are using a fluidised bed gasifier and includes extensive gas cleaning which leads to a high capital investment.

Increasing alkali retention/separation during the gasification may lead to improved producer gas quality and reduced costs for gas cleaning. However, very little quantitative information is available about the actual potential of this effect. In the present work, comparative bench-scale tests of bagasse gasification were therefore run in an isothermal fluidised bed gasifier and in a cyclone gasifier to evaluate which gasification process is most attractive as regards alkali retention/separation, and to try to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the retention.

The alkali retention in the fluidised bed gasifier was found to be in the range of 12–4% whereas in the cyclone gasifier the alkali separation was found to be about 70%. No significant coating of the fluidised bed's bed material particles could be observed. The SEM/EDS and the elemental maps of the bed material show that a non-sticky ash matrix consisting of mainly Si, Al and K were distributed in a solid form separated from the particles of bed material. This indicates the formation of a high temperature melting potassium containing silicate phase, which is continuously scavenged and lost from the bed through elutriation.     

Gasification of lignocellulosic biomass in fluidized beds for renewable energy development: A review

A literature review on gasification of lignocellulosic biomass in various types of fluidized bed gasifiers is presented. The effect of several process parameters such as catalytic bed material, bed temperature and gasifying agent on the performance of the gasifier and quality of the producer gas is discussed. Based on the priorities of researchers, the optimum values of various desired outputs in the gasification process including improved producer gas composition, enhanced LHV, less tar and char content, high gas yield and enhanced carbon conversion and cold gas efficiency have been reported. The characteristics and performance of different fluidized bed gasifiers were assessed and the obtained results from the literature have been extensively reviewed. Survey of literature revealed that several industrial biomass gasification plants using fluidized beds are currently conducting in various countries. However, more research and development of technology should be devoted to this field to enhance the economical feasibility of this process for future exploitations.     

Effect of the blend ratio on the co-gasification of biomass and coal in a bubbling fluidized bed with CFD-DEM

Computational Fluid Dynamics-Discrete Element Method (CFD-DEM) is employed to describe the co-gasification of biomass and coal in bubbling fluidized bed coupled with chemical reaction kinetic model. Six sets of simulations are set up to study the effect of blend ratio on the amount of gasification products compared with experiments. The calorific value of syngas, carbon conversion efficiency, hydrogen conversion efficiency and cold gas efficiency are calculated. Compared with the separate gasification, the hydrogen efficiency and cold gas efficiency in the co-gasification are enhanced. When biomass accounts for 75%, the contents of CO gas and CO₂ gas are the lowest, while the contents of H₂ gas and CH₄ gas are the highest. The high calorific value, carbon conversion efficiency and hydrogen conversion efficiency reach the maximum under this blend ratio. The cold gas efficiency is not obviously affected by the blend ratio, and reaches the maximum when the biomass content is 50%.     

Two-phase biomass air-steam gasification model for fluidized bed reactors: Part III—model validation

The developed two-phase air-steam gasification model (Biomass Bioenergy, xxxxx) was validated using the experimental results obtained from a dual distributor fluidized bed reactor. The reactor was operated on wheat straw at various fluidization velocities, steam flow rates and biomass to steam ratios. A good agreement between the model predictions and experimental data was obtained under all operating conditions studied. The model predicted the temperatures of the bubble, emulsion and solid phases, the mole fractions of methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and the higher heating value of the producer gas with high accuracy (R²=0.88–0.98). The correlation coefficient (R²) for the gas production was somewhat lower (0.75), which could be attributed to the assumption that the gases behaved ideally.     

温度对喷动流化床煤气化影响的数值模拟

建立了基于CFD的三维非稳态的喷动流化床煤气化动力学模型,考察了温度对喷动流化床煤气化影响。此模型包含了以下子模型：气固流动模型,煤的挥发分析出模型,焦炭气化反应模型,气相间的均相反应模型。焦炭的非均相反应的速率由气体的扩散和化学反应动力学共同控制,气体的均相反应可以作为二级反应来处理。试验结果和模拟的计算结果进行了对比,验证的结果表明了此CFD模型可以用来预测煤气化的反应过程。     

Attrition of lignite char in a spouted bed combustor

The generation of carbon fines by attrition during burning of Thai lignite char has been studied experimentally by means of a 92 mm i.d. continuous spouted bed combustor at different values of spouting gas velocity, bed temperature, and char feed size. Both inert particle size and static bed depth were fixed for all experimental runs. The collected data were used to analyse size distributions of both in-bed particles and elutriated fines, and to generate the suitable correlations for carbon attrition rate. Results obtained showed that attrition rate in the spouted bed is proportional to the excess of gas velocity above the minimum spouting gas velocity and the overall bed carbon surface exposed to attrition. The attrition rate constant is slightly dependent on operating bed temperature. Its values for the char studied were 1.6511 × 10^?6 for 707°C operating bed temperature, and 1.1222 × 10^?6 for 850°C, with the average for all tested runs being 1.224 × 10^?6.     

Experimental investigation of the effect of physical pre-treatment on air-blown fluidized bed biomass gasification

The effect of comminution, drying, and densification on bubbling fluidized bed gasification was investigated by fractionating a forestry residue into a feedstock consisting of different particle sizes, moisture levels, and by densifying to pellets. The gasification performance was evaluated at nominal average bed temperatures of 725°, 800° and 875 °C at a constant fluidizing velocity (0.91 m s⁻¹) with feed input rates between 9 and 24 kg h⁻¹.The gas composition was observed to be influenced by both the particle size and form. Smaller particles led to a gas richer in carbon monoxide and depleted in hydrogen. The gasification of pellets led to a gas with the greatest hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio. The smallest particles tested resulted in the worst gasification performance, as defined by cold gas efficiency, carbon conversion, and tar production. Despite differences in the gas composition among the larger particles and the pellets, similar carbon conversion and cold gas efficiency was observed.Relative to comparable test conditions with dry feed fractions (having a moisture mass fraction of 7–12%), an average 11% increase in carbon conversion was observed for the wetter feed fractions containing a moisture mass fraction of 24–31%. This increase in carbon conversion offset much of the expected decrease in cold gas efficiency by using a wetter feed material. A slight increase in hydrogen production and negligible change in tar production was observed for the wetter feed fractions relative to the dry feed fraction.     

2MW加压喷动流化床煤部分气化特性的研究

在热输入2MW的中试规模加压喷动流化床部分气化试验装置上，采用徐州煤烟进行了连续12h的加压部分气化试验研究，研究了在深床条件下煤部分气化特性，以及汽煤比的变化对部分气化的影响。研究结果表明：在合适的喷动风和流化风配比下，可实现深床气化，使气化反应基本达到化学平衡；在其它条件不变的前提下，汽煤比增加，气化炉温度下降，煤气中H2含量有较大幅度的提高，煤气热值也有所增加。文章的最后将试验的主要指标与国内外类似规模装置上获得的数据进行了比较。图6表5参10