Development of advanced technology for biomass combustion—CFD as an essential tool

Major advances have been made in the development of bagasse combustion technologies and understanding the many processes involved in bagasse combustion and steam generation. CFD modeling has come to form an integral and critical part of this progression. The experience with CFD in the sugar industry through Sugar Research Institute has encompassed the full range of applications from fundamental code development, through the generation and commercialization of new ideas and technologies, to the resolution of practical plant problems. The paper summarises the numerous applications where SRI has achieved successful results utilizing CFD. It is demonstrated that the full benefits of CFD in the delivery of commercial outcomes, for new technologies and the solution of operating plant problems, are achieved through the close interaction between the code development and validation via full scale plant simulation. This two-way interaction enhances the code fundamentals by focusing on practical issues and similarly increases the confidence in the capabilities and accuracy of the CFD predictions, to an extent that justifies firm engineering decisions on commercial plant based solely on the characteristics predicted by the code.