The objective of this paper is to investigate biomass fast pyrolysis process in a novel once-through transported
fluid bed process development unit. The main emphasis was given to the design and operation of this unit,
which is made of several vessel modules. The main part of the unit is a specially designed mixing zone,
where the solid heat carrier mixes with the biomass feed. The unit can process up to 20 g/min biomass and
can circulate up to 300 g/min solid. Experiments showed that the unit could run effectively, with satisfactory
stability and mass balances (92−96 wt % on biomass), under a wide range of experimental conditions. The
yield of the raw total liquid product was up to 78 wt % on biomass basis. The effect of pyrolysis temperature
on product yields is also presented in this paper: the temperature of 500 °C was found to be an optimum
temperature for the maximization of the liquid product yields using a wood-based biomass.
In this paper a dynamic simulator of the FCC pilot plant, operated in Chemical Process Engineering Research Institute (CPERI), is presented. The simulator was developed and verified on the basis of steady-state and dynamic experiments. The operation of the pilot plant permits the execution of case studies for recording of the dynamic responses of the unit, by imposing substantial step changes in a number of the manipulated variables. The comparison between the dynamic behavior of the unit and this predicted by the simulator, arise useful conclusions on both the similarities of the pilot plant to commercial units along with the ability of the simulator to depict the main dynamic characteristics of the integrated system.The simulator predicts the wt% feed conversion, the wt% coke yield and the heat consumed by the catalytic reactions in the FCC riser on the basis of semi-empirical models developed in CPERI and simulates the regenerator according to the two-phase theory, with a dilute phase model in account for post-combustion reactions. The riser and regenerator temperature, the stripper and regenerator pressure drop and the composition of the regenerator flue gas are measured on line and are used for verification of the ability of the simulator to predict the dynamic transients between steady states in both open-and closed-loop unit operation. All the available process variables such as the reaction conversion, the coke yield, the carbon on regenerated catalyst and the catalyst circulation rate are used for the validation of the steady state performance of the simulator. The results reveal the ability of the simulator to predict accurately the operation of the pilot plant in both steady state and dynamic conditions. The dynamic simulator can serve as the basis for the development of a model based control structure for the pilot plant, besides its use as a tool for process optimization studies.
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