Multiscale Reactor Network Simulation of an Entrained Flow Biomass Gasifier: Model Description and Validation

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a multiscale equivalent reactor network model for pressurized entrained flow biomass gasification to quantify the effect of operational parameters on the gasification process, including carbon conversion, cold gas efficiency, and syngas methane content. The model, implemented in the commercial software Aspen Plus, includes chemical kinetics as well as heat and mass transfer. Characteristic aspects of the model are the multiscale effect caused by the combination of transport phenomena at particle scale during heating, pyrolysis, and char burnout, as well as the effect of macroscopic gas flow, including gas recirculation. A validation using experimental data from a pilot‐scale process shows that the model can provide accurate estimations of carbon conversion, concentrations of main syngas components, and cold gas efficiency over a wide range of oxygen‐to‐biomass ratios and reactor loads. The syngas methane content was most difficult to estimate accurately owing to the unavailability of accurate kinetic parameters for steam methane reforming.

Emissions from a Domestic Wood Heating Appliance: Experimental Measurements and Numerical Study Using an Equivalent Reactor Network (ERN) Approach Coupled with a Detailed Chemical Mechanism

“…Several studies in the literature have modeled the primary pyrolysis of biomass using a PSR ,, or a partially stirred reactor (PaSR) . In line with these studies, the first element of the ERN is a PSR that models the pyrolysis of a thin layer of wood on the log surface.…”

“…Biomass combustion and gasification are very complex processes, since they include three aspects: chemical kinetics, mass and heat transfer, and aeraulics. As described by Andersson et al, 9 model biomass combustion and gasification: single biomass particles combustion models, models of a full combustion device based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and models using a multiscale equivalent reactor network (ERN). Single fuel particle modeling is an efficient approach to investigate intraparticle heat and mass transfer during biomass thermal degradation.…”

“…the ERN model can be coupled to CFD approach to optimize industrial systems. 16 Andersson et al 9 developed an ERN model, based on ideal reactor (perfectly stirred reactor (PSR) and plug flow reactor (PFR)) to reproduce an entrained flow biomass gasifier in order to optimize operational parameters. The pyrolysis was represented by a one-step reaction while nine global reactions were used to describe the gas-phase reactions.…”

An Assessment of Gasification of Lipid-Extracted Algae by Thermodynamic Simulation

“…Gasifier temperature was varied from 800 °C to 1400 °C, in order to cover the whole spectrum from fluidised-bed gasifier to entrained-flow gasifier. Heat loss from the gasifier was assumed to be 4% of the lower heating value (LHV) of the feedstock [16].…”

Catalytic liquefaction of sewage sludge to small molecular weight chemicals

“…nowadays, it gains comprehensive attention and application in the energy and resource research of biomass. It comes down to different scale of heat transfer 7 , 8 , compound material and analysis of biomass construction at different scale 9 – 16 , different scale of thermodynamics and dynamics for biomass treatment process 6 , 15 – 25 , different scale of chemistry mechanism 26 – 32 and multi-scale coupling in biomass treatment 32 – 45 . Mushrif figured that multi-scale tool is a effective means in biomass transform technology 46 , Coupling of multi-scale is more important in the research of energy and resource for biomass 47 – 59 .…”