Turbulence Modelling on Fluidized Bed Gasification

Abstract

Energy generation from carbon-based solid materials, such as coal by a gasification process, increasingly has become an essential research subject, as current energy sources are getting to an end. Waste material management is also of considerable significance to dispose of them sustainably and efficiently from the environment. There is, therefore, the need for an advanced modeling approach to maximize the efficiency of coal-derived synthesis gas, and to optimize process parameters for designing a new gasifier. Hence, a two-dimensional (2-D) gasification system was initially simulated by using commercial code ANSYS FLUENT. Devolatilization and char combustion chemical reactions of the process were modeled by User Defined Functions (UDF) to simulate their chemical kinetics more accurately. Once a mesh independency study was fulfilled, performance evaluation was done, and the energy efficiency of the gasification system was also calculated. Subsequently, model validation has been performed, and RANS based turbulence models were examined to find out the best turbulence modeling approach.