Analysing the effect of temperature for steam fluidized-bed gasification of biomass with MP-PIC simulation

Abstract

Gasification in fluidized beds is an outstanding technology in biomass to energy conversion. The multiphase particle-in-cell modelling has reduced the computational time related to CFD simulations of dense gas-solid systems like fluidized bed gasification. Barracuda VR commercial CFD package was used to analyse the effect of reactor temperature in steam gasification of biomass. The product gas composition, lower heating value and the cold gas efficiency were compared for steam at 873K, 973K and 1073K. The steam-to-biomass ratio was maintained at a constant value of 0.45. The hydrogen content of the product gas changed from 36% to 57% as the temperature was increased from 873K to 1073K whereas the carbon monoxide content changed from 33% to 13%. The lower heating value and the cold gas efficiency changed from 10.4 MJ/kg to 10.1 MJ/kg and 76.6% to 73.2% respectively within the same temperature range. The formation of tar was not modelled and the gas composition showed high sensitivity towards the reactor temperature.