Abstract
The reduction of bed temperature in fixed-bed biomass combustion is an effective measure to lower pollutant emissions. Air staging and bed cooling solutions are active strategies to decrease the fuel bed temperature. This work presents a CFD study of a biomass fixed-bed combustion plant that is equipped with an internal cooling bed system. Eight different cases are calculated to analyze the effect of the total airflow, air staging ratios and bed cooling system on biomass combustion. The findings are validated against experimental data from the literature. The results show good accordance between the numerical results and the experimental data. The primary airflow rate has the biggest influence on the bed’s maximum temperatures. The internal bed cooling system is able to achieve an average bed temperature reduction of 21%, slowing the biomass thermal conversion processes. Bed cooling techniques can be combined with air staging and primary airflow reduction to reduce bed temperatures in order to reduce pollutant emissions and other undesirable phenomena, such as fouling or slagging.
Highlights
Biomass has been the main source of energy for heating and cooking since ancient times, due to its diversity, worldwide availability and usability [1,2]
Numerical studies using coupled empirical one-dimensional bed models have shown that enhanced air staging allows a significant reduction of particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions [21,22]
The experimental small-scale biomass combustion system presented by Pérez -Orozco et al will be simulated, validating the numerical modeling against the experimental data, allowing us to study the influence of bed cooling on the combustion [19]
Summary
Biomass has been the main source of energy for heating and cooking since ancient times, due to its diversity, worldwide availability and usability [1,2]. Numerical studies using coupled empirical one-dimensional bed models have shown that enhanced air staging allows a significant reduction of particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions [21,22] These models cannot predict the state of the solid fuel bed. The experimental small-scale biomass combustion system presented by Pérez -Orozco et al will be simulated, validating the numerical modeling against the experimental data, allowing us to study the influence of bed cooling on the combustion [19] For this purpose, several CFD cases for different primary airflows and staging ratios, and with the bed cooling system enabled or disabled, will be studied. A more detailed description of the EBiTCoM characteristics and procedures can be found in previously published works [26,30,35,36]
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