Computational fluid dynamics modeling of biomass fast pyrolysis in a fluidized bed reactor, using a comprehensive chemistry scheme

Abstract

The CFD modeling for fast pyrolysis has previously focused on the major pyrolysis products; liquid, char and gas. This paper introduces a new approach to biomass pyrolysis; integrating a complex scheme of reactions including formation of such components as levoglucosan. The 3-D simulation takes into account the complex breakdown of each biomass subcomponent, the fluid dynamics of the process as well as the heat and momentum transfer of three Eulerian phases.The pyrolysis products include reference species that reflects the composition of the bio oil, gas fraction and char fraction. A number of reactions are in addition applied to account for the thermal cracking of tar compounds and the final compositions are compared to experimental yields. The results show that the predicted pyrolysis products reflect the experimental yields satisfactorily, apart from the water content which is under predicted. Most importantly though, the approach is computationally feasible and it should be useful for future work.