Modeling of biomass pyrolysis in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor: Impact of intra-particle heat conduction

Abstract

Biomass fast pyrolysis in a fluidized bed reactor is studied numerically by a three-fluid model where the biomass thermal decomposition is introduced with multi-step kinetics. Different superficial velocities of fluidizing gas are defined to investigate the hydrodynamics of the fluidized beds and the consequent influence on the yield fractional distribution of end-products. Heat conduction inside particles is considered indirectly through modifying the rate constants of biomass reaction scheme. The simulation results show that superficial velocity has to be designed carefully based on balancing the char-removal efficiency and biomass heating up rate; compared to the experimental data, the modified reaction scheme can be employed to describe the intra-particle heat penetration, qualitatively, but the accuracy of predicting the end-product yields needs to be improved.