Numerical modelling of char formation during glucose gasification in supercritical water

Abstract

Supercritical water gasification is an efficient thermochemical conversion process to convert wet biomass into a high grade fuel. However, char formation during the conversion might influence the process efficiency and operational stability. Providing insight into char formation behavior during the gasification process will facilitate the utilization of this technology. Computational fluid dynamic modelling is used to study the supercritical water gasification of glucose in a tubular helical reactor, which includes an injector tube to mix glucose feed with pre-heated water to provide fast heating. Validation against experimental data confirms that the developed model performs well. An average discrepancy of 4% is obtained for the total feed conversion whereas the gas yield at high temperature is computed with 15% difference. The char yield trend is also captured well. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the presence of low temperature zone at the injection point plays a significant role in char formation.