Paper details

Title:

Prediction of Total Product Composition from Pyrolysis and Gasification of Lignocellulosic Biomass: a Model for Reactor Design and Optimization

Author(s):

Ochieng, R., Ceron, A.C., Konist, A., Sarker, S.

Document(s):

Abstract:

As far as thermochemical biorefineries are concerned, the development of a gasification process model capable of accurately predicting the total composition of non-condensable gases, char, and tar remains an unsolved problem. This paper presents a detailed kinetic mechanism for predicting the total product yield and composition of slow pyrolysis and steam gasification. The detailed kinetic mechanism in the study extends the previously proposed multi-step kinetic mechanism of Faravelli and co-authors to include extractives, secondary reactions for thermal cracking, and steam reformation of primary pyrolysis products. The model has been implemented in Aspen Plus® and validated using experimental data obtained from the slow pyrolysis and steam gasification (Steam/Biomass ~ 0.21) of pine wood in a fixed-bed batch reactor at temperatures of 750, 850, and 930 oC. A comparison of the gasification model with experimental data revealed average absolute errors of 17.8 percent for char yield and 17.3 percent for gas composition. While detailed experimental data is necessary to verify tar formation, the model can be useful for studying pyrolysis and gasification processes in terms of their operating parameters, especially temperatures and solid and vapor residence times.

Keywords:

gasification, pyrolysis, lignocellulosic biomass, kinetic modeling, Aspen Plus®

Topic:

Biomass Conversion to Intermediate Bioenergy Carriers and Sustainable Biofuels

Subtopic:

Pyrolysis

Event:

31st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition

Session:

5BV.10.5

Pages:

959 - 965

ISBN:

978-88-89407-23-3

Paper DOI:

10.5071/31stEUBCE2023-5BV.10.5

Price:

FREE