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Vienna University of Technology, Institute of Chemical Engineering, Getreidemarkt 9/1662, 1060 Vienna, Austria
1
General modelling approach (2000) is assumed to be of minor importance in this
The CFD calculations presented in the current work have application due to the higher equivalence ratio of a
been accomplished using the commercial RANS-CFD- combustor compared to a gasifier. However, more
Solver FLUENT 6.2 with the geometrical pre-processor comprehensive mechanisms with a higher number of
GAMBIT 2.2. Turbulence has been modelled using the chemical reactions are currently under investigation. The
SST-k-ω-turbulence model by Menter (1994) because of kinetic parameters for the mentioned homogeneous gas-
its good performance in preliminary investigations of phase reactions have been taken from Brink et al. (2001),
turbulent swirling free-jets. The solid regions of the Hill et al. (2000) and from the FLUENT Users Guide
biomass bale as well as the char bed are treated as a (2005).
porous zone with defined flow resistance. For the The chemistry-turbulence coupling for the homogeneous
description of the radiative heat transfer the Discrete gas-phase reactions has been accomplished using the Eddy
Ordinates model (DO) combined with the WSGGM model Dissipation Concept by Magnussen and Hjertager (1976).
for the gas absorption characteristics has been chosen. All
heterogeneous reaction steps have been implemented and Moisture evaporation
the governing equations have been solved iteratively using The evaporation of the biomass moisture has been
an external Newton-solver. The results have been analysed by preliminary TGA measurements. Based on
transferred to FLUENT using user-defined subroutines. this analysis the conversion from liquid to gaseous water
Homogeneous gas reactions
is assumed to be a first-order reaction with a modified
Arrhenius approach for the description of the influence of
For the description of the composition of the gaseous the solid biomass temperature:
regions inside the combustor the so-called species-
transport-approach has been used. For this purpose ten [
∂ H 2 Oliquid ] = −k 7
[
× T − 475 × H 2 Oliquid ] (1)
´command´ species have been defined (given in Figure 1). H 2O
∂t
These species participate in seven homogeneous gas
reactions that are assumed to describe the combustion ⎛ 10584 ⎞
k H 2O = 2.822 × 10 −4 × exp⎜⎜ − ⎟
⎟
(2)
process sufficiently. The stoichiometry of these reactions ⎝ Tsolid ⎠
is given in Table 1. The reaction rate expressions for the
mentioned reactions are given are Table 2. Devolatilisation
Compared to coal, biomass contains a high amount of
# Reaction volatile components (up to 75 wt%), that are gasified
H1 H 2 + 0,5 O 2 → H 2 O during the devolatilisation phase. The composition of the
H2 CO + 0,5O 2 → CO 2 gaseous volatiles has been taken from Adanez et al. (2003)
⎛x y⎞ y
and was slightly adapted to fit the ultimate and proximate
H3 C x H y + ⎜⎜ + ⎟⎟ O 2 → x CO + H 2 O analysis of the biomass fuel. The species used in this
⎝2 4⎠ 2
approach are CO, CO2, H2, H2O, a pseudo-species CxHy
H4 NH 3 + O 2 → NO + H 2 O + 0,5 H 2
containing higher hydrocarbons and some precursor
H5 NH 3 + NO → N 2 + H 2 O + 0,5 H 2 species for fuel-bound NOx emissions. The thermal
H6 HCN + O 2 → NO + CO + 0,5 H 2 degradation rate of the solid biomass fuel has also been
H7 HCN + NO → N 2 + CO + 0,5 H 2 analysed by preliminary TGA measurements. A lumped
parameter model with three pseudo-components
Table 1: Stoichiometry for the homogeneous gas-phase (Cellulose, Hemicellulose, and Lignin) has been applied.
reactions. The conversion rates of these components to gaseous
volatiles and solid residual char have been modelled as
# Rate expression Parameters first order reactions in terms of the residual mass of the
⎛ 3728.4 ⎞ specified component together with an Arrhenius approach
[ ] [ ]
H1 k H 2 H 2 × O 2 k H 2 = 9.87 × 10 8 exp⎜⎜ −
T ⎟⎠
⎟
⎝ for the solid temperature influence:
⎛ 20446 .3 ⎞
H2 k [ ] [ ]
CO CO × O2
0, 25
[ ]
× H 2 O 0, 5 k CO = 2.239 × 1012 exp⎜⎜ −
⎝ T
⎟⎟
⎠
∂mi
∂t
(
= k i × mi∞ − mi ) with: mi∞ = mi0 × xi∞ (3)
⎛ 15311.8 ⎞
[ ] [ ]
H3 k CxHy CxHy 0, 2769 × O 2 1,3632 k CxHy = 1.0729 × 1010 exp⎜⎜ −
⎝ T
⎟⎟
⎠ ⎛ Ei ⎞
⎛ 8000 ⎞ k i = Ai × exp⎜⎜ ⎟ (4)
⎟
H4 k [ ] [ ]
NH 3 NH 3 × O2
0, 5
[ ]
× H 2 0, 5 k NH 3 = 1.21 × 10 5 × T 2 exp⎜⎜ −
⎝
⎟
T ⎟⎠ ⎝ R × Tsolid ⎠
⎛ 8000 ⎞ The parameters for this lumped devolatilisation model
[ ] [ ]
H5 k NH 3 NH 3 × NO k NH 3 = 8.73 × 1014 × T −1 exp⎜⎜ −
⎝
⎟
T ⎟⎠ have been adapted to fit the TGA measurements and are
⎛ 33712 ⎞ given in Table 3.
[
H6 k HCN HCN × O2] [ ] k HCN = 1.0 × 1010 exp⎜⎜ −
⎝ T ⎟⎠
⎟
⎛ 30188 ⎞
[
H7 k HCN HCN × NO] [ ] k HCN = 3.0 × 1012 exp⎜⎜ −
T ⎟⎠
⎟ xi0 xi∞ Ai Ei
⎝
[wt% (daf)] [wt%] [J/mol]
Table 2: Rate expression for homogeneous gas-phase Cellulose 40.83 2.82 9.00 × 1011 1.285 × 105
reactions.
Hemicellulose 34.93 29.93 3.74 × 105 7.547 × 104
We followed the suggestions of Zhou et al. (2005) to keep −3
Lignin 24.24 38.00 1.6 × 10 1.500 × 104
the reaction scheme as simple as possible to enhance the
numerical stability and the convergence behaviour. The Table 3: Model parameters for the lumped
water shift reaction applied for example in Fletcher et al. devolatilisation model.
2
Together with the progressive formation of volatile gases Using the definition of the stoichiometric ratio of the char
the generation of residual char arising from the individual combustion the char burnout reaction rate under film
pseudo-components can be described as follows: diffusion control can be developed:
1 + [CO2 ] [CO ] Kinetic char oxidation rate and film diffusion reaction rate
Φ= (7)
0.5 + [CO2 ] [CO ] have been combined to form the overall char consumption
rate introducing an effective reaction rate constant:
The ratio of CO to CO2 during char combustion is a
∂mChar (18)
function of the char particle temperature and has been = k eff × pO 2 × mChar
Gas
3
extensive parameter study concerning the oxygen content Initial mole fraction O2(0) [mol/mol]
has been conducted. For this reason, the mechanism has 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09
been applied to the CFD-model of an idealised non- 1
CxHy/CxHy(0)
1700
1E-01
1600
1E-02 the fluid dynamic mean residence time and the main
y/y(0) [-]
1500
1E-03 1400 features of the original design have been kept constant. A
1E-04 1300 drawing of this geometry is given in Figure 4.
1200
1E-05
1100
1E-06 1000
1E-07 900
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
Secondary combustion zone
Residence time [s]
CxHy/CxHy(0) CO/CO(0) NO/NO(0) Secondary air nozzles
CO2/CO2(0) O2/O2(0) temperature
Primary air nozzles
Figure 2: Residual molar fractions of the leading species
and gas temperature along the reaction pathway in an
idealised non-isothermal PFR (Oxygen equivalence ratio
1.016, initial gas temperature 950K).
A summary of the results of the parameter variation is z Biomass bale z
given in Figure 3. This diagram shows the residual molar y Char bed
x x
fractions of CxHy, CO and NO after one second of reaction y
in the PFR at different initial oxygen contents
(corresponding to a certain overall equivalence ratio). The
ideal behaviour of the plug flow reactor is reflected in the
fact that the residual amount of combustible carbon-
species is almost zero at equivalence ratios higher than 1
(complete combustion takes place). If not enough oxygen
is provided, the residual amount of combustibles in the
off-gas rises. The oxidation of CxHy seems to be more
sensitive to a lack of oxygen than the carbon monoxide z z
oxidation reaction. The pseudo-species CxHy represent a y
part of the VOCs in this model. The emissions of these x x
y
substances are usually strongly limited by legislation
especially for low-temperature biomass combustion
facilities. With a decreasing amount of excess oxygen the Figure 4: Drawing of the simplified combustion chamber
emission of nitrogen oxide can be reduced. Keeping this for model development.
behaviour in mind, an optimised equivalence ratio can be Two different combustion chamber operation modes have
expected, in order to minimise both the emissions of been analysed, distinguishing each other by the amount of
unburnt carbon-species and nitrogen oxide. air supply to the primary air nozzles. Details about the
boundary conditions of the considered two cases are given
in Table 4.
4
CASE 1 CASE 2 be mentioned, that the moisture is not included in the sum
Thermal input [kW] 2180 2180 of volatile components in this analysis. It can be observed,
Overall equivalence ratio [-] 1.743 1.743 that the devolatilisation process spans a quite large extent
Mass flow combustion air [kg/s] 1.32 1.32 and that the duration of this process is rather long. The
Mass flow recirculation gas [kg/s] 1.49 1.49 char burnout reaction, which is starting already inside the
Primary air fraction [-] 0.55 0.50 bale volume, needs a minimum particle temperature of
Secondary air fraction [-] 0.3 0.35 about 1000K together with a sufficient amount of oxygen
Afterburning grate air fraction [-] 0.15 0.15
for initiation.
Oxygen mass flow primary [kg/s] 0.199 0.184
Oxygen mass flow secondary [kg/s] 0.179 0.194
80
-2.55
-2.45
-2.35
-2.25
-2.15
-2.05
-1.95
-1.85
-1.75
-1.65
-1.55
-1.45
-1.35
-1.25
-1.15
-1.05
-0.95
-0.85
-0.75
CASE1 shows only 800mg/m³STP (+11% for CASE2). x-coordinate in biomass bale [m]
Moreover, the degree of char burnout is worse for CASE2,
0.16 30
0.14 20
0.12 10
0.1 0
-1.15
-1.16
-1.18
-1.19
-1.20
-1.21
-1.23
-1.24
-1.25
0.08
0.06 z-coordinate in char bed [m]
0.04
0.02
0
Figure 6: Content of volatiles and char along the biomass
bale and the char bed.
-2.50
-2.30
-2.10
-1.90
-1.70
-1.50
-1.30
-1.10
-0.90
x-coordinate in biomass bale [m] Finally, a glance inside the computational domain of the
Mass flow of solid components [kg/s]
-1.17
-1.18
-1.19
-1.21
-1.22
-1.23
-1.24
5
impinging primary air jets are clearly visible as well as a However, some of the modelling approaches and model
hot stream emanating from the combusting char bed in the parameters still require further investigation. The reaction
afterburner zone. The temperature profile inside the bale rate of the char burnout reaction will be further analysed
and in the vicinity of the bale surface provides valuable to improve the model predictions. The composition of the
information about the burnout characteristics for a further volatile gases and their formation during devolatilisation
optimisation and performance enhancements. will be investigated. The target is to find a model with an
operation-dependent composition of the volatile gases and
the nitrogen oxide precursor substances. The presented
model comprises constant generation characteristics,
which is a significant simplification. Additionally, refined
Arrhenius parameters for the N-species reactions have to
be found. The parameter set taken from literature seems to
underestimate the influence of the oxygen content on the
generation of nitrogen oxide. Finally, the applied models
will undergo comprehensive sensitivity analyses to check
for their physical relevance.
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z
simplified kinetic rate expression for describing the
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