Problem

Write a MATLAB script(s) to model the transient heat and mass transfer, and combustion reaction
within a particle of biomass char using the finite differences approach.

Using this model, vary some parameters to see how they affect the progression of combustion
reaction and heat and mass transfer. Write a short report (5 pages should be enough) detailing
your research hypothesis and findings. You may use literature sources to discuss your results
further.

Assumptions
Assume a one-dimensional spherical biomass char particle under transient (unsteady state) heat
and mass transfer with reaction.
Assume no radiation heat transfer, only conduction and convection.
Assume the particle starts off at 25 °C with air inside any pore space and combusts in air that has
been preheated to the reaction temperature.
Assume that biomass char is 100% pure carbon and only the gas-solid char oxidation reaction
occurs.
C + O2 → CO2

Assume that specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity of the biomass char don’t vary with
temperature or orientation of the char particle.
Assume porosity, surface area, and density of the char particle don’t vary with conversion.
Conversion can be determined via the following equation:

𝑑𝑋(𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙, 0 → 𝑡) 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑏 ∙ 𝑉𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙

= =
𝑑𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝜌p−molar ∙ 𝑉𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙

Apply the following equation for the kinetic rate equation:

𝐶𝑂2 𝑆𝐴
𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑏 = (1 − 𝑋)
1 1
(( ) + ( ))
𝑘𝑔 𝑘"

One dimensional heat continuity equation for a sphere:

1 𝜕 2
𝜕𝑇 𝜕𝑇
(𝑘𝑒𝑓𝑓 𝑟 ) + 𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑏 (−∆𝐻) = 𝜌𝐶𝑝
𝑟 2 𝜕𝑟 𝜕𝑟 𝜕𝑡

One dimensional mass continuity equation for a sphere:

1 𝜕 2
𝜕𝑃𝑦 𝜕𝑃𝑦
(𝐷𝑒𝑓𝑓 𝑟 ) + 𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑏 𝑅𝑇𝑖 =
𝑟 2 𝜕𝑟 𝜕𝑟 𝜕𝑡
Apply the following boundary conditions:
𝜕𝑇
=0 r = 0, t ≥ 0
𝜕𝑟

𝜕𝑇
𝑘𝑒𝑓𝑓 = ℎ(𝑇𝑏 − 𝑇𝑒𝑛𝑑 ) r = rend, t ≥ 0
𝜕𝑟

𝜕𝑃𝑦
=0 r = 0, t ≥ 0
𝜕𝑟

𝜕𝑃𝑦
−𝐷𝑒𝑓𝑓 = 𝑘𝑔 (𝑃𝑦 𝑒𝑛𝑑 − 𝑃𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑘 ) r = rend, t ≥ 0
𝜕𝑟

Use the Chapman Enskog coefficient found on page 27 of Bird, Stuart and Lightfoot – Transport
Phenomena (see uploaded version on blackboard), eqn(1.4-16) in the 2nd edition, to calculate the
thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, dynamic viscosity, and density of the mixed gases.
Use the following equations for the dimensionless numbers:
Reynolds, Re
𝜌g 𝑣(2𝑟)
𝑅𝑒 =
𝜇g
Prandtl, Pr
𝐶p g 𝜇g
𝑃𝑟 =
𝑘g
Sherwood, Sh
1 1
𝑆ℎ = 2 + 0.552 𝑅𝑒 7 𝑆𝑐 3
Nusselt, Nu
1 1
𝑁𝑢 = 2 + 0.6 (𝑅𝑒 2 𝑃𝑟 3 )
Schmidt, Sc
𝜇g
𝑆𝑐 =
𝜌g 𝐷B gas

You may use the following values as initial values, as well as any data from the NIST chemistry
webbook thermophysical properties https://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/fluid/:

Parameter Value Unit

Specific heat capacity of biomass char, Cp 1.5 kJ/kg·K

Thermal conductivity of biomass char, k 0.2 W/m·K

Density of particle, ρp 650 kg/m3

Particle radius, r 5×10-4 m

Initial particle temperature, T0 20 °C

 Reaction/bulk gas temperature, Tb 800 °C

Particle porosity, εp 40 %

Molar particle density, ρp-molar 54,167 mol/m3

Surface area of biomass char, S 0.1 m2/g

Reaction pressure, P 1 Bar(a)

Partial pressure of O2 in initial combustion air, PO2 0.21 Bar(a)

Partial pressure of N2 in initial combustion air, PN2 0.79 Bar(a)

Partial pressure of CO2 in initial combustion air, PCO2 0 Bar(a)

Superficial gas velocity, v 0.7 m/s

Initial particle conversion, X 0 %

Ideal gas constant, R 8.314 J/K·mol

Relative molecular mass of O2, RMMO2 16 g/mol

Relative molecular mass of N2, RMMN2 14 g/mol

Relative molecular mass of CO2, RMMCO2 44 g/mol

Relative molecular mass of C, RMMC 12 g/mol

Final time for ODE, t 150 s

Activation energy, EA 120.4 kJ/mol

Pre-exponential factor, A 3.07 × 1010 s-1

Reaction enthalpy, ΔHᶱ 393.52 kJ/mol

Shell volume, Vshell 4/3π(ri+1 - ri)3 m3

Nomenclature of other undefined terms

Mass transfer coefficient kg m/s

Heat transfer coefficient h W/m2·K

Rate constant k” m/s

Concentration of gas y, Py / RT Cy mol/m3

 Subscripts

Gas, g

Particle, p

Bulk gas, B

Position within particle, i

Each gas (CO2, N2, O2), y

Outer most part of particle, end

Effective, eff
Outputs to be submitted
1. A short report covering the following items:
 Abstract (max 150 words)
 Description of model (~1-2 pages)
 Results and discussion of using the model (~1-2 pages)
 Any references you have used (no page limit)

The report should use the following formatting style guidelines:

 2 cm margins on all sides
 Main text and captions - Arial font, size 11, black, justified text
 Headings – Arial font, size 12, black, bold, centre aligned
 Sub-headings – Arial font, size 11, black, bold, left aligned
 Student ID number and title of report in header
 All figures, tables, equations, chemical symbols should be formatted as detailed in the
academic writing presentation shown in induction week

2. All required MATLAB codes with a README.txt document, so that I can run your model and
check it works. The MATLAB codes should be set up so that I only need to press ‘Run’ once.
The README.txt file should inform me which code I need to open, and press ‘Run’ within.
The outputs of the model should be to plot four 3D mesh plots of:
1. Time vs particle radius vs temperature
2. Time vs particle radius vs conversion
3. Time vs particle radius vs CO2 partial pressure
4. Time vs particle radius vs O2 partial pressure
Start a new script that produces the matrices needed for T, CO2, O2, N2
in a spherical 1-D particle
Now lets add in the chemical reaction kinetics
Bring it all together and plot the results
, you will need to generate one script and (at least) one function.

The script should set the following parameters and call the ODE solver:

Initial and bulk temperature, initial and bulk CO2, N2 and O2 partial pressures, N (number of
nodes along length), dr (distance between nodes), radius, time range, pressure, initial
conversion value (hint: 0).

All of these values get passed into the ODE solver function.

You also need to plot the required figures.

The function will be called by the ODE solver, in this function you should calculate the following:

All variables on slides 20-28 in Numerical Methods slides 2. (These can be done in a separate
function)

All sparse matrices.

Rate of reaction and conversion

Then, all you need to do is put it all together to calculate dT/dt, dPCO2/dt, dN2/dt, dO2/dt, and
dX/dt.

You will need to output these as one variable i.e. dy_var_dt = [dT_dt; dPCO2_dt; dPN2_dt;
dPO2_dt; dX_dt];