Pyrolysis of single biomass particle using three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics modelling

Abstract

In the present work, the drying and pyrolysis process of a thermally thick single wood particle has been investigated. A novel approach has been made considering the two phases gas and solid inside the particle are not in thermal equilibrium. Mathematical relationship was built to determine distinct temperatures of solid and gas boundaries. An unsteady three-dimensional (3D) model is developed and simulated in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) framework. The Euler-Euler approach for modelling of single biomass particle has been succeeded with the help of C++ CFD toolbox in OpenFOAM. The 3D model can simulate the thermochemical conversion process of different particle types, particularly for different shapes to examine the spatial variations during the process. The model was validated by comparing the simulation results with data obtained by experiments conducted using a single particle reactor.