Modeling and performance analysis of biomass fast pyrolysis in a solar-thermal reactor

Abstract

Solar-thermal conversion of biomass through pyrolysis process is an alternative option to store energy in the form of liquid fuel, gas and bio-char. Fast pyrolysis is a highly endothermic process and essentially requires high heating rate and temperature >400 °C. This study presents a theoretical study on biomass fast pyrolysis in a solar-thermal reactor heated by a parabolic trough concentrator. The reactor is part of a novel closed loop pyrolysis-gasification process. A Eulerian-Eulerian flow model, with constitutive closure equation derived from the kinetic theory of granular flow and incorporating heat transfer, drying and pyrolysis reaction equations, was solved using ANSYS Fluent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. The highly endothermic pyrolysis was assumed to be satisfied by a constant solar heat flux concentrated on the reactor external wall. At the operating conditions considered, the reactor overall energy efficiency was found equal to 67.8% with the product consisting of 51.5% bio-oil, 43.7% char and 4.8% non-condensable gases. Performance analysis is presented to show the competitiveness of the proposed reactor in terms of thermal conversion efficiency and environmental impact. It is hoped that this study will contribute to the global effort on securing diverse and sustainable energy generation technologies.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b02806
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering > Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI)
Additional Information: This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Sustainable Chemistry Engineering, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b02806
Uncontrolled Keywords: biofuel,biomass fast pyrolysis,CFD modeling,parabolic trough,solar conversion,sustainable energy,Chemistry(all),Environmental Chemistry,Chemical Engineering(all),Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Publication ISSN: 2168-0485
Last Modified: 04 Mar 2024 08:20
Date Deposited: 06 Apr 2017 12:50
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2017-05-01
Published Online Date: 2017-04-05
Accepted Date: 2017-04-05
Submitted Date: 2016-11-20
Authors: Bashir, Muktar
Yu, Xi (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-3574-6032)
Hassan, Mohamed
Makkawi, Yassir

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