Please join us for a special BAE seminar
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
2:00-3:00 pm, 2045 Bainer Hall
CFD Modeling of Biomass Gasification Using a Circulating
Fluidized Bed Reactor
Presenter:
Hui Liu, Research Assistant
Chemical Engineering Department, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Abstract:
Biomass, as a renewable energy resource, can be utilized to generate chemicals, heat, and electricity. Compared to biomass combustion, biomass gasification is more eco-friendly because it generates less amount of green gas (CO2) and other polluting gases (NOx and SO2).
In circulating fluidized-bed gasifiers, fully fluidized biomass particles react with water vapor and air to generate syngas (CO and H2). A comprehensive model, consisting of three modules, hydrodynamics, mass transfer and energy transfer modules, is built to simulate biomass gasification in a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) using ANSYS Fluent software and C programming language. In the hydrodynamics module, the k-epsilon turbulence equations are coupled with the fluctuating energy equation to simulate gasparticle interaction in the CFB riser. In the mass transfer and energy transfer modules, heat and mass transport equations are applied to solve for the profiles of temperature and species concentration in the gasifier. The simulation results including the gas composition and temperature profiles are compared with experimental data. Additionally, the impacts of thermal radiation, water gas shift reaction (WGS), and equivalence ratio (ER) are also investigated to gain deeper understanding of biomass gasification process.
Bio:
Hui Liu is a research assistant in the department of chemical engineering at University of Waterloo under the supervision of Professor Ali Elkamel. His research is mainly focused on hydrodynamic regime of circulating fluidized bed gasifier and CFD modeling of biomass gasification in a circulating fluidized bed. Prior to his PhD study, he also received the degree of Master of Applied Science (MASc) from University of Waterloo. Currently he has published 4 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and 2 more
papers are now under review for publication.
Coffee and cookies will be served.
