Modeling for Pyrolysis of Solid Biomass

Authors

  • Biljana Miljkovic
    Affiliation
    Department for Energy and Process Engineering, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
  • Branislava Nikolovski
    Affiliation
    Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Novi Sad, Bulevar cara Lazara 1, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
  • Dejan Mitrović
    Affiliation
    Department of Thermal Engineering, Thermoenergetics and Process Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Niš, Aleksandra Medvedeva 14, 18000 Niš, Serbia
  • Jelena Janevski
    Affiliation
    Department of Thermal Engineering, Thermoenergetics and Process Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Niš, Aleksandra Medvedeva 14, 18000 Niš, Serbia
https://doi.org/10.3311/PPch.14039

Abstract

In comparison to coal, biomass is characterized by a higher content of volatile matter. It is a renewable source of energy which has many advantages from an ecological point of view. Understanding the physical phenomena of pyrolysis and representing them with a mathematical model is the primary step in the design of pyrolysis reactors. In the present study, an existing mathematical model is used to describe the pyrolysis of a single solid particle of biomass. It couples the heat transfer equations with the chemical kinetics equations. A finite difference method is used for solving the heat transfer equation and the two-step pyrolysis kinetics equations. The model equation is solved for a slab particle of equivalent dimension 0.001 m and temperature ranging from 300 to 923 K. An original numerical model for the pyrolysis of wood chips is proposed and relevant equations solved using original program realized in MATLAB.
To check the validity of the numerical results, experimental results of pyrolysis of woody biomass in laboratory facility was used. The samples were heated over a range of temperature from 300 to 923 K with three different heating rates of 21, 32 and 55 K/min, and the weight loss was measured. The simulation results as well as the results obtained from thermal decomposition process indicate that the temperature peaks at maximum weight loss rate change with the increase in heating rate. The experimental results showed that the simulation results are in good agreement and can be successfully used to understand the degradation mechanism of solid reaction.

Keywords:

mathematical modeling, pyrolysis, experiment, biomass

Citation data from Crossref and Scopus

Published Online

2019-10-11

How to Cite

Miljkovic, B., Nikolovski, B., Mitrović, D., Janevski, J. “Modeling for Pyrolysis of Solid Biomass”, Periodica Polytechnica Chemical Engineering, 64(2), pp. 192–204, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3311/PPch.14039

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Articles