CFD–DEM modeling of autothermal pyrolysis of corn stover with a coupled particle- and reactor-scale framework

Oluwafemi A. Oyedeji; M. Brennan Pecha; Charles E.A. Finney; Chad A. Peterson; Ryan G. Smith; Zachary G. Mills; Xi Gao; Mehrdad Shahnam; William A. Rogers; Peter N. Ciesielski; Robert C. Brown; James E. Parks

doi:10.1016/j.cej.2022.136920

CFD–DEM modeling of autothermal pyrolysis of corn stover with a coupled particle- and reactor-scale framework

Oluwafemi A. Oyedeji, M. Brennan Pecha, Charles E.A. Finney, Chad A. Peterson, Ryan G. Smith, Zachary G. Mills, Xi Gao, Mehrdad Shahnam, William A. Rogers, Peter N. Ciesielski, Robert C. Brown, James E. Parks

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Autothermal operation of fast pyrolysis is an efficient process-intensification technique wherein exothermic oxidation reactions are used to overcome the heat-transfer bottleneck of conventional pyrolysis. The development of accurate, reliable modeling toolsets is imperative to generating a deeper understanding of biomass autothermal pyrolysis systems to support scale-up and industrial deployment. This modeling effort describes the development of single-particle and reactor models which incorporate detailed reaction schemes and simultaneous exothermic oxidation reactions. The particle-scale model was parameterized for corn stover feedstock with particle morphology, density, ash content, and biopolymer composition, all of which impact the emergent conversion characteristics during pyrolysis. Results were then used to parameterize a reactor-scale autothermal pyrolysis model, which was developed using a coarse-grained computational fluid dynamic–discrete element method. The simulation results compared well with experimental results, with the predicted bio-oil, light gas, and biochar yield within 3.0 wt% of the experimental yields. Further analyses were performed to test the influence of equivalence ratio, biomass injection position, and particle size distribution on autothermal pyrolysis. The analysis of the physio-chemical properties of the fluid and solid phase inside the reactor and at the reactor outlet help reveal important process interactions of autothermal pyrolysis.

Original language	English
Article number	136920
Journal	Chemical Engineering Journal
Volume	446
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2022.136920
State	Published - Oct 15 2022

Funding

We thank the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) for funding and supporting this work. This article used resources of the Compute and Data Environment for Science (CADES) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. We thank the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) for funding and supporting this work. This article used resources of the Compute and Data Environment for Science (CADES) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). This work was authored in part by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding provided by U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes. This work was authored in part by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding provided by U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.

Funders	Funder number
CADES
DOE Public Access Plan
Data Environment for Science
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office
U.S. Government
U.S. Department of Energy	DE-AC05-00OR22725
Office of Science
National Renewable Energy Laboratory	DE-AC36-08GO28308
Bioenergy Technologies Office

Keywords

Biochar oxidation
Detailed reaction scheme
MFiX
Multi-scale model
Oxidative pyrolysis
Process intensification

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.cej.2022.136920

Cite this

Oyedeji, O. A., Brennan Pecha, M., Finney, C. E. A., Peterson, C. A., Smith, R. G., Mills, Z. G., Gao, X., Shahnam, M., Rogers, W. A., Ciesielski, P. N., Brown, R. C., & Parks, J. E. (2022). CFD–DEM modeling of autothermal pyrolysis of corn stover with a coupled particle- and reactor-scale framework. Chemical Engineering Journal, 446, Article 136920. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2022.136920

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abstract = "Autothermal operation of fast pyrolysis is an efficient process-intensification technique wherein exothermic oxidation reactions are used to overcome the heat-transfer bottleneck of conventional pyrolysis. The development of accurate, reliable modeling toolsets is imperative to generating a deeper understanding of biomass autothermal pyrolysis systems to support scale-up and industrial deployment. This modeling effort describes the development of single-particle and reactor models which incorporate detailed reaction schemes and simultaneous exothermic oxidation reactions. The particle-scale model was parameterized for corn stover feedstock with particle morphology, density, ash content, and biopolymer composition, all of which impact the emergent conversion characteristics during pyrolysis. Results were then used to parameterize a reactor-scale autothermal pyrolysis model, which was developed using a coarse-grained computational fluid dynamic–discrete element method. The simulation results compared well with experimental results, with the predicted bio-oil, light gas, and biochar yield within 3.0 wt% of the experimental yields. Further analyses were performed to test the influence of equivalence ratio, biomass injection position, and particle size distribution on autothermal pyrolysis. The analysis of the physio-chemical properties of the fluid and solid phase inside the reactor and at the reactor outlet help reveal important process interactions of autothermal pyrolysis.",

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AU - Brennan Pecha, M.

AU - Finney, Charles E.A.

AU - Peterson, Chad A.

AU - Smith, Ryan G.

AU - Mills, Zachary G.

AU - Gao, Xi

AU - Shahnam, Mehrdad

AU - Rogers, William A.

AU - Ciesielski, Peter N.

AU - Brown, Robert C.

AU - Parks, James E.

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AB - Autothermal operation of fast pyrolysis is an efficient process-intensification technique wherein exothermic oxidation reactions are used to overcome the heat-transfer bottleneck of conventional pyrolysis. The development of accurate, reliable modeling toolsets is imperative to generating a deeper understanding of biomass autothermal pyrolysis systems to support scale-up and industrial deployment. This modeling effort describes the development of single-particle and reactor models which incorporate detailed reaction schemes and simultaneous exothermic oxidation reactions. The particle-scale model was parameterized for corn stover feedstock with particle morphology, density, ash content, and biopolymer composition, all of which impact the emergent conversion characteristics during pyrolysis. Results were then used to parameterize a reactor-scale autothermal pyrolysis model, which was developed using a coarse-grained computational fluid dynamic–discrete element method. The simulation results compared well with experimental results, with the predicted bio-oil, light gas, and biochar yield within 3.0 wt% of the experimental yields. Further analyses were performed to test the influence of equivalence ratio, biomass injection position, and particle size distribution on autothermal pyrolysis. The analysis of the physio-chemical properties of the fluid and solid phase inside the reactor and at the reactor outlet help reveal important process interactions of autothermal pyrolysis.

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KW - Multi-scale model

KW - Oxidative pyrolysis

KW - Process intensification

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ER -

CFD–DEM modeling of autothermal pyrolysis of corn stover with a coupled particle- and reactor-scale framework

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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