Multiscale Reactor Network Simulation of an Entrained Flow Biomass Gasifier: Model Description and Validation

This paper describes the development of a multiscale equivalent reactor network model for pressurized entrained flow biomass gasification to quantify the effect of operational parameters on the gasification process, including carbon conversion, cold gas efficiency, and syngas methane content. The model, implemented in the commercial software Aspen Plus, includes chemical kinetics as well as heat and mass transfer. Characteristic aspects of the model are the multiscale effect caused by the combination of transport phenomena at particle scale during heating, pyrolysis, and char burnout, as well as the effect of macroscopic gas flow, including gas recirculation. A validation using experimental data from a pilot-scale process shows that the model can provide accurate estimations of carbon conversion, concentrations of main syngas components, and cold gas efficiency over a wide range of oxygen-to-biomass ratios and reactor loads. The syngas methane content was most difficult to estimate accurately owing to the unavailability of accurate kinetic parameters for steam methane reforming.