A DEM modeling of biomass fast pyrolysis in a double auger reactor

in International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer (2020), 150

Thermochemical conversion of biomass via fast pyrolysis is a proven pathway to product low-carbon crude bio-oils. In this research, an extended discrete element method (DEM) is proposed for simulating ... [more ▼]

Thermochemical conversion of biomass via fast pyrolysis is a proven pathway to product low-carbon crude bio-oils. In this research, an extended discrete element method (DEM) is proposed for simulating biomass fast pyrolysis reacting granular flows in a double auger reactor, in which particle hydrodynamics and interparticle heat transfer processes are involved and coupled with chemical reactions in solid particles. An adaptive time step algorithm is proposed to achieve a stable coupling between the integration of reaction ordinary differential equations and the DEM solver, and the algorithm is proven computationally efficient. A multi-component fast pyrolysis kinetics is adopted and its modeling accuracy is assessed by carrying out simulations of benchmark biomass pyrolysis experiments and comparing the prediction results with experimental data. The predicted product yields of bio-oil, char and non-condensable gas from the simulation of the biomass fast pyrolysis in the auger reactor are in satisfactory agreement with experimental measurements. The decomposition rates of biomass components in the reactor are revealed from the simulation and the pyrolysis number Py is calculated from the decomposition rate of biomass and the heat transfer coefficient. The Py number illustrates that the biomass fast pyrolysis process is limited by the heat transfer process at particle size of 2 mm. [less ▲]

MHD natural-convection flow in an inclined square enclosure filled with a micropolar-nanofluid

in International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer (2014)

Transient, laminar, natural-convection flow of a micropolar-nanofluid (Al2O3/water) in the presence of a magnetic field in an inclined rectangular enclosure is considered. A meshless point collocation ... [more ▼]

Transient, laminar, natural-convection flow of a micropolar-nanofluid (Al2O3/water) in the presence of a magnetic field in an inclined rectangular enclosure is considered. A meshless point collocation method utilizing a velocity-correction scheme has been developed. The governing equations in their velocity–vorticity formulation are solved numerically for various Rayleigh (Ra) and Hartman (Ha) numbers, different nanoparticles volume fractions (φ) and considering different inclination angles and magnetic field directions. The results show that, both, the strength and orientation of the magnetic field significantly affect the flow and temperature fields. For the cases considering herein, experimentally given forms of dynamic viscosity, thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity are utilized. [less ▲]