CFD modeling of space-time evolution of fast pyrolysis products in a bench-scale fluidized-bed reactor

A model for the evolution of pyrolysis products in a fluidized bed has been developed. In this study the unsteady constitutive transport equations for inert gas flow and decomposition kinetics were modeled using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software FLUENT-12. The Eulerarian-Eulerian multiphase model system described herein is a fluidized bed of sand externally heated to a predetermined temperature prior to introduction of agricultural biomass. We predict the spontaneous emergence of pyrolysis vapors, char and non-condensable (permanent) gases and confirm the observation that the kinetics are fast and that bio-oil vapor evolution is accomplished in a few seconds, and occupying two-thirds of the spatial volume of the reactor as widely reported in the open literature. The model could be advantageous in the virtual design of fast pyrolysis reactors and their optimization to meet economic scales required for distributed or satellite units.