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Modeling and performance analysis of biomass fast pyrolysis in a solar-thermal reactor

Modeling and performance analysis of biomass fast pyrolysis in a solar-thermal reactor
Modeling and performance analysis of biomass fast pyrolysis in a solar-thermal reactor

Solar-thermal conversion of biomass through pyrolysis process is an alternative option to storing energy in the form of liquid fuel, gas, and biochar. Fast pyrolysis is a highly endothermic process and essentially requires high heating rate and temperature > 400 °C. This study presents a theoretical study on biomass fast pyrolysis in a solar-thermal reactor heated by a parabolic trough concentrator. The reactor is part of a novel closed loop pyrolysis-gasification process. A Eulerian-Eulerian flow model, with constitutive closure equation derived from the kinetic theory of granular flow and incorporating heat transfer, drying, and pyrolysis reaction equations, was solved using ANSYS Fluent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. The highly endothermic pyrolysis was assumed to be satisfied by a constant solar heat flux concentrated on the reactor external wall. At the operating conditions considered, the reactor overall energy efficiency was found equal to 67.8% with the product consisting of 51.5% bio-oil, 43.7% char, and 4.8% noncondensable gases. Performance analysis is presented to show the competitiveness of the proposed reactor in terms of thermal conversion efficiency and environmental impact. It is hoped that this study will contribute to the global effort on securing diverse and sustainable energy generation technologies.

Biofuel, Biomass fast pyrolysis, CFD modeling, Parabolic trough, Solar conversion, Sustainable energy
2168-0485
3795-3807
Bashir, Muktar
b68f643a-197a-4e88-a405-bb77966ca2db
Yu, Xi
7e4f553f-cc11-4c6e-ad6d-9fb5c3c07a60
Hassan, Mohamed
ce323212-f178-4d72-85cf-23cd30605cd8
Makkawi, Yassir
217bdad4-a83f-44a9-ab54-b52633298456
Bashir, Muktar
b68f643a-197a-4e88-a405-bb77966ca2db
Yu, Xi
7e4f553f-cc11-4c6e-ad6d-9fb5c3c07a60
Hassan, Mohamed
ce323212-f178-4d72-85cf-23cd30605cd8
Makkawi, Yassir
217bdad4-a83f-44a9-ab54-b52633298456

Bashir, Muktar, Yu, Xi, Hassan, Mohamed and Makkawi, Yassir (2017) Modeling and performance analysis of biomass fast pyrolysis in a solar-thermal reactor. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 5 (5), 3795-3807. (doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b02806).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Solar-thermal conversion of biomass through pyrolysis process is an alternative option to storing energy in the form of liquid fuel, gas, and biochar. Fast pyrolysis is a highly endothermic process and essentially requires high heating rate and temperature > 400 °C. This study presents a theoretical study on biomass fast pyrolysis in a solar-thermal reactor heated by a parabolic trough concentrator. The reactor is part of a novel closed loop pyrolysis-gasification process. A Eulerian-Eulerian flow model, with constitutive closure equation derived from the kinetic theory of granular flow and incorporating heat transfer, drying, and pyrolysis reaction equations, was solved using ANSYS Fluent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. The highly endothermic pyrolysis was assumed to be satisfied by a constant solar heat flux concentrated on the reactor external wall. At the operating conditions considered, the reactor overall energy efficiency was found equal to 67.8% with the product consisting of 51.5% bio-oil, 43.7% char, and 4.8% noncondensable gases. Performance analysis is presented to show the competitiveness of the proposed reactor in terms of thermal conversion efficiency and environmental impact. It is hoped that this study will contribute to the global effort on securing diverse and sustainable energy generation technologies.

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Modeling and performance analysis of biomass fast pyrolysis in a solar-thermal reactor - Accepted Manuscript
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e-pub ahead of print date: 11 April 2017
Published date: 1 May 2017
Keywords: Biofuel, Biomass fast pyrolysis, CFD modeling, Parabolic trough, Solar conversion, Sustainable energy

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 481579
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481579
ISSN: 2168-0485
PURE UUID: 1919d691-7731-4108-96bf-7957548e4523
ORCID for Mohamed Hassan: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3729-4543

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Date deposited: 04 Sep 2023 16:40
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 02:19

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Contributors

Author: Muktar Bashir
Author: Xi Yu ORCID iD
Author: Mohamed Hassan ORCID iD
Author: Yassir Makkawi

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