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An extensive simulation of coal gasification in bubbling fluidized bed: Integration of hydrodynamics into reaction modelling
Author(s) -
Esmaili Ehsan,
Mahinpey Nader,
Mostafavi Ehsan
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.22041
Subject(s) - syngas , wood gas generator , fluidized bed , coal , computational fluid dynamics , fluidization , coal gasification , bubble , volume (thermodynamics) , integrated gasification combined cycle , mechanics , materials science , nuclear engineering , waste management , petroleum engineering , environmental science , hydrogen , chemistry , thermodynamics , engineering , physics , organic chemistry
The simulation of the coal gasification process in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor was performed in order to estimate the performance of the gasifier and assess the optimal operating conditions. A Eulerian‐Eulerian computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation has been developed to predict the hydrodynamic behaviour of the fluidization regime in the bed. This not only provides insight into the hydrodynamics of the bubbling fluidized bed reactor, but also yields hydrodynamics parameters, such as bubble diameter and velocity, solid volume fraction, velocity of gas and solid particles, which can be subsequently used for reaction modelling of the coal gasification process. The predicted hydrodynamic parameters from the CFD simulation are integrated into the kinetics of gasification chemical reactions taking place in the bubble, cloud, and emulsion phases. Instantaneous devolatilization and drying of the feedstock are also considered in the model. The comparison of the predicted results with experimental measurements showed that most of the predicted molar gas compositions in the produced gas were within 15 % of the experimental data. The model was further used to predict the performance of the gasifier at different operating conditions. The results indicated that the temperature range of 800–850 °C, steam‐to‐coal ratios of 0.5–1.5 kg/kg, and air‐to‐coal ratios of 2.0–2.5 kg/kg are suitable conditions for syngas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide, H 2 + CO) production. Depending on the application of the produced syngas, the required H 2 ‐to‐CO ratio can be achieved by controlling the air‐ and steam‐to‐coal ratios.