Hydrothermal liquefaction of wood using a modified multistage shrinking-core model
Abstract Wood liquefaction in hot compressed water is modeled using the hydrolysis of Cellulose, Hemicellulose, and Lignin. These three components are reacted under catalyst-free subcritical conditions in a temperature range from 553 K to 640 K, and the heating rate ranges from 2 K/min to 6 K/min. Using a simplified reaction scheme, water-soluble products 1 (WSP), Biocrude, char, and gas are generated through intermediates with each wood component. A modified multistage shrinking core model is employed to simulate biomass particle degradation. The reaction and kinetic regime of the hydrothermal liquefaction 2 (HTL) process are treated separately for each wood component. Although the lack of…
Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Equivalence Ratio (ER) and Feedstock Particle Size on Birchwood Gasification
This paper discusses the characteristics of Birchwood gasification using the simulated results of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model. The CFD model is developed and validated with the experimental results obtained with the fixed bed downdraft gasifier available at the University of Agder (UIA), Norway. In this work, several parameters are examined and given importance, such as producer gas yield, syngas composition, lower heating value (LHV), and cold gas efficiency (CGE) of the syngas. The behavior of the parameters mentioned above is examined by varying the biomass particle size. The diameters of the two biomass particles are 11.5 mm and 9.18 mm. All the parameters investigate wit…
Process analysis of a biomass-based quad-generation plant for combined power, heat, cooling, and synthetic natural gas production
Abstract A new concept for upgrading distributed co-generation plants to quad-generation plants, which combine the production of power, heating, cooling and synthetic natural gas (SNG), is designed and analyzed. Five cases with SNG production ranging from 0% to 100% of total energy outputs are designed to simulate different modes of operation. The quad-generation system is simulated using ASPEN PLUS and described by simulating different portions of the system. This paper also describes the new process, which is of particular interest for improving the total first law efficiency. With this system, it is possible to increase the efficiency of natural resource utilization, minimize the environ…
Characterization and Evaluation of Hydrothermal Liquefaction Char from Alkali Lignin in Subcritical Temperatures.
An evaluation of hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) char is investigated in this work. Morphological studies, N2 adsorption behavior, FTIR analysis, thermal behavior, and elemental composition are studied. The HTL char yield showed an increase with higher operating temperatures. It increased from 11.02% to 33% when the temperature increased from 573 K to 623 K. At lower temperatures, the residence time showed an impact on the yield, while close to the critical point, residence time became less impactful. Elemental analysis showed that both higher operating temperatures and longer residence times increased the nitrogen content of the chars from 0.32% to 0.51%. FTIR analysis suggested the char b…
Numerical modeling and validation of hydrothermal liquefaction of a lignin particle for biocrude production
Abstract Lignin liquefaction process under catalyst-free conditions in a temperature range from 573 K to 647 K is investigated with this mathematical model. Based on the theoretical understanding of the physical and chemical processes of the liquefaction process in subcritical temperatures, a comprehensive mathematical model for the decomposition of lignin by hydrolysis reaction pathway is developed on the results of a series of batch experiments. The model consists of four main sections. They are liquefaction of lignin particle, oily film, and inorganic (ash) layer formation behavior during the liquefaction, kinetic model to model further liquefaction process of initial products, and the l…
Future district heating plant integrated with municipal solid waste (MSW) gasification for hydrogen production
Abstract Characterizing municipal solid waste (MSW) is a critical step in planning, designing, operating, or upgrading solid waste management systems. For a theoretical investigation of hydrogen production by gasification and water-gas shift reaction, we characterized Norwegian MSW and used the data. Three different gasification setups, named as ‘A-1’, ‘A&S-2’, and ‘S-3’ were modeled using Aspen plus simulation software for direct and indirect gasification processes according to the different gasification agents. The MSW characterization result showed a reasonable agreement with existing studies in different countries. The maximum hydrogen yield achieved in setup ‘S-3’ was around 94% of the…
Development of net energy ratio and emission factor for quad-generation pathways
Published version of an article in the journal: Energy Systems. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12667-014-0126-4 The conversion of biomass to four different outputs via gasification is a renewable technology that could reduce the use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study investigates the energy aspects for a new concept of biomass based quad-generation plant producing power, heat, methanol and methane. Circulating fluidized bed gasifier and the gas technology institute (GTI) gasifier technologies are used for this quad-generation process. Two different biomass feedstocks are considered in this study. The net energy ratio for six diff…
Techno-economic analysis of a local district heating plant under fuel flexibility and performance
Brovst is a small district in Denmark. This paper analyses the use of local renewable resources in the district heating systems of Brovst. The present use of fossil fuels in the Brovst district heating plant (DHP) represents an increasing environmental and climate-related load. Therefore, an investigation has been made to reduce the use of fossil fuels for district heating system and make use of the local renewable resources (biogas, solar, and heat pump) for district heating purposes. In this article, the techno-economic assessment is achieved through the development of a suite of models that are combined to give cost and performance data for this district heating system. Local fuels have …