Laboratory experimentalists approach biomass experiments with the goal of making tangible amounts of valuable products. Their ultimate goal is to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of making large-enough amounts of valuable products to be of commercial interest.<br/>Laboratory reactors are typically designed based on general engineering principles of, for example, smooth fluidization and good heat transfer. However, the experimentalist does not know if his reactor is in fact sufficiently uniform in conditions to produce a representative product. Researchers want to know, for example, whether a minor product—be it valuable or troublesome—is it due to variation in reactor conditions or intrinsic kinetics of a competing reaction. Biomass pyrolysis modeling faces additional complexities due to the heterogeneity of the feed in size, shape and composition, and the production of many products—solids and hundreds of vapor compounds as well as gases.<br/>Experimental investigators want to know parameters such as the time-temperature history of the biomass particles, vapors, and gases as well as the amount of interaction between the vapors and the bed material, including char, and reactor walls, in order to better understand and control the chemistry that occurs. Experimentalists know very well how the reactor is configured and what is measured, but need guidance from modelers regarding additional sensors, configuration changes, and experiments that can provide the information necessary to improve the quality of the modeling.<br/>Recent efforts in modeling a bench-scale fluidized bed biomass pyrolysis reactor will be discussed from the experimentalist’s point of view.

Modeling of a bench-scale biomass pyrolyze: An experimentalist’s viewpoint

249th National Meeting (2015)

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