A review on CFD simulation of biomass pyrolysis in fluidized bed reactors with emphasis on particle-scale models

This paper reviews the recent advances in multi-scale computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of biomass pyrolysis in fluidized bed reactors. The interconnection among molecular-scale, particle-scale, CFD cell-scale, and reactor-scale are first introduced, together with the Eulerian-Lagrangian (E-L) and Eulerian multi-fluid model (MFM) frameworks. Then an overview of the theoretical basis and practical applications of four main particle-scale models, i.e, uniform conversion model, progressive conversion model, interface-based model, and corrected uniform conversion model, are highlighted. The coupling of particle-scale models with CFD cell-scale models is discussed, as well as with molecular-scale models. Finally, the perspective of future work to develop reliable and efficient CFD models for simulating biomass pyrolysis in fluidized bed reactors is outlined.

Automated summary

This paper reviews the recent advances in multi-scale computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of biomass pyrolysis in fluidized bed reactors. The interconnection among molecular-scale, particle-scale, CFD cell-scale, and reactor-scale are discussed, along with the frameworks of Eulerian-Lagrangian (E-L) and Eulerian multi-fluid model (MFM). The theoretical basis and practical applications of particle-scale models, as well as their coupling with CFD cell-scale and molecular-scale models, are highlighted. The future work to develop reliable and efficient CFD models for simulating biomass pyrolysis in fluidized bed reactors is outlined.