Computational modelling of the impact of particle size to the heat transfer coefficient between biomass particles and a fluidised bed

The fluid-particle interaction and the impact of different heat transfer conditions on pyrolysis of biomass inside a 150 g/h fluidised bed reactor are modelled. Two different size biomass particles (350 mu m and 550 mu m in diameter) are injected into the fluidised bed. The different biomass particle sizes result in different heat transfer conditions. This is due to the fact that the 350 mu m diameter particle is smaller than the sand particles of the reactor (440 mu m), while the 550 mu m one is larger. The bed-to-particle heat transfer for both cases is calculated according to the literature. Conductive heat transfer is assumed for the larger biomass particle (550 mu m) inside the bed. while biomass-sand contacts for the smaller biomass particle (350 mu m) were considered unimportant. The Eulerian approach is used to model the bubbling behaviour of the sand, which is treated as a continuum. Biomass reaction kinetics is modelled according to the literature using a two-stage, semi-global model which takes into account secondary reactions. The particle motion inside the reactor is computed using drag laws, dependent on the local volume fraction of each phase. FLUENT 6.2 has been used as the modelling framework of the simulations with the whole pyrolysis model incorporated in the form of User Defined Function (UDF). (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.