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The feasibility of α-Fe2O3 catalyst addition in the in-situ catalytic fast pyrolysis of Pinewood was considered with the focus on the variation in its shape: nano-sized non-ideal spheres, nanotubes, hollow nano/microtubes, and octadecahedral crystals. Nano-sized spheres strongly promoted the formation of acetaldehyde, something that was also observed for the octadecahedral crystals. The formation of acids was primarily facilitated through the addition of nanotube catalysts and octadecahedral crystals. Newly formed alicyclic ketonic compounds were promoted through the addition of nano-sized spheres, hollow nano/microtubes, and octadecahedral crystals. The latter two catalysts also showed a moderate selectivity in the formation of furfural. All applied catalysts showed loss of activity, though at different degrees, on the formation of lignin derived phenolic compounds, which can be primarily attributed to favoring the formation of char with simultaneous release of CO2. All used α-Fe2O3 catalysts with different shapes maintained their original morphology after the rapid heating with the rate of 20 K/ms followed by catalytic fast pyrolysis at 500 °C, indicating that nanomaterials with targeted dimensions can be applied as catalysts in the catalytic fast pyrolysis of biomass to enhance conversion of undesired oxygenated compounds to higher quality bio-oil and valuable chemicals.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were used for the evaluation of critical issues associated with coating processes with the aim of developing and optimizing this important industrial technology. Four different models, namely, the constant viscosity, shear thinning, Oldroyd-B viscoelastic, and Giesekus models, were analyzed and compared in a short-dwell coater (SDC) using a bio-based coating material. The simulation results showed that the primary vortex formations predicted by the viscoelastic models were highly dependent on the flow Deborah number, resulting in uneven stress distribution over the coated surface. For the viscoelastic models, the dominance of elastic forces over viscous forces gave rise to significant normal stress difference, primarily along the surface of the substrate paper. The shear-thinning phenomena predicted by the Giesekus model, however, tended to relax the stress development in contrast to the Oldroyd-B model. The observations indicate that a reduced coating velocity or modification of the coating material with a reduced relaxation time constant can significantly enhance the uniformity and thickness of the coating over the coated surface under controlled conditions.

The impact of CaO on oakwood pyrolysis was explored by the Py-GC/MS at 500 °C. Ca(OH)2 presents on the CaO surface, indicating its partial hydration (noted as CaOOH). CaOOH promoted the ketonisation of carboxylic acids to aliphatic ketones, furfural to cyclopentanone/2-cyclopentenone, facilitated the elimination of the methoxy-phenolic compounds. The catalyst loading did not show any significant effect on the formation of acetone, while a noticeable reduction in the phenolics was revealed. Increasing catalyst loading almost eliminated CO2, acids, furans, aldehydes, ether groups, whilst the fractions of alcohols, esters, sugars, and alkoxybenzene decreased noticeably. The use of partially hydrated CaOOH in the CFP can create conditions where by-products generated during the ketonisation and phenolics upgrading reactions (CO2, H2O, CO) interact through the adsorption enhance water-gas-shift reaction and through coking reactions with formation of H2 used for hydrogenation during multistep conversion of furfural to cyclopentanone in a vapour phase.

Air-conditioning systems account for nearly one-third of the energy consumption in tropical buildings. In summer, mechanical cooling systems become a must especially in office buildings to keep the indoor environment comfort. In this study, a normal office room is designed to evaluate a novel cooling system based on a hot and humid climate. This novel cooling system is considered to serve such climate, which integrates radiant cooling panel, decentralized ventilation, and an Airbox convector. The Airbox convector is designed to deal with condensation risk and provide additional cooling output. In order to evaluate this novel system, it is compared with conventional all-air system and normal radiant system with decentralized ventilation regarding to the system capacity, energy consumption and thermal comfort. Results show that this novel system is adaptable to such climates and capable to reduce the condensation risk and overall cooling energy consumption.

In the current paper, the effect of the geometrical characteristics of 2-D porous media on the relative permeability in immiscible two-phase flows is studied. The generation of the different artificial porous media is performed using a Boolean model based on a random distribution of overlapping circles/ellipses, the size and shape of which are chosen to satisfy the specific Minkowski functionals (i.e. volume fraction, solid line contour length, connectivity). The study aims to identify how each different Minkowski functional affects the relative permeability of each phase at various saturations of the non-wetting phase. A 2-D multi-relaxation time (MRT) lattice Boltzmann model (LBM) that can handle high density ratios is employed in the simulation. The relationship between the driving forces G and the relative permeabilities of the two phases for every artificial structure is quantified. It is found that for high non-wetting phase saturations (fully connected flow), a non-linear relationship exists between the non-wetting phase flow rate and the driving force, whilst this relationship becomes linear at higher magnitudes of the latter. The force magnitude required to approach the linear region is highly influenced by the pore size distribution and the connectivity of the solid phase. For lower non-wetting phase saturation values, its relative permeability in the linear regime decreases as the fraction of small pores in the structure increases and the non-wetting phase flow becomes disconnected. A strong influence of the solid phase connectivity is also observed.

The aim of the present work is to provide detailed information on the phase change dynamics of a discrete representation of the pyrolysis vapours in a direct contact heat exchanger (disc and donut quenching column). Eleven compounds were chosen to represent the most common chemical groups found in bio-oil (i.e. acids, aldehydes/ketones, pyrolytic lignin and water). The pyrolytic lignin group is represented through mono-phenolic compounds (i.e. phenol, coniferyl alcohol, guaiacol) whereas the effect of sugar and lignin derived oligomers is neglected. The work aims to identify how different numbers of disc and donut pairs (stages) 3, 5 and 9, affect the condensation performance of the column. The saturation vapour pressures of the individual compounds were calculated based on corresponding states correlations. It is shown that heavy compounds, such as guaiacol, phenol and coniferyl alcohol condense rapidly even with a low number of stages, whereas an increased number of stages is needed to completely capture the heavier acidic (butyric acid) fractions. In all cases, the majority of the acidic fraction (acetic acid and propionic acid) and water were only partially condensed, whereas formic acid and the aldehyde fraction (propanal and pentanal) were not condensed at any stage of the process.

Impact of wind speed characteristics and porous medium properties on wind-induced gas dispersion in near surface porous media, was investigated using experimental data for four porous materials and 11 wind conditions. The data were used to evaluate two recent empirical models (involving 2 and 3 empirical parameters, respectively) for predicting wind-induced gas dispersion in porous media as a function of distance to the wind-exposed surface. Regression analyses were used to identify relationships between the empirical model parameters, wind speed characteristics (wind speed, wind turbulence index, wind speed power spectrum) and porous medium properties (particle diameter, porosity, hydraulic conductivity, tortuosity). While only one parameter in the three-parameter model correlated well with wind speed power spectrum characteristics and porous medium properties, both parameters in the two-parameter model correlated well with r2 ranging up to 0.99 where r2 is the regression coefficient. The strongest relationships were observed between model parameters and vertical wind speed, minimum particle diameter, particle surface roughness, saturated hydraulic conductivity and molecular gas diffusion coefficient with r2 values generally on the order of 0.85–0.95. Overall, the results indicated that wind-induced gas dispersion porous media can be predicted based on wind speed characteristics and porous medium properties.

Direct contact heat exchangers (quenching columns) are considered to be the optimum types of heat exchangers for the fast pyrolysis process. In this study, the hydrodynamics and heat transfer characteristics of a bench scale quenching column are presented. These have been compared with the experimental observations on flooding phenomena which are reported when the quenching column is operated at the design gas flow rates of the fast pyrolysis reactor. The quenching column was found to operate without flooding at 10% of the design flow rate, while flooding was still present even at 50% of the design gas flow rate. Four different design configurations, which are different in terms of weirs and hole placement on the disc and donut plates, are modelled and tested under full gas flow rate conditions. All four cases show normal quenching column operation without any flooding phenomena present and a gas flow time of less than 1 s. The pressure drop across the system was considerably reduced to 15Pa in the modified configuration compared to 90Pa in the baseline model. The hydrodynamic and heat transfer characteristics are thoroughly analysed and proposed optimal design configuration for the effective quenching operation.

Red mud, a by-product of the Bayer process in the aluminium industry, is co-processed with beechwood for the in-situ upgrading of fast pyrolysis vapour products. It is revealed that the co-processing of beechwood with thermally pre-treated red mud enhanced the vapour upgrading effect. Individual oxides (α-Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , SiO 2 , and TiO 2 ), which are the main constituents of red mud were also tested for the identification of their individual impact on the upgrading process. A biomass/catalyst weight ratio of 1:4 showed the strongest effect on the product distribution. Red mud was found to reduce the yield of phenolic compounds and promote the formation of cellulose- and hemicellulose-derived furfurals and hemicellulose-derived acetic acid, which can be used for the production of a broad range of chemicals and liquid transportation fuels. α-Al 2 O 3 and Fe 2 O 3 reduced the relative yield of phenols as well, whereas the formation of furfurals was promoted by Fe 2 O 3 and TiO 2 . SiO 2 showed negligible effect on fast pyrolysis vapours. The impact of catalysts on the product distribution is discussed for phenols, furfurals, and acids, for which the strongest effects were observed.

An Eulerian-Eulerian multi-phase CFD model was set up to simulate a lab-scale fluidized bed reactor for the fast pyrolysis of biomass. Biomass particles and the bed material (sand) were considered to be particulate phases and modelled using the kinetic theory of granular flow. A global, multi-stage chemical kinetic mechanism was integrated into the main framework of the CFD model and employed to account for the process of biomass devolatilization. A 3-parameter shrinkage model was used to describe the variation in particle size due to biomass decomposition. This particle shrinkage model was then used in combination with a quadrature method of moment (QMOM) to solve the particle population balance equation (PBE). The evolution of biomass particle size in the fluidized bed was obtained for several different patterns of particle shrinkage, which were represented by different values of shrinkage factors. In addition, pore formation inside the biomass particle was simulated for these shrinkage patterns, and thus, the density variation of biomass particles is taken into account.

In the current study, a two-dimensional multi-relaxation time (MRT) lattice Boltzmann model which can tolerate high density ratios and low viscosity is employed to simulate the liquid droplet impact onto a curved target. The temporal variation of the film thickness at the north pole of the target surface is investigated. Three different temporal phases of the dynamics behavior, namely, the initial drop deformation phase, the inertia dominated phase and the viscosity dominated phase are reproduced and studied. The effect of the Reynolds number, Weber number and Galilei number on the film flow dynamics is investigated. In addition, the dynamic behavior of the droplet impact onto the side of the curved target is shown, and the effect of the contact angle, the Reynolds number and the Weber number are investigated.

Extensive application of the multiphase lattice Boltzmann model to realistic fluid flows is often restricted by the numerical instabilities induced at high liquid-to-gas density ratios, and at low viscosities. In this paper, a three-dimensional multi-relaxation time (MRT) lattice Boltzmann model with an improved forcing scheme is reported for simulating multiphase flows at high liquid-to-gas density ratios and relatively high Reynolds numbers. The model is based on a recently presented model in the literature. Firstly, the MRT multiphase model is evaluated by verifying Laplace’s law and achieving thermodynamic consistency for a static droplet. Then, a relationship between the fluid–solid interaction potential parameter and contact angle is investigated. Finally, the improved three-dimensional MRT Lattice Boltzmann model is employed in the simulation of the impingement of a liquid droplet onto a flat surface for a range of Weber and Reynolds numbers. The dynamics of the droplet spreading is reproduced and the predicted maximum spread factor is in good agreement with experimental data published in the literature.

In this work a VOF-based 3D numerical model is developed to study the influence of several operative parameters on the gas absorption into falling liquid films. The parameters studied are liquid phase viscosity, gas phase pressure and inlet configuration, liquid–solid contact angle and plate texture. This study aims to optimize the post-combustion CO2 capture process within structured packed columns. Liquid phase viscosity is modified via MEA (i.e. monoethanolamine) concentration. The results show that an increase in liquid viscosity reduces the diffusivity of oxygen within the liquid film thus hindering the efficiency of the process. Higher pressure carries an absorption improvement that can be attractive to be applied in industry. The simulations show that enhanced oxygen absorption rates can be achieved depending on the velocity of the gas phase and the flow configuration (i.e. co- and counter-current). Also, the importance of wetting liquid–solid contact angles (i.e. less than 90°) is highlighted. Poor liquid–solid adhesion has similar effects as surface tension in terms of diminishing the spreading of the liquid phase over the metallic plate. Finally the influence of a certain geometrical pattern in the metallic surface is also assessed.

The paper presents the simulation of the pyrolysis vapors condensation process using an Eulerian approach. The condensable volatiles produced by the fast pyrolysis of biomass in a 100 g/h bubbling fluidized bed reactor are condensed in a water cooled condenser. The vapors enter the condenser at 500 °C, and the water temperature is 15 °C. The properties of the vapor phase are calculated according to the mole fraction of its individual compounds. The saturated vapor pressure is calculated for the vapor mixture using a corresponding states correlation and assuming that the mixture of the condensable compounds behave as a pure fluid. Fluent 6.3 has been used as the simulation platform, while the condensation model has been incorporated to the main code using an external user defined function.

This paper analyzes the physical phenomena that take place inside an 1 kg/h bubbling fluidized bed reactor located at Aston University and presents a geometrically modified version of it, in order to improve certain hydrodynamic and gas flow characteristics. The bed uses, in its current operation, 40 L/min of N2 at 520 °C fed through a distributor plate and 15 L/min purge gas stream, i.e., N2 at 20 °C, via the feeding tube. The Eulerian model of FLUENT 6.3 is used for the simulation of the bed hydrodynamics, while the k − ϵ model accounts for the effect of the turbulence field of one phase on the other. The three-dimensional simulation of the current operation of the reactor showed that a stationary bubble was formed next to the feeding tube. The size of the permanent bubble reaches up to the splash zone of the reactor, without any fluidizaton taking place underneath the feeder. The gas flow dynamics in the freeboard of the reactor is also analyzed. A modified version of the reactor is presented, simulated, and analyzed, together with a discussion on the impact of the flow dynamics on the fast pyrolysis of biomass.

The paper presents a 3-dimensional simulation of the effect of particle shape on char entrainment in a bubbling fluidised bed reactor. Three char particles of 350 μm side length but of different shapes (cube, sphere, and tetrahedron) are injected into the fluidised bed and the momentum transport from the fluidising gas and fluidised sand is modelled. Due to the fluidising conditions, reactor design and particle shape the char particles will either be entrained from the reactor or remain inside the bubbling bed. The sphericity of the particles is the factor that differentiates the particle motion inside the reactor and their efficient entrainment out of it. The simulation has been performed with a completely revised momentum transport model for bubble three-phase flow, taking into account the sphericity factors, and has been applied as an extension to the commercial finite volume code FLUENT 6.3.

The paper presents a comparison between the different drag models for granular flows developed in the literature and the effect of each one of them on the fast pyrolysis of wood. The process takes place on an 100 g/h lab scale bubbling fluidized bed reactor located at Aston University. FLUENT 6.3 is used as the modeling framework of the fluidized bed hydrodynamics, while the fast pyrolysis of the discrete wood particles is incorporated as an external user defined function (UDF) hooked to FLUENT’s main code structure. Three different drag models for granular flows are compared, namely the Gidaspow, Syamlal O’Brien, and Wen-Yu, already incorporated in FLUENT’s main code, and their impact on particle trajectory, heat transfer, degradation rate, product yields, and char residence time is quantified. The Eulerian approach is used to model the bubbling behavior of the sand, which is treated as a continuum. Biomass reaction kinetics is modeled according to the literature using a two-stage, semiglobal model that takes into account secondary reactions.

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 µm and 550 µm 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 µm diameter particle is smaller than the sand particles of the reactor (440 µm), while the 550 µm 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 µm) inside the bed, while biomass–sand contacts for the smaller biomass particle (350 µm) 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).

The article deals with the CFD modelling of fast pyrolysis of biomass in an Entrained Flow Reactor (EFR). The Lagrangian approach is adopted for the particle tracking, while the flow of the inert gas is treated with the standard Eulerian method for gases. The model includes the thermal degradation of biomass to char with simultaneous evolution of gases and tars from a discrete biomass particle. The chemical reactions are represented using a two-stage, semi-global model. The radial distribution of the pyrolysis products is predicted as well as their effect on the particle properties. The convective heat transfer to the surface of the particle is computed using the Ranz-Marshall correlation.

The pyrolysis of a freely moving cellulosic particle inside a 41.7mgs -1 source continuously fed fluid bed reactor subjected to convective heat transfer is modelled. The Lagrangian approach is adopted for the particle tracking inside the reactor, while the flow of the inert gas is treated with the standard Eulerian method for gases. The model incorporates the thermal degradation of cellulose to char with simultaneous evolution of gases and vapours from discrete cellulosic particles. The reaction kinetics is represented according to the Broido–Shafizadeh scheme. The convective heat transfer to the surface of the particle is solved by two means, namely the Ranz–Marshall correlation and the limit case of infinitely fast external heat transfer rates. The results from both approaches are compared and discussed. The effect of the different heat transfer rates on the discrete phase trajectory is also considered.

The fluid–particle interaction inside a 150 g/h fluidised bed reactor is modelled. The biomass particle is injected into the fluidised bed and the momentum transport from the fluidising gas and fluidised sand is modelled. The Eulerian approach is used to model the bubbling behaviour of the sand, which is treated as a continuum. The particle motion inside the reactor is computed using drag laws, dependent on the local volume fraction of each phase, according to the literature. FLUENT 6.2 has been used as the modelling framework of the simulations with a completely revised drag model, in the form of user defined function (UDF), to calculate the forces exerted on the particle as well as its velocity components. 2-D and 3-D simulations are tested and compared. The study is the first part of a complete pyrolysis model in fluidised bed reactors.

In the current study, a 3-dimensional lattice Boltzmann model which can tolerate high density ratios is employed to simulate the impingement of a liquid droplet onto a flat and a spherical target. The four phases of droplet impact on a flat surface, namely, the kinematic, spreading, relaxation and equilibrium phase, have been obtained for a range of Weber and Reynolds numbers. The predicted maximum spread factor is in good agreement with experimental data published in the literature. For the impact of the liquid droplet onto a spherical target, the temporal variation of the film thickness on the target surface is investigated. The three different temporal phases of the film dynamics, namely, the initial drop deformation phase, the inertia dominated phase and the viscosity dominated phase are reproduced and studied. The effect of the droplet Reynolds number and the target-to-drop size ratio on the film flow dynamics is investigated.

The fluid – particle interaction inside a 41.7 mg s?1 fluidised bed reactor is modelled. Three char particles of sizes 500 ?m, 250 ?m, and 100 ?m are injected into the fluidised bed and the momentum transport from the fluidising gas and fluidised sand is modelled. Due to the fluidising conditions and reactor design the char particles will either be entrained from the reactor or remain inside the bubbling bed. The particle size is the factor that differentiates the particle motion inside the reactor and their efficient entrainment out of it. A 3-Dimensional simulation has been performed with a completele revised momentum transport model for bubble three-phase flow according to the literature as an extension to the commercial finite volume code FLUENT 6.2.

The fluid–particle interaction and the impact of shrinkage on pyrolysis of biomass inside a 150 g/h fluidised bed reactor is modelled. Two 500 View the MathML sourcem in diameter biomass particles are injected into the fluidised bed with different shrinkage conditions. The two different conditions consist of (1) shrinkage equal to the volume left by the solid devolatilization, and (2) shrinkage parameters equal to approximately half of particle volume. The effect of shrinkage is analysed in terms of heat and momentum transfer as well as product yields, pyrolysis time and particle size considering spherical geometries. The Eulerian approach is used to model the bubbling behaviour of the sand, which is treated as a continuum. Heat transfer from the bubbling bed to the discrete biomass particle, as well as biomass reaction kinetics are modelled according to the literature. 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).

Post-combustion carbon capture in structured packing columns is considered as a promising technology to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions because of its maturity and the possibility of being retrofitted to existing power plants. CFD plays an important role in the optimization of this technology. However, due to the current computational capacity limitations, the simulations need to be divided into three scales (i.e. micro-, meso- and macro-scale) depending on the flow characteristics to be analyzed. This study presents a 3D micro-scale approach to describe the hydrodynamics and reactive mass transfer of the CO2-MEA chemical system within structured packing materials. Higbie's penetration theory is used to describe the mass transfer characteristics whereas enhancement factors are implemented to represent the gain in the absorption rate attributable to the chemical reaction. The results show a detrimental effect of the liquid load on the absorption rate via a decrease in the enhancement factor. The evolution of the wetted area for MEA solutions is compared to the case of pure water highlighting the differences in the transient behavior. The CO2 concentration profiles are examined showing the capability of the model to reproduce the depletion of the solute within the bulk liquid ascribed to the high value of the Hatta number. Also, several approaches on the reaction mechanism such as reversibility and instantaneous behavior are assessed. The results from micro-scale are to be used in meso-scale analysis in future studies to optimize the reactive absorption characteristics of structured packing materials.