A numerical study on biomass fast pyrolysis process: A comparison between full lumped modeling and hybrid modeling combined with CFD

• The process analysis was conducted for a biomass fast pyrolysis system.
• The lumped model and hybrid model with CFD were developed for the process analysis.
• Numerical results of each model were compared especially for biocrude oil yields.
• The hybrid model correlated well with the experimental data than the lumped model.

This study focuses on process modeling and simulation of a biomass fast pyrolysis system. For the simulation of the biomass fast pyrolysis process, two types of simulation models were developed: lumped model and hybrid model. Employing the above models, the effect of reaction temperature on reaction rate and final product yields were analyzed. It was found that the hybrid model exhibited a peculiar characteristic of displaying multiphase reacting flow occurring in fluidized bed. This behavior of hybrid model could have attributed for the difference in product yields of the models (hybrid and lumped). For the yields of the tar and NCG, hybrid model prediction was very consistent with the experimental results than the lumped model. However, for char yield, the results of both the lumped model and the hybrid model were close to that of experimental results.