Dimensional modelling of wood pyrolysis using a nodal approach

New gasification installations and techniques are being tested today but they all struggle with mainly the same drawbacks such as removal of various pollutants in the producer gas or clogging of material pathways.This work is oriented on developing a new model for the non-oxidative pyrolysis step of a gasification process as a part of a wider research conducted on the overall gasification of wood waste. A batch reactor is modelled by means of nodal modelling, a technique widely used for simple heat transfer processes. Additionally to the heat transport inside the batch reactor the model uses a simple and versatile generic chemistry and simplified mass transfer principles. Thermal data from modelling is compared with data obtained from an experimental batch pyrolysis reactor using wood sawdust and cutter shavings. Experimental and theoretical results regarding thermal phenomena are in good agreement.