Qin-Hui Wang

Biomass pyrolysis in presence of abundant CaO additives is a fundamental process prior to CaO sorption enhanced gasification in biomass-based zero emission system. In the present study, thermogravimetric Fourier transform infrared (TG-FTIR) analysis was adopted to examine the effects of CaO additives on the mass loss process and volatiles evolution of wheat-straw pyrolysis. Observations from TG and FTIR analyses simultaneously demonstrated a two-stage process for CaO catalyzed wheat-straw pyrolysis, different from the single stage process for pure wheat-straw pyrolysis. CaO additives could not only absorb the released CO2 but also reduce the yields of tar species such as toluene, phenol, and formic acid in the first stage, resulting in decreased mass loss and maximum mass loss rate in this stage with an increase in CaO addition. The second stage was attributed to the CaCO3 decomposition and the mass loss and maximum mass loss rate increased with increasing amount of CaO additives. The results of the present study demonstrated the great potential of CaO additives to capture CO2 and reduce tars yields in biomass-based zero emission system. The gasification temperature in the system should be lowered down to avoid CaCO3 decomposition.

Particle rotation plays an important role in gas-solid flows. This paper presents an experimental investigation on the spatial distribution of average rotation speed for glass beads in the upper dilute zone of a cold circulating fluidized bed (CFB) riser. It is shown that in the horizontal direction, the average rotation speed in the near-wall area is larger than that in the center area, while in the vertical direction, it decreases as the height increases. The reason resulting in this distribution is analyzed by considering several factors including particle size, particle shape, particle number density, particle collision behavior, and the surrounding flow field, etc. The effects of CFB operation conditions on the spatial distribution of average rotation speed are also studied. The results show that the increasing superficial gas velocity increases the average rotation speed of particles in the near wall area but takes nearly no effect on that in the center area. The external solids mass flux, however, takes the opposite effect. It is found that the average rotation speeds of particles in both areas are increased as the total amount of bed material increases.

An improved mathematical model for a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler based on the model developed earlier by the authors was applied to simulate the operation of a 12 MW CFB boiler. The influences of the excess air ratio, primary air ratio, coal particle size distribution, coal properties (ash content and volatile content) and Ca/S ratio on the boiler operation were analyzed. The results showed that the model simulation may be applied to the optimum design and economic operation of the CFB boiler.