Wood pyrolysis in fluidized bed conditions: experimental study and modelling

This study contributes to the French biomass gasification project: Gaya project. It is a large R and D project financed by ADEME and coordinated by GDF SUEZ. The project GAYA will develop a demonstration platform for a new biomass gasification and methanation process. In this context, our objective is to build a biomass pyrolysis model, representative of the conditions encountered in the fluidized bed gasifier developed in this project. An experimental machine, the vertical image furnace, has been developed to reproduce the heat conditions of the fluidized bed gasifier at 850 deg. C. This experimental model permits to collect all the pyrolysis products for a later analysis. Then, kinetics parameters are determined from both the physico-chemical process and the optimization of experimental results. The thermal cracking of condensable vapours, is studied during the first 300 milliseconds after their ejection from the biomass particle. For this purpose, cracking experiments are led on the experimental machine which combines a tubular pyrolysis reactor and a continuous self-stirred tank cracking reactor. The model developed allows us to represent the biomass pyrolysis introduced in the gasification reactor. (author)