CFD Simulations of Allothermal Steam Gasification Process for Hydrogen Production

Tomasz Janoszek and Wojciech Masny
Additional contact information
Tomasz Janoszek: Department of Extraction Technologies, Rockburst and Mining Support, Central Mining Institute, Plac Gwarków 1, 40-166 Katowice, Poland
Wojciech Masny: Department of Extraction Technologies, Rockburst and Mining Support, Central Mining Institute, Plac Gwarków 1, 40-166 Katowice, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-28

Abstract: The article presents an experimental laboratory setup used for the empirical determination of the gasification of coal samples in the form of solid rock, cut out in the form of a cylinder. An experimental laboratory set enabled a series of experiments carried out at 700 °C with steam as the gasification agent. The samples were prepared from the coal seam, the use of which can be planned in future underground and ground gasification experiments. The result of the conducted coal gasification process, using steam as the gasification agent, was the syngas, including hydrogen (H 2 ) with a concentration between 46% and 58%, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) with a concentration between 13% and 17%, carbon monoxide (CO) with a concentration between 7% and 11.5%, and methane(CH 4 ) with a concentration between 9.6% and 20.1%.The results from the ex-situ experiments were compared with the results of numerical simulations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. A three-dimensional numerical model for the coal gasification process was developed using Ansys-Fluent software to simulate an ex-situ allothermal coal gasification experiment using low-moisture content hard coal under atmospheric conditions. In the numerical model, the mass exchange (flow of the gasification agent), the turbulence description model, heat exchange, the method of simulating the chemical reactions, and the method of mapping the porosity medium were included. Using the construction data of an experimental laboratory set, a numerical model was developed and its discretization (development of a numerical grid, based on which calculations are made) was carried out. Tip on the reactor, supply method, and parameters maintained during the gasification process were used to define the numerical model in the Ansys-Fluent code. A part of the data were supplemented on the basis of literature sources. Where necessary, the literature parameters were converted to the conditions corresponding to the experiment, which were carried out. After performing the calculations, the obtained results were compared with the available experimental data. The experimental and the simulated results were in good agreement, showing a similar tendency.

Keywords: energy; syngas; coal gasification; numerical modeling; CFD method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/6/1532/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/6/1532/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:6:p:1532-:d:514361

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().