Performance Degradation of a Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger Due to Tar Deposition

Nicola Aldi, Nicola Casari, Michele Pinelli, Alessio Suman and Alessandro Vulpio
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Nicola Aldi: Department of Engineering (DE), University of Ferrara, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
Nicola Casari: Department of Engineering (DE), University of Ferrara, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
Michele Pinelli: Department of Engineering (DE), University of Ferrara, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
Alessio Suman: Department of Engineering (DE), University of Ferrara, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
Alessandro Vulpio: Department of Engineering (DE), University of Ferrara, 44122 Ferrara, Italy

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: Biomass represents a programmable renewable energy source that is useful for reducing issues related to the transfer from fossil fuels to the renewable energy era. The exploitation of biomass is strongly related to the development of power technologies that are designed to improve efficiency; however, at the same time, they have to be designed to improve the life cycle of the entire installation—especially in relation to maintenance operations. In this paper, a numerical analysis is proposed to assess the performance of a heat exchanger used for separating condensing tar from syngas generated by the gasification of lignocellulosic wood chips and pellets. The analysis included clean, fouled, and clogged conditions. Flow maldistribution characterized the inlet section of shell-and-tube configurations and was responsible for clogging phenomena. Starting from field detection, analyses of fouled and clogged conditions showed a reduction in the effectiveness of the heat exchanger, causing dangerous conditions for the internal combustion engine used to exploit the syngas flow.

Keywords: biomass gasification; tar deposition; shell-and-tube heat exchanger; CFD; conjugate heat transfer; performance degradation (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: 2022
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