Biomass Combustion Modeling Using OpenFOAM: Development of a Simple Computational Model and Study of the Combustion Performance of Lippia origanoides Bagasse

Gabriel Fernando García Sánchez (), Jorge Luis Chacón Velasco, David Alfredo Fuentes Díaz, Yesid Javier Rueda-Ordóñez, David Patiño, Juan Jesús Rico and Jairo René Martínez Morales
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Gabriel Fernando García Sánchez: Research Group on Energy and Environment (GIEMA), School of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Carrera 27 Calle 9, Bucaramanga 680002, Colombia
Jorge Luis Chacón Velasco: Research Group on Energy and Environment (GIEMA), School of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Carrera 27 Calle 9, Bucaramanga 680002, Colombia
David Alfredo Fuentes Díaz: Research Group on Energy and Environment (GIEMA), School of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Carrera 27 Calle 9, Bucaramanga 680002, Colombia
Yesid Javier Rueda-Ordóñez: Research Group on Energy and Environment (GIEMA), School of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Carrera 27 Calle 9, Bucaramanga 680002, Colombia
David Patiño: CINTECX, University of Vigo, Lagoas-Marcosende s/n, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Juan Jesús Rico: CINTECX, University of Vigo, Lagoas-Marcosende s/n, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Jairo René Martínez Morales: National Center for Agroindustrialization of Aromatic and Medicinal Tropical Vegetal Species (CENIVAM), School of Chemistry, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Carrera 27 Calle 9, Bucaramanga 680002, Colombia

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: Combustion is the most commonly used technology to produce energy from biomass; nevertheless, there are still thermal efficiency problems in current biomass combustion furnaces and a lack of knowledge about the properties of residual biomasses that could be used as fuels. Aiming to contribute to knowledge of the potential of residual biomass for energy generation, this work reports on the implementation of a 2D computational model to study the combustion performance of several solid biomass fuels, and its application in the analysis of Lippia origanoides bagasse combustion. The model uses an Eulerian–Lagrangian approach; in the continuous phase, governing equations are solved, and in the dispersed phase, particles are tracked and the mass, momentum, species and energy transfer between the phases are calculated. The model was validated against experimental data from a combustor fueled by three biomasses: wood pellets, olive stone and almond shell. The results show deviations of less than 13%, with few exceptions, which indicates a good degree of agreement with experimental measurements compared with those reported by other studies on the subject. Furthermore, it was found that the stems of Lippia origanoides bagasse show similar performance to that of other biomass used as solid fuel, while the leaves present lower performance.

Keywords: biomass; modeling; computational fluid dynamics; bioenergy; agricultural waste (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: 2023
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