Co-Gasification of Polyethylene and Biomass in Catalytic Bed Material

Warnakulasooriya Dinoja Sammani Fernando () and Jamal Naser
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Warnakulasooriya Dinoja Sammani Fernando: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Product Design Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, John St, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
Jamal Naser: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Product Design Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, John St, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: In this work, a simplified comprehensive three-dimensional numerical model is developed to study the effect of hydrogen production on co-gasification of biomass and low-density polyethylene (LDPE). CFD software AVL Fire 2020 inbuilt algorithms were employed to develop the gas phase while the solid phase was developed by user-defined FORTRAN subroutines. Solid hydrodynamics, fuel conversion, homogenous and non-homogenous chemical reactions, and heat transfer, including radiation, subroutines were defined and incorporated into AVL FIRE explicitly. Species concentrations of the syngas were analyzed for co-gasification of Beechwood and LDPE for three distinct types of bed materials (silica sand, Na-Y zeolite, and ZSM-5 zeolite). Then, the model is validated with experiment results available in the literature for a lab-scale fluidized bed reactor. The highest hydrogen production was observed in Na-Y zeolite followed by ZSM-5 zeolite and silica in both numerical and experimental analysis for the co-gasification of Beechwood and LDPE, providing a reasonable agreement between the numerical and the experimental results. Therefore, the current model predicts the enhancement of the quality of hydrogen-rich syngas through the application of co-pyrolysis within a fluidized bed reactor, incorporating a catalytic bed material.

Keywords: biomass; LDPE; catalysts; combustion; gasification; pyrolysis (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: 2024
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