A method of studying thermochemical conversion of single biomass particles in an intense air flow

Abstract

Abstract There are many methods for obtaining kinetic data of thermochemical conversion of fuel particles. These methods to some extent reproduce the conditions of industrial processes. At the same time, there is a lack of methods reproducing the conditions of wood particles gasification in downdraft gasifier. In this process, raw fuel enters the hot reactor region with intense air jets blowing through the tuyeres. It is difficult to directly measure the weight of particles under these conditions due to the effect of gas flow. The authors proposed a research method in accordance with which the sample is introduced into a heated furnace and placed in the tuyere flow. The sample is combusted for a certain time then removed from the furnace and quickly quenched. The method allows reproducing the dynamics of changes in temperature, mass, volume, shape and structure of the inner layers of particles. It provides visual observations of the process, high heating rate of wood samples (750-5500 °C min−1) and large amount of data sufficient for statistical processing.