CFD simulation of an internally cooled biomass fixed-bed combustion plant

Abstract

The reduction of bed temperature in fixed-bed biomass combustion is an effective measure to lower pollutant emissions. Air staging and bed cooling solutions are active strategies to decrease the fuel bed temperature. This work presents a CFD study of a biomass fixed-bed combustion plant that is equipped with an internal cooling bed system. Eight different cases are calculated to analyze the effect of the total airflow, air staging ratios and bed cooling system on biomass combustion. The findings are validated against experimental data from the literature. The results show good accordance between the numerical results and the experimental data. The primary airflow rate has the biggest influence on the bed’s maximum temperatures. The internal bed cooling system is able to achieve an average bed temperature reduction of 21%, slowing the biomass thermal conversion processes. Bed cooling techniques can be combined with air staging and primary airflow reduction to reduce bed temperatures in order to reduce pollutant emissions and other undesirable phenomena, such as fouling or slagging.