Simulation of Cotton Stalks for Syngas Generation Using CO2 and Air as Gasifying Agents

Gasification of coal and biomass using CO2 and air mixture as a carrier gas offers an encouraging way to eliminate the shortage of energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. In the present study, the EulerianLagrangian approach was applied to understand the thermochemical conversion behavior of feedstock in entrained flow gasifier. Commercial CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) code ANSYS FLUENT®14 was used for the simulation purpose. It was observed that with variation in the CO2 in the air and the CO2 to cotton stalk ratio had a meaningful effect on gasification performance. The different ratios of air and CO2 in varying percentages such as 20% CO2, 30% CO2, 40% CO2, 50% CO2, 60% CO2, 70% CO2 and remaining percentages of air were introduced in entrained flow gasifier. With the increase in CO2 to cotton stalk ratio, the concentration of H2 and CO2 decreased whereas as the concentration of CO improved. It is revealed that mole fraction of CO and CH4 attained maximum when CO2% in the air was 50% and H2 mole fraction was observed maximum at a CO2% in the air was 30%. At 50% CO2 mixture in air, the maximum lower heating value and cold gas efficiency were observed. Therefore, the optimum situation might be 50% percentage CO2 in the gasifying agent for this entrained flow gasifier. Hence an increase in CO and H2, the cold gas efficiency and lower heating value reached the maximum. However, this study provides an appropriate route for energy production using cotton stalks as raw material and will help in designing and operation of the entrained flow reactor. The simulations indicate the thermodynamic limits of gasification and allow for the formulation of the general principles ruling this process. Moreover, no literature is available for the parametric investigations of Pakistani biomass gasification using entrained-flow gasifier. So this is a novel work for Pakistan and will be treated as foundation work for biomass gasification in the country.