Biomass gasification is an established route to convert renewable sources or waste products from agriculture and forestry or waste municipality into synthetic gas (syngas) rich in hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Syngas is the main precursor of several very important chemicals such as hydrogen, methanol, liquid fuels, fertilizers.
In order to improve the syngas quality, we aim to study and develop a new reactor concept that will use gas-solid reactions (chemical and calcium looping). The solid looping reactions will be used to achieve high H2+CO yield to reduce TAR content and unconverted biomass/light hydrocarbons (such CH4) and in-situ CO2 separation.
The reactor will be designed and integrated in the experimental rig including the biomass feeding unit. The testing at high temperature and pressure will be carried out using different gasification agent and oxygen carrier (OC), sorbent loading. The experiments will be devoted to determine the operational limits for the system OC/sorbent defined as the MHSV of gases that the system is able to convert producing the desired gas. Part of this study will be devoted to quantify the level of impurities and assess the cost for separation. The experimental activity will combined with the delivery of a phenomenological modelling. Given the nature of reactor concept, dynamically operated switching fluidised bed reactor model will be used to describe the general physical transport phenomena occurring at the reactor level. The project will include the development of the model in terms of kinetics, hydrodynamic and thermal management. The model will be validated against experimental results and used to optimise the operating conditions such as heat management strategies effect of different gas composition, cycle time, temperature control, gas velocity impurities accumulation. Once validated, the results of the model will be used to perform the integration and process assessment from a techno-economic and environmental point of view.
Applicants will work under the supervision of Dr. Vincenzo Spallina in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science of the University of Manchester. The PhDs are expected to contribute to the research on gas-solid reactors by taking part to the project meetings with industry and potential stakeholders, present the results to national and international conferences and publish research papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Continue with Facebook
