Potassium-Induced Phenomena and Their Effects on the Intrinsic Reactivity of Biomass-Derived Char during Steam Gasification.

The mineral content of biomass plays an important role in the gasification rate of biomass-derived char. The understanding and quantification of mineral-related phenomena are thus of importance when considering gasification reactor design. In the present work, the potassium-induced catalytic phenomena during gasification of biomass-derived char have been studied. Char samples with similar structure and different intrinsic potassium content were gasified in a steam atmosphere at a temperature range of 700-800 °C. It was found that for all the samples, irrespective of the temperature and the initial potassium content, there is a critical K/C ratio (5 × 10-3), whereafter the catalytic phenomena prevail. The instantaneous conversion rate of the char is positively correlated with the potassium content and the progressively increasing conversion. The application of the modified random pore model was able to capture the later stages of conversion by the introduction of two additional parameters (c and p). It was found that these constants are not just fitting parameters but that there is an underlying physical significance with c being directly related to the intrinsic potassium content while being temperature independent and with p being temperature dependent.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Flow Field and Soot Particle Size Distribution of Methane-Containing Gas Mixtures in a Swirling Burner.

The formation of soot in a swirling flow is investigated experimentally and numerically in the context of biogas combustion using a CO2-diluted methane/oxygen flame. Visualization of the swirling flow field and characterization of the burner geometry is obtained through PIV measurements. The soot particle size distributions under different fuel concentrations and swirling conditions are measured, revealing an overall reduction of soot concentration and smaller particle sizes with increasing swirling intensities and leaner flames. An axisymmetric two-dimensional CFD model, including a detailed combustion reaction mechanism and soot formation submodel, was implemented using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code (Ansys Fluent). The results are compared with the experiments, with similar trends observed for the soot size distribution under fuel-lean conditions. However, the model is not accurate enough to capture soot formation in fuel-rich combustion cases. In general, soot particle sizes from the model are much smaller than those observed in the experiments, with possible reasons being the inappropriate modeling in Fluent of governing mechanisms for soot agglomeration, growth, and oxidation for CH4-CO2 mixtures.

CO2 Gasification Reactivity of Char from High-Ash Biomass.

Biomass char produced from pyrolysis processes is of great interest to be utilized as renewable solid fuels or materials. Forest byproducts and agricultural wastes are low-cost and sustainable biomass feedstocks. These biomasses generally contain high amounts of ash-forming elements, generally leading to high char reactivity. This study elaborates in detail how chemical and physical properties affect CO2 gasification rates of high-ash biomass char, and it also targets the interactions between these properties. Char produced from pine bark, forest residue, and corncobs (particle size 4-30 mm) were included, and all contained different relative compositions of ash-forming elements. Acid leaching was applied to further investigate the influence of inorganic elements in these biomasses. The char properties relevant to the gasification rate were analyzed, that is, elemental composition, specific surface area, and carbon structure. Gasification rates were measured at an isothermal condition of 800 °C with 20% (vol.) of CO2 in N2. The results showed that the inorganic content, particularly K, had a stronger effect on gasification reactivity than specific surface area and aromatic cluster size of the char. At the gasification condition utilized in this study, K could volatilize and mobilize through the char surface, resulting in high gasification reactivity. Meanwhile, the mobilization of Ca did not occur at the low temperature applied, thus resulting in its low catalytic effect. This implies that the dispersion of these inorganic elements through char particles is an important reason behind their catalytic activity. Upon leaching by diluted acetic acid, the K content of these biomasses substantially decreased, while most of the Ca remained in the biomasses. With a low K content in leached biomass char, char reactivity was determined by the active carbon surface area.

Investigation of the surface species during temperature dependent dehydrogenation of naphthalene on Ni(111).

The temperature dependent dehydrogenation of naphthalene on Ni(111) has been investigated using vibrational sum-frequency generation spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and density functional theory with the aim of discerning the reaction mechanism and the intermediates on the surface. At 110 K, multiple layers of naphthalene adsorb on Ni(111); the first layer is a flat lying chemisorbed monolayer, whereas the next layer(s) consist of physisorbed naphthalene. The aromaticity of the carbon rings in the first layer is reduced due to bonding to the surface Ni-atoms. Heating at 200 K causes desorption of the multilayers. At 360 K, the chemisorbed naphthalene monolayer starts dehydrogenating and the geometry of the molecules changes as the dehydrogenated carbon atoms coordinate to the nickel surface; thus, the molecule tilts with respect to the surface, recovering some of its original aromaticity. This effect peaks at 400 K and coincides with hydrogen desorption. Increasing the temperature leads to further dehydrogenation and production of H2 gas, as well as the formation of carbidic and graphitic surface carbon.

Novel Model for the Release and Condensation of Inorganics for a Pressurized Fluidized-Bed Gasification Process: Effects of Gasification Temperature.

A model is established to investigate the release and condensation of inorganics for a wood steam/oxygen-blown fluidized-bed gasification process. In the established model, fates of major elements (C, H, O, N, S, and Cl) and minor elements (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Si, Ti, and Zn) are modeled separately. The composition of gaseous species involving major elements is predicted using Aspen Plus based on a semiempirical model. The release of minor elements and the condensation of inorganics are predicted using software SimuSage. The combination of Aspen Plus with SimuSage is achieved by manually inputting the stream parameters calculated from Aspen Plus into SimuSage. On the basis of this developed model, effects of gasification temperature on the condensation of Na-, K-, and Cl-containing species during gas cooling are studied. Results show that the process model established by combining Aspen Plus and SimuSage is valid and can be used to investigate the release of inorganics during gasification and condensation of inorganics during gas cooling. Under the investigated gasification conditions, regardless of the bed material, there are two temperature ranges within which no salt melt is formed during gas cooling. As the gasification temperature increases, the high-temperature range without salt melt formation becomes successively wider.

Parylene coatings on stainless steel 316L surface for medical applications--mechanical and protective properties.

The mechanical and protective properties of parylene N and C coatings (2-20 µm) on stainless steel 316L implant materials were investigated. The coatings were characterized by scanning electron and confocal microscopes, microindentation and scratch tests, whereas their protective properties were evaluated in terms of quenching metal ion release from stainless steel to simulated body fluid (Hanks solution). The obtained results revealed that for parylene C coatings, the critical load for initial cracks is 3-5 times higher and the total metal ions release is reduced 3 times more efficiently compared to parylene N. It was thus concluded that parylene C exhibits superior mechanical and protective properties for application as a micrometer coating material for stainless steel implants.