Volume 9, Issue 2, September 2014, Pages 502–510
M. Sreekanth1
1 School of Mechanical and Building Sciences, Vellore Institute of Technology University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Original language: English
Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This work presents the results of experiments conducted to quantify primary fragmentation of wood (Casuarina Equisetifolia) during the devolatilization in a bubbling fluidized bed combustor. Cylindrical wood particles having five different sizes ranging from 10 to 30 mm and aspect ratio (l/d=1) have been used for the study. Experiments were conducted in a lab scale bubbling fluidized bed combustor having silica sand as the inert bed material and air as the fluidizing medium. Studies have been carried out at three different bed temperatures (Tbed=750, 850 and 950 °C), two inert bed material sizes (mean size dp=375 and 550 µm) and two fluidizing velocities (u=5umf and u=10umf). Limited experiments were also conducted at a bed temperature of 850 °C to study the influence of the presence of wood bark. Primary fragmentation was found to be most severe for larger sizes and at higher bed temperatures. Also, fragmentation did not show any conclusive influence on the devolatilization time.
Author Keywords: Wood, Devolatilization, Fluidized bed, Primary fragmentation.
M. Sreekanth1
1 School of Mechanical and Building Sciences, Vellore Institute of Technology University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Original language: English
Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
This work presents the results of experiments conducted to quantify primary fragmentation of wood (Casuarina Equisetifolia) during the devolatilization in a bubbling fluidized bed combustor. Cylindrical wood particles having five different sizes ranging from 10 to 30 mm and aspect ratio (l/d=1) have been used for the study. Experiments were conducted in a lab scale bubbling fluidized bed combustor having silica sand as the inert bed material and air as the fluidizing medium. Studies have been carried out at three different bed temperatures (Tbed=750, 850 and 950 °C), two inert bed material sizes (mean size dp=375 and 550 µm) and two fluidizing velocities (u=5umf and u=10umf). Limited experiments were also conducted at a bed temperature of 850 °C to study the influence of the presence of wood bark. Primary fragmentation was found to be most severe for larger sizes and at higher bed temperatures. Also, fragmentation did not show any conclusive influence on the devolatilization time.
Author Keywords: Wood, Devolatilization, Fluidized bed, Primary fragmentation.
How to Cite this Article
M. Sreekanth, “Primary Fragmentation of Wood in a Fluidized Bed Combustor - An Experimental Investigation,” International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 502–510, September 2014.
