CFD Modeling To Study Fluidized Bed Combustion and Gasification

Applied Thermal Engineering 52 (2013) 585e614
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng
CFD modeling to study uidized bed combustion and gasication

Ravi Inder Singh a, b, *,1, Anders Brink b, Mikko Hupa b
a
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Gill Road, Ludhiana 141006, India
Process Chemistry Center, Department of Chemical Engineering, bo Academy University, bo, Finland
h i g h l i g h t s
< Summary of CFD modeling to study combustion/gasication in uidized bed is done.
< Equations for CFD modeling for uidized bed combustion/gasication explained.
< CFD modeling can predict heat ux, ow, temperature, ash deposits and emissions.
< Trends, challenges and future research areas in this eld are explored.
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 3 August 2012
Accepted 18 December 2012
Available online 2 January 2013
The increase in application of uidized bed combustion and gasication devices throughout world means
that more consideration will be given to improve design and reduce emissions of these. Due to excellent
thermal and mixing properties uidized beds are generally preferred over the xed bed combustors and
gasiers. Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) is a technique which helps to optimize the design and
operation of uidized bed combustor and gasiers. Recent progression in numerical techniques and
computing efcacy has advanced CFD as a widely used practice to provide efcient design solutions in
uidized bed industry. In this paper an extensive review of CFD modeling to study combustion and
gasication in uidized beds has been done. This paper introduces the fundamentals involved in
developing a CFD solution for uidized bed combustion and gasication. Mathematical equations governing the uid ow, heat and mass transfer and chemical reactions in uidized bed combustion and
gasiers systems are described and main CFD models are presented. The aim is to illustrate what can be
done and also to identify trends and those areas where further work is needed.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Fluidization
Combustion
Multiphase ow
Hydrodynamics
Lagrangian and EulerianeEulerian
1. Introduction
Fast depleting fossils fuels, energy security and environmental
concerns are demanding effective use of fossil fuels. Due to this
more and more attention has been focused on clean coal technologies. Among these technologies uidized bed combustion and
gasication devices is one of the important technologies helpful in
controlling the greenhouse emissions.
Fluidized bed combustors and gasiers are widely used in many
chemical and power industries due to their high heat transfer rates,
high efciency, low combustion temperature and low pollutant
emissions. Applications of uidized bed combustors and gasiers
* Corresponding author. Johan Gadolin Fellow, Process Chemistry Center, Abo

Academy University, Abo, Finland. Tel.: 91 (0)161 2560327; fax: 91 161 2502240.
E-mail address: dr.rjassar@gmail.com (R.I. Singh).
1
On EOL (without pay leave) from Department of Mechanical Engineering, Guru
Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, India.
1359-4311/$ e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2012.12.017
are developing at fast pace in the power generating industry as they

combine fuel exibility and high efciency especially for biomass
co-combustion.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is an economical and
effective modeling tool to study combustion and gasication in
uidized bed. Reliable CFD models are essential for the optimization of uidized bed units design, as it can predict inert material concentration in bed, fuel mixing efciency, temperature
proles of solid and gaseous phase present in dense bed, temperature prole of furnace, heat ux etc. Simulation with aid of CFD is
regarded as one of the most appropriate approaches for the prediction of critical parameters required for the control of efcient
operation of such installations. These CFD techniques are expected
to substitute empirical or semi-empirical models in large-scale FB
design process in near term.
Fluidized bed combustion and gasication is a multiphase
reactive ow phenomenon. It is a multiphase problem between
gases and fuel particles and also a reactive ow problem, which
involves homogeneous reactions among gases and heterogeneous
586
R.I. Singh et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 52 (2013) 585e614
Nomenclature
A

A
C1, C2
Cd
Cp
D
Dgs
dp
ds
e
fv,0
F
g
g0
Gk
H0
H
I
k
ks
ma
mi
mp
mp,0
mv(t)
P
Q
r1,r2
Re
Nus
R
Rf
! !
r, s
Sh
S
Sgs
Sm
t
T
Tref
u, v
n!
n0 s
V
wi
Yi
constant
constant
model constants
Drag coefcients
specic heat at constant pressure (J kg1 K1)
differential
diffusion of gas (m2 s1)
particle diameter (m)
diameter of solid particle (m)
coefcient of restitution
initial volatile fraction
force (N)
gravity (m2 s1)
radial distribution function
turbulence production term
standard enthalpy (J)
enthalpy (J)
radiant intensity
turbulent kinetic energy (m2 s2)
granular conductivity (kg m1 s1)
ash content in the particle (kg)
mass of species concentration (kg)
solid fuel particle mass (kg)
initial particle mass (kg)
volatile yield up to time t (kg)
gas pressure (Pa)
heat Exchange between different phases (J)
reaction rates for eddy dissipation combustion model
Reynolds number
Nusselt number
universal gas constant (J kmol1 K1)
reaction rate term
directions
Sherwood number
source term
source term
transfer of mass from reacting particles
instantaneous time (s)
mean temperature (K)
reference temperature (K)
velocity (m s1)
Instantaneous velocity (m s1)
solids uctuating velocity (m s1)
volume (m3)
molecular weight (kg/kmol)
mass fraction of species i entering the ne structures
Greek symbols
a
volume fraction
b
inter-phase drag coefcients
g
energy dissipation per unit volume (kg m3 s1)
g1, g2
yield factor
dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy (m2 s3)

Qs
granular temperature (m s2)
ls
bulk viscosity (Pa s)
lmix
thermal conductivity of mixture (W m1 K1)
ms
solid shear viscosity (kg m1 s1)
ms,dil
dilute viscosity (kg m1 s1)
m
r
sk
s
ss
s
stq
F
fi
u
viscosity (kg m1 s1)

density of solid (kg m3)
turbulence Prandtl numbers
turbulence Prandtl numbers
scattering coefcient
stress tensor (N m2)
torque (N m)
scattering phase function
instantaneous species concentration density or
temperature
source term for a species i
Subscripts
g
gas
gs
gas solid
i,j
x and y directions, respectively
mf
minimum uidization
p
particle
pp
particleeparticle
r
radiation
R
heterogeneous reaction rate
s
solid phase
sg
solid gas
Abbreviations
B
bubbling
BFB
bubbling uidized bed
BFBG
bubbling uidized bed gasier
C
circulating
CFB
circulating uidized bed
CFD
computational uid dynamics
CLC
chemical loop combustion
DEM
discrete element method
DOM
discrete ordinate model
DPM
discrete particle model
EBM
eddy break up model
EDCM
eddy dissipation combustion model
EDM
eddy dissipation model
EeE
EulerianeEulerian
EeL
EulerianeLagrangian
ER
equivalence ratio
FB
uidized bed
FBC
uidized bed combustion
GKTM
granular kinetic theory model
HC
hydrocarbons
LFR
laminar nite rate
LES
large eddy simulation
P
pressurized
PDF
probability density function
RANS
Reynolds average Navier Stokes
RDF
refused derived fuel
Ref
reference
RNG
re-normalization group
RTE
radiative transfer equation
S/B
steam to biomass ratio
SCM
shrinking core model
Sec
secondary
TFM
two uid model
VM
volatile matter
VOF
volume of uid
reactions between fuel particles and gases. Fluidized bed for combustion and gasication reaction consists of solid (fuel), liquid
(fuel), gaseous (fuel), gas (medium) and inert particles. The fuel
exists in the solid, liquid or gaseous form in the inert sand particles
and the gasifying agent is air in combustion and steam-air in the
case of gasication. The involvement of multiphase ow, combustion and gasication in uidized bed devices makes modeling of
these extremely complicated and continues to be a challenge to the
scientic community and practicing engineers.
Majority of the CFD studies in literature on uidized bed devices
in past has been focused on isothermal modeling of dense bed (Gao
et al. [1], Behjat et al. [2], Gnanapragasam and Reddy [3], Wang et al.
[4], Chen et al. [5]). CFD modeling to study the combustion and
gasication in uidized bed is possible due to advancement in
computational technology. Researchers in literature used CFD in
studying emissions, operational parameters, conversion of fuels in
bed and freeboard/riser, ash deposition behavior prediction, nitrogen chemistry, calcination, co-ring coal with biomass and noncommercial technologies like chemical looping combustion systems. Researcher also tried to use CFD to study fuel, char, ash,
physical and chemical behavior in uidized bed.
Currently there are three numerical techniques used for the
studying combustion and gasication in uidized beds in literature
and these are EulerianeLagrangian with single particle or a particle
parcel and a group of particles, EulerianeEulerian TFM and Discrete
Element Method (DEMeCFD) within EulerianeLagrangian concept.
Literature concerning the numerical modeling of uidized bed
combustor and gasier devices could be divided mainly into three
parts based on the geometric regions of uidized bed furnace. It is
dense bed, splash zone and freeboard/riser of uidized bed units.
Regarding dense bed most of studies is concentrated on gasication and done with EulerianeEulerian (EeE) Two Fluid Model
(TFM) approach and geometries considered in literature are very
simple. Few of them [6e8] considered CFD for combustion of coal in
circulating uidized bed combustor overlooking three-dimensional
effects. Only two authors [9,10] considered the three-dimensional
or full-scale device geometry to investigate the unit with EeE
approach considering combustion/gasication occurring in bed.
The other CFD technique, i.e. EulerianeLagrangian DPM with
single particle or a particle parcel and a group of particles is mostly
used in region above the dense bed, i.e. freeboard where the diluted
particle conditions are present. To study freeboard in uidized beds
different authors have touched different aspects. They tried to
apply CFD to study combustion and gasication issues of solid fuels,
their emissions, operational parameters and other aspects like fate
of nitrogen in freeboard [11e14]. Few of them used CFD to look the
ow, temperature and main species in the uidized bed combustor
using their own code and Fluent. Few others tried to look ash
deposition prediction with the use of CFD in commercial uidized
bed combustors [15e20]. They found deposition maps in boiler
with high probability of ash positions on boiler surfaces. Many
authors tried to model the freeboard using probability density
approach [21e23]. They considered the fuel to be in gas phase,
burning above the bed. The tracking of fuel particles in a discrete
phase with DPM is done by integrating the force balance on the
particle, which is written in a Lagrangian reference frame.
Anders et al. [24] formed simplied model for the behavior of
large biomass particles in the splashing zone of a bubbling bed. Wu
et al. [25] found that new challenges arise in the eld of the numerical prediction of hydrodynamic behavior, combustion and
emissions performance in uidized bed. Most of the literature in
uidized bed gasication is overlooking three-dimensional behaviors (Myhnen [10]).
The CFD models considering combustion/gasication issues in
uidized bed are capable of predicting qualitative information like
587
solid volume fraction and quantitative information like temperature proles, heat transfer and emissions. Most of studies are not
able to predict temperature proles or the gas concentration inside
the bed quantitatively. Most of quantitative results mentioned in
literature are used to study the temperature prole, heat transfer or
emissions of freeboard/riser with EeL DPM model. The EeE TFM
method is adopted in most of studies because tracking each particle
with the Lagrangian method is not practical with the current
computational capacity. Furthermore, the available correlations
describing the interactions between particles and gases in the
Lagrangian method are all limited to a single particle or diluted
particle concentration conditions and they cant be used for dense
condition in a uidized bed. There is no literature found which have
considered the application of EeE TFM with thermo-chemical reactions in dense bed in commercial boilers. There is no paper
reported on heat exchange coefcients between solids (i.e. inert
material and fuel) in dense beds of commercial uidized bed
boilers.
In this paper an overview of CFD modeling to study combustion
and gasication of fuels in uidized bed systems of last two decades
has been done keeping in mind to nd new challenges in this eld.
There are no previous review studies related to review of CFD
modeling of uidized bed combustion and gasication. The application of CFD modeling to study combustion and gasication is in
development stage and it is immature eld to study. The common
mathematical equations used for studying combustion and gasication are explained and qualitative/quantitative information is
presented.
1.1. Description of uidized bed systems
When an evenly distributed air or gas is passed upward through
a nely divided bed of solid particles such as sand supported on
a ne mesh, the particles remain undisturbed at low velocities. As
the air velocity is gradually increased, a stage is reached when the
individual particles are suspended in the air stream and the bed is
called uidized. With further increase in air velocity, there is
bubble formation, vigorous turbulence, rapid mixing and formation
of dense dened bed surface. The bed of solid particles exhibits the
properties of a boiling liquid and assumes the appearance of a uid
bubbling uidized bed. At higher velocities, bubbles disappear,
and particles are blown out of the bed. Some amounts of particles
have to be re-circulated to maintain a stable system and is called as
circulating uidized bed. This principle of uidization is illustrated in Fig. 1.
Fluidization depends largely on the particle size and the air
velocity. The mean solid velocity increases at a slower rate than
Fig. 1. Principal of uidization [26].
588
does the gas velocity. The difference between the mean solid velocity and mean gas velocity is called as slip velocity. Maximum slip
velocity between the solids and the gas is desirable for good heat
transfer and intimate contact. The proportion of combustible material within the bed is normally only around 5%. If sand particles in
uidized state are heated to the ignition temperatures of fuel and
fuel is injected continuously into the bed, the fuel will burn rapidly
and the bed attains a uniform temperature. The gas velocity is
maintained between minimum uidization velocity and particle
entrainment velocity. This ensures a stable operation of the bed and
avoids particle entrainment in the gas stream. The global FBC capacity is going to grow steeply in future. Fig. 2 presents information
available on cumulative number of uidized devices worldwide.
Fluidized bed (FB) has emerged as viable alternative as it has signicant advantages over conventional ring system. FB offers
multiple benets, such as: compact boiler design, exibility with
fuel used higher combustion efciency and reduced emissions of
noxious pollutants such as SOx and NOx. The various types of fuels
that can be burnt or gasied in uidized beds are coal, coal washery
rejects, biomass, refused derived fuels etc.
The basic principle of uidized bed gasication is same as
combustion. The only difference is that gasication is an endothermal conversion technology where a solid fuel is converted into
a combustible gas. The product gas consists of carbon monoxide,
carbon dioxide, hydrogen, methane, trace amounts of hydrocarbons, water nitrogen and various contaminants such as char particles, ash and tars. The chemistry involved in converting fuel into
combustible gaseous products is complex, involving a number of
different reactions with numerous intermediate stages. Pyrolysis is
thermal decomposition in the absence of air. It is always rst step
before combustion and gasication. Depending upon the type of
ow the uidized bed devices have been divided into three types,
bubbling (B), circulating(C) and pressurized bed (P). From these
three, the pressurized uidized bed devices are in development
stage, not many industrial applications are there presently. Due to
much diversied applications the use of circulating uidized bed
combustors is increasing.
1.2. CFD modeling and multiphase approach

Combustion and gasication of fuels in uidized bed have been
considered for a number of decades. An early comprehensive mathematical model produced was starting with simplied chemical reactions to determine emission predictions. The rst model [109] to be
regarded as a fully complete model, which considers uidization
modeling (FM) and it models the emulsion phase, the bubbles
through the mass balance of the drying and devolatilization
processes. Unfortunately, FMs so far do not consider the fully complex

gas-particle dynamics that CFD considers; however, they still maintain the multiphase ow dynamics with the inclusion of semiempirical uid dynamic correlations for the ow behavior [28] in
the bed.
Mathematical modeling and simulations are helpful to understand combustion and gasication processes deeply and these are
signicant for uidization industry [110] since 1960. Several models
are developed and improved in the last two decades. Focus was less
on three-dimensional models due to more costly computational
power. Due to advancement in computers the computational uid
dynamics is being applied on uidization during the last decade.
Earlier CFD models neglected combustion and gasication as these
brings more complexity to the system. The rst attempt to model
uidized bed device numerically which includes gasication is by
Kimura and Kojima [29]. Jicheng et al. [30] also did the numerically
simulation of uidized bed coal gasier. Earlier numerical modeling
approach is quite different from present day CFD models.
The desire to analyze, design and optimize the performance of
uidized bed devices implies the development of multidimensional
combustors and gasiers models. These multidimensional models
will bridge the gap between sub-scale testing and the operation of
uidized bed furnaces by providing information about combustion
and gasication processes that experimental data alone cannot
provide. Fig. 3 shows the framework for CFD modeling of uidized
bed combustors and gasiers. CFD is a kind of numerical simulation
that involves the uid mechanics with numerical methods and
algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve uid ows.
The process of modeling of physical and chemical processes interactions in thermo-chemical conversion of fuels is shown in
Fig. 4. Fig. 4 shows the interrelation between models involved in
combustion and gasication with other physical models in uidized
beds. Myohanen and Hyppanen [31] made the framework to distinguish the CFD from other modeling techniques used in uidized
bed technology. The fundamentals oriented micro and meso-scale
models are not yet capable for practical comprehensive calculations of industrial scale uidized bed units, including modeling of
reactions, attrition of particles, and heat transfer. Fig. 5 presents
a scale-based classication [31] for the most popular model approaches used for uidized bed systems. The purpose is to show
roughly the different scales for which the different models are
applied and to relate the presented semi-empirical steady state 3D
model to other model approaches. The ranges of space and time
scales cannot be exact, but the given values provide some idea of
the vast range of different scales, which are encountered when
modeling the uidized bed systems. The top region of Fig. 5 includes area for steady state modeling. Due to different long-term
phenomena (e.g. segregation, fouling, rusting), the real physical
Modeling
1 D Model
3 D Model
2 D Model
Time averaged 3D fluid dynamics
Gas Solid or Gas-Gas or Gas liquid Reactions
Fuel mixing
Solid Solid Interactions
Fuel conversion
Combustion, gasification and pyrolysis
Fig. 2. Cumulative number of uidized bed devices worldwide [27].
Fig. 3. Framework for CFD modeling.
Heat Transfer
Gas Phase
High Performance,
Large Scale Computing
Turbulent Mixing
Scalability
Robustness
Direct numerical simulation (DNS)

Large-eddy simulation (LES)
Reynolds averaged Navier stokes (RANS)
Drag forces
Porosity effect
Turbulence attenuation
Preferential concentration
Strong turbulent mixing/reaction rates

interactions. Coupling between a wide
range of time and length scale
Chemistry
Heat, mass
and momentum
exchanges
Multiphase flows
Collision and friction forces
Polydisperse flows
Lagrangian particle tracking
Eulerian multi fluid approach
589
Evolving particle
size distributions
Heterogeneous chemistry
Biomass devolatization
Char Combustion
Gas phase chemistry
Primary tar decomposition
Secondary tar formation
Reduced order chemical schemes
Tabulation techniques
Fig. 4. Modeling of physical and chemical processes interactions in thermo-chemical conversion of fuels [32].
processes are never actually steady state, if the observation time is

long enough (e.g. years or decades). Thus, the steady state is a virtual state, which can be reached [31] only in models, in which the
number of affecting variables is limited. The measurements are
always quasi-steady values. The averaged values of transient calculations are often quasi-steady values because the calculation
capacity limits the averaging times.
There are three approaches used for the numerical simulation of
the multiphase ow in literature. They are known as Eulere
Lagrange, EulereEuler approach and Discrete Element Methode
CFD. In the EulereLagrangian the primary phase is treated as
continuum by solving the time-averaged NaviereStokes equations.
The behaviors of the dispersed phases are obtained by following
a large number of the particles, through the calculated primary
phase ow eld. Particle trajectories are calculated in the given
intervals during the primary phase ow calculations. Dispersed and
primary phases can exchange mass, momentum, and energy. The
basic assumption in this model is that the volume fraction of the
Fig. 5. Scale-based classication of multiphase approaches for uidized bed [31].
dispersed, secondary phase is below 10e12%, although its mass can

be greater than the mass of the primary phase.
The different phases in the EulereEuler approach are considered
as inter-penetrating continua, thus introducing phasic volume
fractions as continuous functions of time and space. The sum for all
phase volume fractions in each computational cell is equal to one.
Conservation laws are applied to each phase in order to obtain a set
of equations that is similar for all phases. Constitutive relations
obtained from empirical information must be added to close the set
of equations. In the EulereEuler approach, there are three models
of multiphase ow: the volume of uid (VOF), the mixture model
and the Eulerian model. The Eulerian model is only suitable for
modeling the uidized bed systems and discussing other models
are not within scope of this paper.
The Eulerian model is the most complex of all models of multiphase ow. In this model the additional equations of mass and
momentum conservation are solved for each phase separately. Any
combination of liquid, gas and solid phases can be modeled. The
Eulerian method of determining the ow eld is used for both
primary and secondary phases. The Lagrangian discrete phase
model is based on the EulereLagrange approach where the uid
phase is treated as a continuum by solving the time-averaged
NaviereStokes equations, whereas the dispersed phase is solved
by numerically integrating the equations of motion for the dispersed phase, i.e. computing the trajectories of a large number of
particles or droplets through the calculated ow eld.
The EeE TFM model can easily be incorporated in preexisting
CFD codes and relatively computational inexpensive. This method
requires all processes at the particle scale such as drag, collision,
friction forces and heterogeneous chemistry to be included as
phase interaction terms into governing equations. It is less computationally exhaustive in comparison to the DPM Euleriane
Lagrangian method which simulates the individual particle dynamics [34e36] and the complete Lagrangian model which models
both particles and uid with a Lagrangian approach. A combination
of the EulerianeEulerian model and the EeL DPM model is recently
considered by Papadikis et al. [37,38] where one or two Lagrangian
biomass particles are introduced to a EulerianeEulerian bubbling
bed of inert sand. Although their approach is highly benecial for
590
the investigation at an individual particle dynamic scale, the simulation is limited to up to 5.0 s in physical time. Hence, their
method does not prove to be computationally viable for realistic
industrial reactors which contain far more fuel particles and require
simulations over a longer period to allow for the achievement of
possible steady state conditions and the statistical convergence of
averaged results [39]. Table 1 shows the summarized description of
models used for simulating dense gasesolid ow in context of gasuidization [33]. More details about this could be referred from
[33].
2. Mathematical description of various CFD models in FB
units
2.1. Basic governing equations
Following are basic fundamental equations for mass, momentum, energy and species respectively for gas phase. These are
the basic equations of ow for gas phase when combustion and
gasication is taking place in uidized bed. For multiphase ow
these equations could be modied and these are discussed in
Section 2.5. The details of these could be referred from Bakul et al.
[40].
Continuity equation

v
r V$ rg !
n g Sg
vt g
(2.5)
The reaction kinetic rate (k) can be expressed as single-step
Arrhenius fashion as k Aexp(Ea/RT) and the devolatilization
rate [41] is
(2.2)
Here A and E are numerical constants of reacting substances.

For two-step Arrhenius reaction schemes, the kinetic devolatilization rate expressions of the form proposed by Kobayashi et al.
[115] are as follows:
(2.6)
k1 A1 exp E1 =RT
(2.7)
k2 A2 exp E2 =RT
(2.8)
(2.3)
Species transport equation

v
rg Yi V$ rg !
ng Yi VDVrYi SY Rf
vt
Coal or Biomass or RDF/ Volatiles Char/ Tar Gases Char

i

h
dmp
k mp 1 fv;0 mp;0
dt
Energy equation

v
rg Hg V$ rg !
ng Hg V lg VTg SH
vt
2.2.1. Devolatilization submodel

The devolatilization process begins when the solid fuel reaches
a particular level. Many devolatilization [113] models have been
developed in past. One-step global mechanisms and semi-global
multi-step mechanisms can be basically distinguished. The simplied approaches dene devolatization rates with single or twostep Arrhenius reaction schemes.
The details of one-step devolatilization mechanism is shown
below
(2.1)
Momentum equation

v !
r ng V$ rg !
ng !
ng VPg V$ mV!
n g Sg
vt g
an FB unit, known as bed material, are fuel ash, sorbents or some

other non-combustible hot solids; and they constitute 95e99.5%
of the bed material. As soon as the solid fuel enters inside uidized bed the process drying, devolatilization, combustion or
gasication occurs. The following sub-models will be incorporated in basic equations of computational uid dynamics to
simulate the actual combustion and gasication processes in
uidized bed.
(2.4)
where k1 and k2 are competing rates that may control the devolatilization over different temperature ranges. The two kinetic rates
weighted to yield an expression for the devolatilization [41] as
mv t

1 fv;0 mp;0 ma
2.2. Combustion and gasication sub-models
Zt
0
Y1 k1 Y2 k2 exp@
Zt
1
k1 k2 dt Adt
The solid fuel is generally constitutes 0.5e5% by weight of the

total solids present in Fluidized Bed (FB). The remaining solids in
(2.9)
Table 1
Classication of various models used for simulating dense gasesolid ow in context
of gas-uidization [33].
2.2.2. Homogenous gas phase reactions

The solid fuel devolatilization and cracking gas species will react
with supplied oxidizer and with each other such as water-gas shift
reaction. The heat generated by exothermic reactions is important
for the release of volatiles and ignition of char. The general homogenous reactions taking place are as follows.
Discrete bubble
model
Two uid model
Lagrangian
Eulerian
Eulerian
Eulerian
Unresolved discrete
particle model
Eulerian
(Unresolved)
Lagrangian
Resolved discrete
particle model
Eulerian
(resolved)
Lagrangian
Molecular dynamics
Lagrangian
Lagrangian
Drag closures
for bubbles
Gas soild
drag
closures
Gas-particle
drag
closures
Boundary
condition
at particle
surface
Elastic
collisions at
particle
surface
Industrial
(<10 m)
Engineering
(1 m)
Laboratory
(0.1 m)
Laboratory
(0.01 m)
Mesoscopic
(<0.001 m)
H2 1=2 O2 /H2 O 242 kJ=mol
(2.10)
CO 1=2 O2 /CO2 283 kJ=mol
(2.11)
CH4 2 O2 /CO2 2H2 O 35:7 kJ=mol
(2.12)
CH4 H2 O/CO 3H2 206 kJ=mol
(2.13)
CO H2 O/CO2 H2 41:1 kJ=mol
(2.14)
Keeping the space considerations, here only basic and general

equations are discussed. The details of these reaction mechanisms,
others which are not mentioned here and kinetic parameters can be
found in literature [42]. Other models like Laminar nite rate
model, Eddy dissipation model, Eddy dissipation concept model
which could be used with homogenous reactions only (for gaseous
fuel) and these could be referred from Ref. [41]. These are also not
discussed here as the aim of uidized bed is to burn/gasify solid
fuels not gaseous fuels.
2.2.3. Heterogeneous reaction sub-models
Char is the solid devolatilization residue. Heterogeneous reactions of char with the gas species is complex process which
involve the balancing rate of mass diffusion of the oxidizing
chemical species to the surface of fuel particle with the surface
reaction of these species with the char. The overall rate of a char
particle is determined by the oxygen diffusion to the particle surface and the rate of surface reaction, which depend on the temperature and composition of the gaseous environment and the size,
porosity and temperature of the particle. The commonly simplied
reactions models which consider the following overall reactions:
C CO2 /2CO 172kJ=mol
(2.15)
C 1=2O/CO 122:9kJ=mol
(2.16)
C H2 O/CO H2 131kJ=mol
(2.17)
The literature that reviewed the char surface reactions and the
kinetic relationship can be found from Refs. [43e45].
2.3. Physical models
In the present state NaviereStokes equations which describe
laws of mass, momentum and energy for each phase nd limited
scope in combustion and gasication of fuels in uidized beds.
These basic equations need to modify with additional physical
models or assumptions to fully represent the physical process.
There are various physical models those will include turbulence
models, heat transfer with radiation models and mass transfer and
diffusion etc. In this section only common models are explained
more detailed or advanced physical models could be referred from
Bakul et al. [40].
2.3.1. Turbulent ow
Turbulence plays important role during combustion and gasication of fuels in uidized bed. The turbulent ow in uidization
is characterized by uctuating velocity of air and particles. The
turbulence affects the heat and mass transfer in uidized beds
which plays important role in combustion and gasication of fuels
in uidized beds. The solution of equation with turbulence to
multiphase ow with full solution of the transport equations at all
length and time scales is computationally very expensive due to
small size uctuations. The turbulence models are required to account for the effects of turbulence on combustion and gasication
rather than simulate it directly in engineering applications. Since
the small eddies are not directly simulated so the techniques of
Reynolds averaging and ltering are generally applied to transform
the NaviereStokes equations. These are discussed in following
subsections.
(a) RANS based models
The Reynolds-averaged NaviereStokes (RANS) equations represent transport equations for the mean ow quantities only, with
591
all the scales of turbulence being modeled. The instantaneous

properties in the conservation equations into mean and uctuating
components formed the basis of RANS equations as
4 4 40
(2.18)
The averaging of the ow eld variables is used to account for the

effects of density uctuations due to turbulence. More details on
above equation can be referred from Versteeg and Malalasekera [52].
The Reynolds-averaged approach is generally adopted for practical
engineering calculations. The present RANS models use the Boussinesq hypothesis to model the Reynolds stresses terms. It is based
on theory that an increase in turbulence can be represented by an
increase in effective uid viscosity and the Reynolds stresses are
proportional to the mean velocity gradients via this viscosity.
In the present uid dynamics the various models based on this
theory are SpalarteAllmaras, Standard ke, RNG ke, Realizable ke
, keu and its types [41]. The Reynolds stress model (RSM) closes
the Reynolds-averaged NaviereStokes equations by solving transport equations for the Reynolds stresses directly, together with an
equation for the dissipation rate. The details of above models and
RSM could be referred from Bakul et al. [40]. In majority of works
standard ke [46] is used in combustion and gasication of fuels in
uidized beds.

m mt
v
Vk Gk r
rk V$rVk V$
sk
vt
(2.19)

v
m mt
2
V C1 Gk C2 r
rk V$rV V$
s
k
vt
k
(2.20)
(b) LES models
When unsteady or transient effects in turbulent reacting ows are
important, then large eddy simulation (LES) is typically required. LES
is an approach that accounts for large-scale turbulent chemistry
interaction in a direct manner. Large eddy simulations are computational very expensive and are now becoming a more practical method
to resolve temporal and spatial scales. In the LES method, the transient
forms of the conservation equations governing uid ow, reaction
and heat transfer are solved. Improved numerical accuracy, with a ne
enough grid and appropriate time step are required for LES because it
is used to fully resolve large-scale motions. Only the effects of smaller
scales are modeled. Subgrid models are required to compute the effects of the small-scale turbulence on momentum, species and
enthalpy transport. The development and testing of turbulence
chemistry interaction models for the sub grid scale LES methods is far
less mature that the steady state methods presented earlier. The
application of LES to combustion and gasication uidized beds is not
found in literature due to computational expensiveness. More details
about these models could be referred from Bakul et al. [40].
2.3.2. Radiation modeling
The radiation process inuences the heat transfer rate in uidized bed units, which in turn inuences combustion and gasication process. The radiative transfer equation (RTE) for an
!
absorbing, emitting, and scattering medium at position r in the
!
direction s can be written as follows:
! !
sT 4
dI r ; s
! !
a ss I r ; s an2
p
ds
Z4p
! !0 ! !0 0
ss
I r ; s F r ; s dU
4p
0
(2.21)
592
A semi-transparent medium is considered and the refractive

index is equal to unity.
The following models are applicable.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Discrete ordinates model;

P-1 model;
Rosseland model; and
Discrete transfer radiation model
The details of all these models should be referred from Bakul

et al. [40]. The above models could be used in combustion and
gasication process based on optical thickness aL where a is constant and L is an appropriate length scale. The P-1 and Rosseland
models are useful when aL [ l. The P-1 model should typically be
used for optical thicknesses large than 1. The Rosseland model is
computationally cheaper and more efcient but should only be
used for optical thicknesses larger than 3. The Discrete Ordinates
model (DOM) model works across the range of optical thicknesses,
but is substantially more computationally expensive than the
Rosseland model [41]. The Discrete transfer radiation model is also
used rarely as being computationally expensive.
2.3.3. Mixture fraction model
The mixture fraction/PDF modeling approach involves the solution of transport equations for one or two conserved scalars (the
mixture fractions). In this approach, instead of solving the transport
equations for individual species, the individual component concentrations for a certain species of interest are derived from the
predicted mixture fraction. The basis of the mixture fraction
approach is that under a certain set of simplifying assumptions, the
instantaneous thermo-chemical state of the uid is related to
a conserved scalar quantity known as the mixture fraction, f. Being
a conserved scalar quantity, the value of f at each point in the ow
domain is computed [41] through the solution of the conservation
equation for mean (time-averaged) value of f in the turbulent ow
eld, f:
v
v
rui f
vxi
vxi
mt vf
SM
st vxi
(2.22)
In addition to solving the conservation equation for the mean

mixture fraction, a conservation equation for the mixture fraction
variance, f0 2 is also solved:
0
1
!2

v
v @mt vf 02 A
vf
02
rui f
Cd r f 02
Cg mt
k
vxi
vxi st vxi
vxi
(2.23)
The values of constants st, Cg and Cd in Eq. (2.23) will be taken

depending on simulations and situation, respectively. If a secondary
stream is included in a non-adiabatic system, the instantaneous
values will depend on the instantaneous fuel mixture fraction, fuel,
the secondary partial fraction, psec and the enthalpy, H
fi f*i ffuel ; psec ; H*
(2.24)
Here H* is given by:
2
H*
X
i0
mi0 Hi0
X
i0
6
mi0 6
4
ZT
3

7
Cp hoi0 Tref i0 7
5
(2.25)
Tref 0
i
More details about solution could be referred from Ref. [41].
2.4. Discrete particle model in Lagrangian frame of reference

The ow in freeboard of uidized bed combustors or gasiers is
a kind of gasesolid ow with chemical reactions. The fuel particles
present in freeboard are in solid form. The hydrodynamics of the gase
solid ow can be performed based on the discrete particle model
EulerianeLagrangian concept. Most of the simulated particle presents one particle or a particle parcel, a group of particles in this
concept. In this approach, the uid phase is treated as a continuum by
solving the time-averaged NaviereStokes equations, while the dispersed phase is solved by tracking a large number of particles, bubbles, or droplets through the calculated ow eld. The dispersed
phase exchange momentum, mass, and energy with the uid phase.
In this model, the fundamental assumption is that even though high
mass loading is acceptable, the dispersed phase occupies a low volume fraction. During the uid phase calculation, the particle or
droplet trajectories are computed individually at particular intervals.
This makes the model appropriate for the modeling of spray
dryers, coal and liquid fuel combustion, and some gas-particle
ows. This model is inappropriate for the modeling of lower portion of uidized bed reactors, liquid-liquid mixtures or any application where the volume fraction of the second phase is not
negligible. The discrete phase method can be applied to the particle
ow when the particle phase can be considered to be sufciently
dilute that the particleeparticle interactions and the effects of the
particle volume fraction on the gas phase can be assumed neglected. Due to present computer efcacy the DPM Lagrange approach
is more suitable for industrial size uidized bed reactors. The
governing equations used during the modeling study in freeboard
consisted of mathematical models of the gas phase, particle
movement and reactive chemistry.
2.4.1. Equation of motion for a particle
The coupling of the continuous phase and the discrete phase is
important and it is solved by tracking the exchange of mass, momentum and energy. The model computes the particle trajectory
using a Lagrangian formulation which includes the inertia, hydrodynamic drag, and the force of gravity. The particle trajectory can be
predicted for the xi(i 1, 2, 3 for three dimensions) direction in
Cartesian coordinates by [41]:

rp r

d2 xi
FD vi vp;i gxi
Fxi
rp
dt 2
(2.26)
where Fxi is the additional force, FD(vivp,i)is the drag force per unit
particle mass and
FD
18m CD Re
rp d2p 24
(2.27)
2.5. EulerianeEulerian two uid computational uid dynamics

model
The EulerianeEulerian method is one of the affordable CFD
modeling approaches for performing simulations of an industrial
scale gasesolid ow system. Combustion and gasication brings
more complexity into the system. In the EulereEuler approach, the
different phases are treated mathematically as inter-penetrating
continua. The concept of phase volume fraction is introduced in
this approach. These volume fractions are assumed to be continuous functions of space and time and their sum is equal to one.
For each phase, conservation equations are derived to obtain a set
of equations which have similar structure for all phases. These
equations are closed by providing constitutive relations that are
obtained from empirical information, or, in the case of granular

(solid) ows, by application of kinetic theory. Below mentioned are
the general equations for EulerianeEulerian phase inside uidized
bed with combustion and gasication. Details of these could be
referred from [28,39,47].
2.5.1. Continuity equations
(2.28)

v
ns Ssg
as rs V$ as rs !
vt
(2.29)
Ssg wc
gc Rc Sgs
(2.30)
For the gas phase density, a mixture of ideal gas
rg
RT

as 1=3 1
go 1
P
Pn
Equivalent to the thermodynamic temperature for gases, the

granular temperature can be introduced as a measure for the
uctuating kinetic energy of the particles. The granular temperature Qs is dened as

3 v
ns $Q Ps I as ss
as rs Q V$ as rs !
2 vt
n V$k VQ g
: V!

v
as rs !
ns V$ as rs !
ns !
ns as VPs Vas $ss as rs g
vt

ns !
ng Ssg !
ns
b !
2:33
In the above equations the stress tensor sg and ss is given by
T i
ss ms V$!
ns V$!
ns
2 !
m V$ ns ls $V$!
ns
3 s
(2.34)
ms ; dil
1 ego
4
1 1 ego as
5
(2.36)
1=2
Q
4
a2s rs ds 1 ego
p
5
(2.37)
ms ; dil
p
5 p
r ds Q1=2
96 s
(2.42)
(2.43)
(2.44)
The drag between gas phase and solid phase is to play important
role in the momentum exchange.
For a 0.8, the drag coefcient is was given based on the work
by Gidaspow [50]

! !
3 as rs ng ns 2:65
b Cd
ag
ds
4
(2.45)
Cd

24
1 0:15Re0:687
for Res 1000
s
Res
Cd 0:44; for Res 1000
1=2
Q
4
as rs ds go 1 e s
p
5
(2.41)
where the drag coefcient Cd is given by
For the collisional and kinetic effects the coefcient of restitution was introduced by Jenkins and Savage [49] and the equation of
solid shear viscosity ms
ms
p
75 p
r ds Q1=2
384 s
1=2

4 Q
g 3 1 e2 as rs go Q
ns
V$!
ds p
(2.35)
Here ls is bulk viscosity, it is based on expression given by Lun

et al. [48] and it can be obtained as
ls

2
1=2
Q
2kdil
6
1 1 ego as 2a2s rs ds
p
1 ego
5
kdil
(2.32)
T i

2
s g m g V!
n g V!
ng
ng
ag mg V!
3
ns is the generation of the uctuating energy

where Ps I as ss : V!
due to work done by shear stress in the particle phase; V$ks VQ is
the conduction of the uctuating energy; g is the rate of dissipation
of the uctuating energy due to inelastic collision.
The granular conductivity ks and the collisional rate of energy
dissipation per unit volume g are adopted as:
ks

v
ag rg !
ng V$ ag rg !
ng !
ng ag VPg Vag $sg ag rg g
vt

ns !
ng Sgs !
ns
b !
(2.40)
!
where n0s is the solids uctuating velocity.
The equation of conservation of the solids uctuating energy is
given as
2.5.2. Momentum equations
1 !
n02
3 s
(2.31)
Yi
i1
wi
(2.39)
as;max
Qs

v
ag rg V$ ag rg !
ng Sgs
vt
593
(2.46)
(2.47)
ag rg ds !
ng !
ns
Res
mg
(2.48)
For a < 0.8, the well known Ergun equation[51] is suitable for
describing the dense regime
b 150

1 ag mg
ag d2s
1:75
rg as !
ng !
ns
ds
(2.49)
2.5.3. Energy equation
(2.38)
where ms,dil is the dilute viscosity and go is the radial distribution

function expressing the statistics of the spatial arrangement of
particles. The following expressions are used:

v
ag rg Hg V$ ag rg !
ng Hg V lg VTg Qgs Sgs Hs
vt
(2.50)
594

v
ns Hs Vls VTs Qsg Ssg Hs
as rs Hs V$ as rs !
vt
(2.51)
The third term on the right-hand side of the expression is the

heat transfer in that the solid phase changed into the gas phase.
Qsg Qgs
(2.52)

Qsg hsg Ts Tg
(2.53)
6kg as ag Nus
d2p
(2.54)
hsg
2.6. Discrete element methodeCFD within EulerianeLagrangian

model
A discrete element method (DEM) is a family of numerical methods
for computing the motion of a large number of particles of
micrometer-scale size and above. In the DEMeCFD model, each individual particle is tracked and gas phase dynamic is solved by Naviere
Stokes equations. DEM is very closely related to molecular dynamics,
the method is generally distinguished by its inclusion of rotational
degrees-of-freedom as well as stateful contact and often complicated
geometries. These days with a rapid development of computer technology and the numerical tool DEM (discrete element method), a new
era of research on gasesolid heterogeneous reaction systems, combustion and gasication is about to come. The following section deals
briey with basic mathematical equations involved in DEMeCFD.
2.6.1. Hydrodynamics of DEMeCFD model [53]
In the DEMeCFD model, each individual particle is tracked by
Newtonian equation. For each particle, the linear and angular
momentum equations are
mi
Ii

dvi
Fij;n Fij;t
Vi Vpg Fd Fg
dt
j1
N
N

X
X

dwi
stqij
Rj nij Fij;t
dt
j1
j1
(2.59)
where rg is the gas density, sg the gas viscous stress tensor, Sg the
gas mass source due to heterogeneous reactions, Sm the gas momentum source due to inter-phase interaction. For dense gasesolid
ows in uidized beds, two-way coupling is required. According to
Newtonian third law, Sm in a uid cell is determined by adding up
the drag force of the particles located in the uid cell.
Sm
Here Nus is proposed by Gunn [51]
N
X

v
ag rg !
ng V$ ag rg !
ng !
ng ag Vpg V$ ag sg ag rg g
vt
Sm
(2.55)
(2.56)
1
Vcell
Np
X
Fd
(2.60)
k1
where Vcell is the volume of the uid cell. In the hydrodynamic

DEMeCFD model, Sg in Eq. (2.60) is set to zero. When it is extended
to model of thermo-chemical conversion of fuel in gasesolid systems involved with heterogeneous and homogenous reactions, Sg
should not be zero.
2.6.2. Heat transfer [53]
The heat balance for an individual particle is given below:
mi Cp;i
dTi
Qgp Qpp Qrad QR
dt
(2.61)
where Qgp, Qpp, Qrad and QR represent gas-particle convective,

particleeparticle conduction, radiation heat transfer, and heterogeneous chemical reactions, respectively. The conservation equation for the gas energy is

v
ag rg Cpg Tg V$ ag rg Cpg !
n g Tg
vt

V$ ag kg VTg SQ ;cv SQ ;R Sh
(2.62)
where Tg is the gas temperature, Cpg the gas capacity, kg the gas
thermal conductivity, SQ,cv the heat source due to gas-particle
convective heat transfer, SQ,R the heat source due to chemical reactions, Sh the heat transported by mass source of Sg in Eq. (2.58).
SQ;cv is calculated in a similar way of Sm in Eq. (2.62),
Sm
1
Vcell
Np
X
Qcv
(2.63)
k1
where i represents a single particle, j the particles contacted with

particle i, m, V, I, R, v and w the particle mass, volume, inertia
moment, radius, linear velocity, and angular velocity respectively,
Vpg the local pressure drop, Fd the drag force, Fg the gravitational
force, Fij,n and Fij,t the normal and tangential components of the
contact force from particle j to i, and torque stqij . The contact force is
calculated according to a linear spring-dashpot model where the
force is a function of particle overlap and relative velocity. The drag
force, Fd in Eq. (2.55), is calculated by
SQ;R is determined by heat release of chemical reactions. Sh is

determined by the formation enthalpies carried along with the
inter-phase transferred mass of Sg in Eq. (2.58). Although DEMeCFD
has disadvantages like the maximum number of particles and
duration of a virtual simulation is limited by computational power.
Typical ows contain billions of particles, but contemporary DEM
simulations on large cluster computing resources have only
recently been able to approach this scale for sufciently long time.
More details could be referred from [53,114].
Vb
Fd i u vi
1 ag
3. Combustion and gasication
(2.57)
where u is the local gas velocity, ag the local gas volume fraction,
and b inter-phase momentum transfer. The gas phase is treated as
continuum and described by the volume-averaged NaviereStokes
equations. Mass and momentum conservations are

v
ag rg V$ ag rg !
n g Sg
vt
(2.58)
There are two kinds of solid fuels generally incinerated or gasied

in uidized bed. This could be divided into non renewable (coal) or
renewable (biomass/RDF fuels). The fuel could be characterized due to
its physical properties like bulk density, particle size or pellet durability, together with moisture content. As soon it enters reactor at rst
it dries and then there is release of volatile matter called devolatilization stage. The released volatile matter undergoes homogenous
oxidation, whereas the remaining char will undergoes heterogeneous

reactions in bed or above the bed. The remaining part is ash and it will
be removed through drain or through ue gas. The stages in combustion and gasication process are shown in Fig. 6. There are two
main regions of uidized bed unit dense bed or freeboard/riser.
EulerianeEulerian TFM CFD model along with chemistry models are
used in literature to model solid fuel particles in dense bed. The
NaviereStokes coupled with energy as explained in Section 2 will be
used to model the process. CFD modeling of combustion and gasication of solid particles in freeboard using discrete particle modeling and tracking of particle is done using Lagrangian approach as
explained in Section 2. Present approach used by CFD modelers in
modeling combustion/gasication of fuel in freeboard in uidized
furnaces is same in pulverized furnaces. The main difference in CFD
modeling of combustion gasication of fuel lies in dense bed. The
review of combustion and gasication process with CFD modeling is
done in following sections.
3.1. Combustion
Combustion is an exothermic oxidation process occurring at
a relatively high temperature. The time of reaction, temperature
required for sustaining the reaction and better mixing of fuel with
oxidant are three major requirement of a good combustion process.
These three requirements are adequately met in an FB combustor,
whose excellent internal and external recirculation of hot solids at
the combustion temperature provides a long residence time and
adequate temperature to the fuel particles. The high degree of gas
solid mixing in the FB furnace also provides the turbulence
necessary for good combustion. The stages of combustion have
been discussed with the aid of CFD by many authors. In studying
combustion of fuel in the dense bed the initial time is taken, where
as in freeboard the real time is taken by many studies. In all of
studies reported the ke turbulence model is used.
3.1.1. Physical and chemical processes
Present CFD models can be used to study the physical and
chemical processes occurred during combustion of fuel in uidized
bed. The stages during combustion process can be studied with
different CFD models. The rst step to initiate the combustion
process is heat the fuel particles up to the temperature required for
combustion process, which is determined and validated by various
authors. Due to the limitation of the present CFD codes (which did
not allow for simultaneous modeling of burning particle (EeL
approach) and bubbling bed (EeE TFM approach)), it is generally
assumed in all studies that the heat required to initiate the combustion of biomass/RDF particles is provided by the uidizing air
entering at the combustion temperatures. The Lagrangian phase
and DPM method is applied by [15,21,23,24,54] few authors to
study various properties of fuels in BFB units. As the temperature is
important parameter that affects combustion process, the correct
prediction of it is very important for correct CFD model. Present
CFD simulations predict the temperature successfully in uidized
bed combustors, but at the same times it fails to answer the hot and
Fig. 6. Stages in combustion and gasication process.
595
cold spots in bed. The basic approach in prediction of temperature

in for coal and biomass/RDF is same. The study presented by
Agraniotis [23] has not considered all stages of combustion, i.e.
drying, devolatilization, char combustion process as they have
considered dried fuel entering in combustor. At present Mueller et
al. [15] and Wang and Yan [54] have considered all stages of combustion to predict the temperature proles in uidized bed combustors. Ravelli et al. [21] used two-mixture fraction approach to
predict correct temperature. The following section deals with different stages of combustion of fuels inside uidized bed.
3.1.1.1. Devolatilization. Devolatilization is the process where
a wide range of gaseous products is released through the decomposition of fuel. The volatile matter (VM) comprises a number of
hydrocarbons which are released in steps. Devolatilization is intermediate step before combustion of particle in uidized bed. CFD
model is able to predict this stage correctly. Presently devolatilization is not validated in real uidized bed combustors. Only few
authors have studied devolatilization of solid fuel particles in
freeboard, although their aim is to study different fuels or to validate their numerical model. Mueller et al. [15] and Raveli et al. [21]
have used CFD to formulate numerical model of peat-forest residue,
Refused derived fuel (RDF) respectively in bubbling uidized bed
combustors. Raveli et al. [21] showed that the comparison between
the devolatilization and the char burnout proles at the entry ports
level, which showed that devolatilization was starting after short
time when the fuel is injected. The fragile structure of the RDF and
its high intrinsic reactivity favor the fast activation of the homogeneous combustion of volatiles (Fig. 7(a)). Fuel particles are
expected to be broken into small fragments immediately after
feeding: since a small particle is burnt faster than a big one, this
would accelerate the emission of volatile from RDF. Fixed carbon
combustion begins after devolatilization and takes place in different freeboard zones by varying the furnace operating conditions.
Fig. 7(b) shows that devolatilization takes place in the region close
to the furnace exit while it is conned to the area just above the
bed. Consequently, in the rst case, a low percentage of the fuel can
be entrained to the furnace exit before the oxidation process is
completed. The two cases on low load and high load in commercial
combustor have been shown in picture. The literature reveals that
devolatilization depends on fragile structure, intrinsic reactivity,
size, temperature and density of properties of particles. If the particles are less fragile, intrinsic reactivity is low, size is large and
denser then the chances of char devolatilization occurs in bed or
during ight from fuel chutes as shown in Fig. 7(b) and (c). To study
devolatilization behavior Mueller et al. [15] and Ravelli et al. [21]
have used Kobayashi model.
3.1.1.2. Char oxidation/burn out. The devolatilized fuel known as
char burns slowly and it takes time depending upon intrinsic
reactivity and size to burn completely. There is chance that some
particle will not burn in bed before leaving. The light particles like
rice husk will burn during trajectory. The char oxidation and char
burn out proles are difcult to study in dense bed due to computational limitations and due surrounding of char particle by sand
particle. With present computational approach it is easier to study
char oxidation in freeboard of commercial as well lab scale units
with discrete particle model Lagrangian approach. The char burn
out is difcult to validate in real combustors and it is not validated
in any of studies. In most of studies the aim is not to study the char
burn out rather to validate the CFD model. The char oxidation of
RDF fuel [21] in commercial combustor is shown in Fig. 8(a).
Fig. 8(a) shows that char combustion takes place in the region close
to the furnace exit in case of minimum load, while in case maximum load it is conned to the area just above the bed.
596
Fig. 7. (a) Fractions of DPM volatilizations [21]. (b) Devolatilization of peat. (c) Devolatilization of forest residue [15].
Consequently, in the rst case, a low percentage of the fuel can be

entrained to the furnace exit before the oxidation process [21] is
completed. In the minimum load condition, the temperature of the
ue gas coming from the bed (971.2 K) is not high enough to rapidly
ignite combustion thus fuel particles may be elutriated from the
furnace, reducing its efciency. On the contrary, in maximum load,
the temperature of the ue gas coming from the bed (1078.5 K)
causes all the fuel to be burnt. For the light weight particles like rice
husk [22] the char oxidation and combustion will take place during
trajectory for the case of rice husk [22] as shown in Fig. 8(c) and (d).
In the case of dense bed in present context EeE TFM and DEMe
CFD is used to formulate char combustion model. DEMeCFD to
formulate char combustion model in dense bed is done by Geng
and Che [55], Rong and Horio [56] and Daoyin et al. [53]. Rong and
Horio [56] are among few who used DEM to simulate the char in
bubbling uidized combustor. They took the uctuations of char
particle temperature into account to effect the particleeparticle
heat conduction, particle gas heat convection, radiation and combustion. They found that NO emissions are greatly affected by the
temperature of burning char particles. Later they concluded that
char temperature uctuated at a frequency of 5e7 Hz and the
maximum char temperature was 50 5 C higher than the average

temperature, which is determined by nearby oxygen concentration
and the heat transfer and the heat transfer properties of their
surrounding gas and particles. Daoyin et al. [53] simulated char and
propane combustion in a uidized bed by extending DEMeCFD
approach. The model predicts that the gaseous fuel reduces the
char combustion rate and this effect is more predominant with
higher bed temperatures or highly reactive chars. The char combustion rate in bed decreases as the temperature rises. The simulation results shows the local heat source generated from the
homogeneous reactions uctuates with gas volume fraction, indicating the gas reaction is highly related with bubbles, which agrees
with the optical measurements by Zukowski et al. [57].
Geng and Che [55] proposed a DEMeCFD for combustion of char
in bubbling uidized bed of inert sand. They presented a new char
combustion sub model as shown in Fig. 8(b) considering sand
inhibitory effects to develop and describe char particle combustion
behavior in the uidized bed. The effects of bed temperature, oxygen concentration and supercial velocity on char combustion
behavior are also examined through model simulation. The presence of the inert particles has shown signicant effects on the
597
Fig. 8. (a) Fractions of DPM burnout (%) [21]. (b) Char combustion model in uidized beds with inert sand particles [55]. (c) Char fraction of a burning rice husk particle in Model III
(One of cases) [22]. (d) Char fraction of burning rice husk particle in Model IV [22].
process of heat and mass transfer and char combustion in uidized

beds.
In studies reported above the freeboard is modeled by DPM
Lagrangian approach and char combustion in bed is modeled by
DEMeCFD approach. The char combustion or oxidation is inuenced by bed hydrodynamics, individual particle temperature, char
residence time and concentrations of the products.
3.1.1.3. Ash behavior. CFD modeling is used in locating the ash
deposition region in the uidized bed combustors. Biomass mixtures currently used in heat and power production are, despite
their environmental and economical advantages, also combined
with ash-related operational problems, such as slagging, fouling,
and corrosion. To improve boiler efciency, reliable ash deposition
prediction is essential. Ash-related problems are strongly dependent on fuel specic aspects, such as the mineral matter distribution
in the fuel, agents specic to the used combustion technique as well
as design aspects unique for the combustion chamber of any
operating power plant. The overall goal in combustion related
research is therefore the prediction of potential operational problems originating from fuel streams entering the combustion
chamber as well as those originating from fuel streams as well as
those originating from the design of individual furnaces. The slagging and fouling tendencies of boilers using CFD are discussed by
authors [16e20,58,59].
The experimental investigations of the original fuels provide the
composition of the ash forming elements in the biomass. These ash
specic data can be used as input for advanced thermodynamics
equilibrium analysis leading to a detailed description of the temperature dependent melting behavior of the ash. Based on this
melting behavior, a fuel eld studies and the operational setup of

the boiler serve as boundary conditions for the CFD calculations. In
these calculations, the physical and chemical processes occurring in
the freeboard region of a bubbling uidized bed combustor-starting
from the bed up to the rst heat exchanger unit-are predicted in the
form of continuous phase and ash particle trajectory simulations.
The exact positions of ash particle impact on the boiler surfaces are
recorded and the particle temperatures at these locations are the
linking parameter to the fuel specic stickiness criterion. The predicted locations of high ash deposition probability on evaporator
and heat exchanger surfaces are compared qualitatively with observations made in the boiler and very good qualitative agreement
is found. The chemical fractionation and the thermodynamic
equilibrium calculations deliver highly reliable data for the ash
melting behavior of different biomasses. The strong dependence on
the biomass composition would cause the relevant sticky temperature of an ash and it could be varied from 850 to 1000 K. The
higher temperature regions in furnace are found with help from
CFD. As shown in Fig. 9 the hot regions with red in color are
responsible for ash prediction in uidized bed furnace. In all of
studies reported, the basic methodology of ash prediction using
CFD remains same. But to illustrate the concept of CFD, different
fuels and different furnaces are used.
3.1.1.4. Particle trajectories. The CFD model computes the particle
trajectory using a Lagrangian formulation which includes the
inertia, hydrodynamic drag, and the force of gravity. The trajectories of particles determined will only be possible in freeboard as
the particle concentration is quite less compare to gas. Whereas in
the dense bed, with DPM Lagrangian approach and with present
598
800-1000 (K)
1000-1200 (K)
1200-1400 (K)
1400-1600 (K)
1600- (K)
Fig. 9. Visual validation of ash deposit prediction in the freeboard of a bubbling uidized bed furnace.
computational power it is not possible to track the particle as

concentration of particles in dense bed is quite high as compare to
gas. The particle trajectory will be depending on size, density and
moisture content in the particle. The history of each single particle
can be tracked both qualitatively and quantitatively. The trajectories of particles can be plotted by selecting the desired number of
streams. Besides, the DPM report gives information about the
average residence time of the fuel particles in the freeboard and the
combustion efciency: both greatly differ from case to case. As
these particles are denser and contain more moisture these will
vanish in bed instead in freeboard. The ash particles however will
be ejected out of furnace.
3.1.2. Fuels in gaseous phase
The combustion of gaseous phase fuels in uidized bed eliminates the heterogeneous reactions. It makes the system easier to
study due less computational space. There are only a few number of
research papers found on combustion of gaseous fuels in uidized
bed. Fluidized bed technology is used mainly for incinerating or
gasifying solid fuels. The combustion of gaseous fuels in uidized
bed has been discussed in chemical loop combustion systems using
CFD as tool. There are few [53,60] who have also discussed combustion of gaseous fuels in uidized bed using CFD. Most of studies
performed in this section are on two-dimensional geometries.
Despite advances in computational studies, some technical challenges still need to be solved to enable it to be applicable to largescale industrial processes.
Chemical looping combustion (CLC) typically employs a dual
uidized bed system (circulating uidized bed process) where
a metal oxide is employed as a bed material providing the oxygen
for combustion in the fuel reactor. The reduced metal is then
transferred to the second bed (air reactor) and re-oxidized before
being reintroduced back to the fuel reactor completing the loop.
The process of chemical looping combustion may be utilized with
either solid or gaseous fuels involving static [61,62], moving [63,64]
or uidized beds [65,66] in which the oxygen necessary for the
combustion is provided by a solid carrier. A basic outline of the
process is shown in Fig. 10(a). Two steps are required: an initial
oxidation and a subsequent reduction step of the oxygen carrier.
Currently implemented systems are mostly based on the uidized
bed technology due to the fact that solid fuels are addressable,
a good mixing of gas and solid carrier is provided and the circulation and replacement of the carrier material become easy. The
process is usually realized through the combination of a bubbling
Fig. 10. (a) Outline of interconnected uidized bed chemical looping combustion
systems [68]. (b) Contour plots of mass fraction of CH4 in the fuel reactor [68].
uidized bed operated as the fuel reactor in combination with

a high velocity riser operated as air reactor as originally proposed
by [65]. Intensive research has been performed over the past decade involving chemical looping combustion [67], but it is still away
from being a commercially available technology. Many authors
[68e73] studied chemical looping combustion in uidized beds
using EeE TFM CFD. The studies reported used CFD for fuel reactor
mainly.
The development and testing of an interconnected multiphase
CFD model for chemical looping combustion is done by Emden et al.
[68]. The air reactor is modeled as a high velocity riser, the fuel
reactor as a bubbling uidized bed. The models of both reactors are
implemented as separate CFD simulations allowing for an exchange
of solid mass through time-dependent inlet and outlet boundary
conditions as well as mass, momentum, heat and heat sinks placed
in the bubbling bed equipped with a weir. The developed framework is tested for chemical looping operated with methane as fuel
gas and Mn3O4 as oxygen carrier. Fig. 10(b) shows the contour plots
of CH4 in the fuel reactor. The simulation could not capture the
unexpected increase in methane conversion with an increase in
fuel injection rate. This counter-intuitive trend was explained by
noting that the reaction rate exhibited by the particles is so rapid
that the global reaction behavior was completely limited by the
species transfer in the particle lean regions towards the gasemulsion interface.
Wang et al. [70] did the CFD simulation of fuel reactor in
chemical looping combustion process using TFM and GKTM. It is
found during simulation of fuel reactor that a high weight fraction
of unburned methane fuel in the ue gas along with CO2 and H2O.
This behavior implies high fuel loss at the exit of the reactor and
indicates the necessity to increase the residence time and improve
mixing in the fuel reactor using circulating uidized bed technology. Deng et al. [71,74,75] used multiphase CFD modeling for
a chemical looping combustion process. In this work, the reaction
kinetics models of the (CaSO4 H2) fuel reactor are developed.
Deng et al. [71] applied multiphase CFD modeling for a chemical
looping combustion process (Fuel Reactor). They also studied effect
of various parameters on performance along with validation of
model. They checked the effect of various parameters like bed
temperature, particle diameter, ow rate etc. Fig. 11(a) shows the
effect of particle diameter on molar fraction of H2 and Fig. 11(b)
displays the effect of bed temperature on the conversion of H2. It is
observed that the conversion of H2 increases at higher temperatures and decreases with particle size. Mahalatkar et al. [72] has
made simulations of a circulating uidized bed chemical looping
combustion system utilizing gaseous fuel. The CLC experiments are
simulated using methane as fuel. A 2-D continuum model was used
to describe both the gas and solid phases. Detailed sub-models to
account for uid-particle and particle interaction forces are included. Global models of fuel and carrier chemistry are utilized. The
results obtained from CFD are compared with experimental outlet
species concentrations, solid circulation rates, solid mass distribution in the reactors, and leakage and dilution rates. The transient
CFD simulations provided a reasonable match with the reported
experimental data. Jung and Gamwo [76] applied multiphase CFDbased models for chemical looping combustion process using MFIX
code. Wang et al. [73] applied multiphase TFM CFD modeling to
chemical looping combustion using a CUO/Al2O3 oxygen carrier.
The shrinking core model (SCM) with the reaction controlled by the
chemical reaction in the grain is applied. The results show that the
fuel conversion with the same inlet gas velocity would go up by
modestly increasing the initial bed height and the temperature but
would slightly decrease with an increase in the operating pressure.
The high conversion of coal gas with a low solid inventory could be
reached in proper operating conditions.
Intensive research has been performed over the past decade
involving chemical looping combustion, but still it far away from
being a commercial available technology. CFD modeling of chemical
loop combustion systems has been done to know how the fuel and
oxygen carrier is circulated in both the vessels along with other
parameters. Present CFD studies in all the cases are on twodimensional or third dimension is negligible. The solid volume
fractions in all the cases indicate the reaction of fuel with oxidizer.
The major difference in all the studies is in terms of carriers and fuel
gas. In all these studies the heterogeneous reaction rate is important for the determination of the mass transfer between solid and
uid phase and for the species transport equation which will be
used to determine the solid volume reaction rates. Apart from time,
temperature and turbulence there are other parameters like particle diameter, design parameters, ow rate, oxygen concentration,
599
Fig. 11. (a) Effect of particle diameter on conversion of H2 [71]. (b) Effect of bed
temperature on the conversion of H2 [71].
supercial velocity, etc. which affects combustion process in uidized bed. Although numerous literature will be found on these
parameters, but with CFD few studies are reported.
3.2. Gasication
Gasication is generally carried out by reacting fuel such as coal,
biomass, petroleum coke or heavy oil with restricted amount of
oxygen and often in combination with steam. Although much of
studies related to gasication of fuels in uidized bed is already
established and many textbooks [111,112] are found related to this,
but the aim of this study is to nd the use of CFD in studying the
gasication process.
3.2.1. Physical and chemical processes
CFD models are used to study the physical and chemical
behavior of fuels in uidized bed gasication process. The numerical model can present the detailed information about the gasication processes and bridge the gap effectively between largescale commercialized beds and small-scale testing models. To
improve the thermal efciency and to predict product gas composition and emission rates numerous mathematical models for
coal and biomass gasication in dense bed [28,29,31,39,77e85] has
600
been developed. Most of them considered EulereEulers model to

study fundamental investigations of the chemical and uid mechanical aspects of uidized beds. It is part of their EeE TFM CFD
model which are formed to look different characteristics. Most of
simulations are done in two-dimensional geometries. Most studies
have performed on coal as fuel. Only some authors have reported
[77,80,85] it for biomass in dense bed. Armstrong et al. [80] formed
a CFD model for biomass and coal. They also discussed various effects regarding gaseous emissions. The result in these early stages
shows that the inclusion of coal to the model has strong effect on
the gaseous products produced. There appears to be a signicant
increase in the mole fractions of CO2 and H2O. This could be due to
an increase in the mass fraction of H2 and a slight increase in CO
released during the pyrolysis stage of the coal compared to the
biomass. Gerber et al. [77,85] formulated CFD model bed material
consisting of wood and char. With increasing temperatures within
the reactor they found higher reaction rates for pyrolysis, gasication, and homogeneous gas phase reactions. The concentration
of gasication products like CO, H2, and CH4 is causing increased
temperature levels. Zeng et al. [79] discussed CFD model of coal
gasication in uidized bed and the effect of various parameters on
gasication parameters, i.e. emissions. Pressure causing the carbon
monoxide to increase in reactor and bed temperature is having no
effect on molar concentration. However with increase in reactor
temperature, the rate of Boudouard reaction which consumes CO2
and produces CO will become faster. Li et al. [84] also discussed the
above effects in pressurized spouted uid bed for coal.
The numerical simulations of the bubbling uidized bed coal
gasication for two-dimensional bubbling uidized bed gasier
(BFBG) is done by Yu et al. [47]. The coal gasication rates are
determined by combining Arrhenius rate and diffusion rate for
heterogeneous reactions or turbulent mixing rate for homogeneous
reactions. The simulation results would give much more exact
predictions of the distributions of pressure, temperature, velocity,
volume fraction of the phases and gas composition along the
reactor which cannot be described by two-phase or three-phase
one dimensional uidization models. The mathematical modeling
of coal gasication in a uidized bed reactor is done by Cornejo and
Faras [86]. This work is similar to work done by Yu et al. [47] with
more simplications. Their chemical model involved ve heterogeneous and ve homogeneous chemical reactions, tracking seven
species in the gas phase (CO2, CO, H2O, CH4, H2, O2 and N2) and one
species in the solid phase (C(s)). Drying and volatilization rates
were estimated by mass conservation. The major difference from
Yu et al. [47] is that in this process coal entering in the gasier in
dried state and there is no ash considered in this system. The CFD
simulation of a uidized bed gasier operating with lignite coal is
done by Karimipour et al. [87]. They discussed that the method of
implementing the water-gas shift reaction into the simulation code
is highly inuential on the computational expense.
The TFM EeE CFD technique is also used to plot the solid volume
fraction of char, to know the movement of char. After the drying
and devolatilization these char particles become less dense and
their tendency to ow at the top of bed. This technique could help
to see ow of char in the bed. The solid volume fraction of two chars
[80] and Lime and Char is shown in Fig. 12(a). The char particles in
the uidized bed after some time will be segregated depending
upon the time of simulation. After 5.0 s for the biomass gasication
model the volumetric fraction of char 1 [biomass] and char 2 [coal]
phases in the bed. The diameter of the char 2 phase is smaller than
the char 1 phase therefore the particle move to the top of the bed as
the larger particles segregate to the bottom. Fig. 12(b) shows the
volume fraction of the biomass at 5.0 s. The particles are only seen
in the vicinity of the fuel inlet. The highest volume fraction of
particles occurs at the fuel inlet and reduces due to the mass
reduction as a result of pyrolysis and the migration of particles. A

low volume fraction is seen to descend near the air inlet. This is due
to the biomass phase having a higher density and diameter than the
char phases causing the particles to fall to the base of the bed. The
Fig. 12(c) and (d) shows the volumetric fraction of Lime and Char,
respectively. The particle diameters remain the same however the
densities of the limestone and char differ greatly. Although no clear
distinction is observed with regards to segregation in Fig. 12(d)
close inspection indicates that the lower density particles namely
char, are segregating to the top of the bed. The highest volume
fraction of particles occurs at the fuel inlet and reduces due to the
mass reduction as a result of pyrolysis and the migration of particles. A low volume fraction is seen to descend near the air inlet. This
is due to the biomass phase having a higher density and diameter
than the char phases causing the particles to fall to the base of the
bed.
3.2.2. Effect of operational parameters
The parameters which control gasication in uidized bed
include fuel properties, particle size, species concentration, ow
velocity, bed material, uidization velocity, geometry etc. CFD is
being used to study all these parameters. CFD is tool to study the
variation of these parameters on the gasication process in uidized bed. Because of complexity of process, i.e. gasication with
multiphase, not much detail is found about variation of parameters.
Moreover, the geometries like two dimensions discussed in literature will not be helpful to make any solid conclusions regarding
study of gasication process in uidized bed with CFD. The size,
design and conditions of each uidized bed gasier are different
and comparison is very difcult. Few studies related to these are
reported.
Gerber et al. [77] have formed the EeE TFM CFD model for char
as bed material in two-dimensional uid bed gasier and studied
the various parameters like effect of initial bed height, variations in
fuel air ratio and reactor throughput. They tried to do the variations
in initial bed height by 25% in both directions and product gas
concentrations and tar yield are depicted for the base case and the
variations. They do not nd any inuence of the initial bed height
on the gaseous components in the product gas and found strong
inuence on the reactive tar component. They also tried to vary the
fuel to air ratio by changing the fuel mass ow by varying the results in the gas yields. The higher the fuel input is, the more
products gases and tars evolve. This trend is expected for the
product gases but not necessarily for tar as tar production rates
show higher temperature dependence than wood. Zeng et al. [79]
have formed CFD model for pressurized spouted bed and discussed the effect of bed temperature and pressure on formation of
gaseous species. In their results the increase of bed temperature
enhances the formation of all other gases except H2 and CH4. There
results indicate that the gas quality (combustible fractions and
caloric value) improves at a higher operating pressure. They
explained two possible reasons behind this. They explained the one
about the gasication rate enhanced directly by pressure due to the
increase in the partial pressure of reactants and other as the uidization in the reactor becomes better at elevated pressure.
Armstrong et al. [28] studied the parametric gasication of
process in BFB gasier using CFD. They studied the effect of bed
height on gas species. This lower bed height increases the area of
the freeboard providing more space for the relevant species,
namely CO, CO2, H2, and H2O, to compete in the water-gas shift
reaction thus indicating that equilibrium can be obtained in
a small-scale reactor provided the freeboard should be sufciently
tall. Results show that bed temperature is having more inuence on
the gasication processes. The bed temperature results in an
increase in CO and H2 species and a decrease in CO2 and H2O. They
601
Fig. 12. (a) Volume fraction of char1 and char 2 [80]. (b) Volumetric fraction of biomass [80]. (c) and (d) Volume fraction of lime and char [39].
explained it due to highly temperature dependent heterogeneous

reactions. As the temperature increases the reactions take place
faster leading to a faster consumption of the reactants H2O and CO2
through the steam gasication reaction and Boudouard reaction,
respectively. Zhou et al. [88] formed CFD model and discussed

various parameters for biomass gasication in uidized bed. The
size of particle is increasing the hydrogen yield, steam to biomass
ratio (S/B) and equivalence ratio (E/R) initially increasing gas yield
602
and then decreasing gas yield. As per Wang et al. [89] when the
airow rate is xed, the amount of hydrogen and carbon monooxide is sensitive to the changes of ER and temperature, and lower
ER value or higher temperature or both are benecial for higher
yield of syngas.
He et al. [81] used CFD to simulate the wood gasication in a lab
scale bubbling uidized bed. They discussed effect of various parameters like ER and S/B on gas composition. The effect of ER and S/
B on gas composition is shown in Fig. 13(a) and (b), in which the
simulation results obtained from the kinetic model. Due to the
dilution effect from nitrogen and the combustion reactions, production of gases with heating value (H2, CO and CH4) from air
gasication is low while having a high CO percentage. An increasing
ER decreases H2, CO and CH4 yields but increases CO2 amount and
dry gas yield. With increasing S/B ratio, concentration of H2 and CO
increases while that of CO decreases indicating an enhanced watergas shift reaction. The simulation results show a good agreement in
H2 and CH4 production but discrepancy of predicting the CO and CO
trends compared with the experimental results.
Since CFD in uidized bed gasication is immature eld and it is
still growing with advancement in computational technology. Most
of parameters discussed above like bed height, feeding rate, ER, S/B
ratio etc. are known facts, but here attempt is study the above
parameters with aid of CFD. Many of parameters are not reported
for most of studies. The target/aim of most of studies is to validate
CFD model in their cases.
3.2.2.1. Bed material. The inert bed material is having no affect on
the gasication process in uidized bed as predicted with CFD. CFD
can be used as tool to study the effect of bed material on gasication process in uidized bed. The bed material limestone to
capture sulfur, i.e. calcination process on gasication parameters in
uidized bed with CFD as discussed by Armstrong et al. [28,39]. For

most the devices the bed material is inert and having no effect on
gasication of fuel in uidized bed. There are few authors [47,86,87]
who studied gasication of fuels in uidized bed without inert
material. The considered solid fuel chars as bed material. They used
EeE TFM approach to study gasication in uidized bed. Few
simplications include the negation of interaction forces like lift
force, thermophoretic force, Brownian force and virtual mass forces
in all these cases. The intensity of particles collision does not vary
with temperature, i.e., exothermic or endothermic reaction has no
impact on the uctuation of solid velocity and does not have a rise
in the temperature of granular are among few more simplications.
There is no known effect of char on gasication in uidized bed
when it is used as bed material. In all the studies reported above
there is no ash phase considered, i.e. fuel will break down into char
and combustible gases.
The few studies reported when they considered bed material as
mixture of sand, fuel, char or ashes. Few authors have considered
[28,29,78,80,90] studied gasication using the above mixture.
However for any of studies reported the effect of variation in different percentage of bed material is not reported. In all cases
reported these includes drying, devolatilization and gasication.
But no such parameters is discussed which will decrease or
enhance the gasication process. An Eulerian CFD modeling
approach of wood gasication in a bubbling uidized bed reactor
using char as bed material is done by Gerber et al. [77]. They
reported char to act as a catalyst capable of reducing tar, but no
effects of performance or comparison with inert material is
reported.
3.2.2.2. Design. The effect of changes in geometry or design is not
much reported in literature to affect the combustion and gasication in uidized bed with aid of CFD. Benjapon et al. [91] have
made the hydrodynamic descriptions and chemical reaction responses using CFD modeling of tapered circulating uidized bed
reactor risers. They tested CFD modeling for taper in and taper out
of riser. They found that the tapered-in riser increases the solid
particle residence time and gives a more uniform temperature
distribution, because it does not have sufcient force to support the
weight of the particles. They found that the tapered-in riser is best
for reactions with a slow rate whilst the tapered out riser best tted
the reactions with a fast rate. Mazumder et al. [92] used CFD in
designing conceptual hybrid gasier and in second part [93] they
have made simulation of a hybrid entrained-ow and uidized bed
mild gasier. It is simply newly conceptual design in two dimensions and nothing is explained about any chemical process that
is affected by design. They calculated various species and considered all the reactions in gasier using CFD.
Although it is proved that CFD is helpful in design of uidized
bed devices, but considering multiphase reactions, i.e. gasication
it lacks in literature. The bed temperature, bed height, particle size,
oxygen concentration in air, pressure in combustor, hydrogen to
carbon monoxide ratio, geometry, bed material and ash behavior
have unique effect on performance of uidized bed performance
with gasication and it is proved by above literature that CFD is an
effective tool used to study operational parameters that are deriving above process. Table 2 summarizes the CFD study of combustion and gasication based on EeE TFM model and Table 3
summarizes the CFD study of combustion and gasication based
on DPM Lagrangian approach.
3.3. Emissions
Fig. 13. (a) Effect of ER on H2/CO and gas yield [81]. (b) Effect of S/B on H2/CO and gas
yield [81].
The main source of air pollution is the combustion of fuels in

stationary and transportation systems. The boilers, furnaces and
Table 2
Various TFM EulerianeEulerian CFD chemical reactive models in uidized bed combustors and gasiers.
Year
Title
Type
Code/software
Dimension
Turbulence
model
Features of model
Extra model/UDF
Agreement with
experimental
Remarks
Farias et al. [60]
2006
CFD study on natural gas-uidized bed

combustors
Ansys Fluent
NS
ke
Two stage kinetic

model
No
Yes
Yu et al. [47]
2007
Own code
3D
ke
Yes
2008
MFIX
2D
NS
Kinetic model
[116]/Eddy Break
up
LFRM
NA
Jung and Gamwo [76]
Yes
Yes
Deng et al. [71]
2008
Numerical simulation of the bubbling

uidized bed coal gasication by the kinetic
theory of granular ow (KTGF)
Multiphase CFD-based models for chemical
looping combustion process: fuel reactor
modeling
Multiphase CFD modeling for a chemical
looping combustion process (fuel reactor)
Cluster of Linux
X86 machines is
used.
No inert material is
used in dense bed
Fluent
2D
ke
Shrinking core
model[108]/L F R M
and E D M
Yes
Yes
Zhongyi Deng [79]
2008
Fluent
3D
ke
Shrinking core
model[108]/E D M
Yes
Yes
Zhou et al. [8]
2009
Not Specied
2D
ke
LFRM
Yes
Not all
Nikolopoulos et al. [9]
2009
Ansys ICEM and

Star CD
3D
ke
Shrinking core
model/L F R E
model
Yes
Yes
Qianjum et al. [84]
2009
Simulation of coal gasication in

a pressurized spout-uid bed gasier
Fluent
3-D
ke
Kinetic model Chen

et al. [116]/E D M
Yes
Yes
Wang et al. [78]
2009
Three-dimensional simulation of uidized

bed coal gasication
Ansys Fluent
3D
ke
NS
Yes
Yes
Emden et al. [68]
2010
Development and testing of an

interconnected multiphase CFD model for
chemical looping combustion
Ansys Fluent
2D
ke
Linear and
spherical shrinking
core/F R M and E D
M
Yes
NS
Karimipour et. al [87]
2010
CFD simulation of a uidized bed gasier

operating with lignite coal
Opensource /MFIX
3-D
NS
Shrinking core
Model
No
NS
Gerber et al. [77]
2010
Opensource /MFIX
2D
ke
Arhenius type Law/

L F R and E D
Yes
Not all
Benjapon et al. [91]
2010
Ansys Fluent
3-D
ke
EDM
No
Yes
Armstrong et al. [28]
2011
An Eulerian modeling approach of wood

gasication in a bubbling uidized bed
reactor using char as bed material
CFD modeling of tapered circulating
uidized bed reactor risers: Hydrodynamic
descriptions and chemical reaction
responses
Parametric study of gasication processes
in a BFB coal gasier
Ansys Fluent
3D
ke
EDM
Yes
Yes
Computational uid dynamics modeling of

coal gasication in a pressurized spout-uid
bed
Numerical simulation on hydrodynamics
and combustion in a circulating uidized
bed under O2/CO2 and air atmospheres
Numerical investigation of 3-d transient
combusting ow in a 1.2 MWth pilot power
plant
Methane and NiO

as catalyst is used in
fuel reactor
Reaction kinetics
models of the
(CaSO4 H2) fuel
reactor
Experimental
verication is done
on 0.1 MW reactor
Validation with 3D
test rig and not
promising results
Combustion
chamber has 9.5 m
height and 0.4 m2
diameter
The maximum
error in one of
parameters of
model, i.e. methane
is 25%.
Gasier of 2 m and
0.2 m diameter is
used for validation
Chemical looping is
operated with
methane as fuel gas
and Mn3O4 as
oxygen carrier
Simulation are
done DMP
(distributed
memory parallel)
mode
Char as bed
material is used
Authors
Taper in of riser
give best
performance for
reactions
Limestone
calcination is
incorporated in
main model
(continued on next page)
603
604
Table 2 (continued )
Year
Title
Type
Code/software
Dimension
Turbulence
model
Features of model
Extra model/UDF
Agreement with
experimental
Remarks
Wang et al. [73]
2011
K Fix
2D
ke
EDM
Yes
NS
Mazumder et al. [92]
2011
Ansys Fluent-12
2-D
ke
L F R M and E D M
Yes
NS
Zhou et al. [6]
2011
Multiphase computational uid dynamics

(CFD) modeling of chemical looping
combustion using a CuO/Al2O3 oxygen
carrier: effect of operating conditions on
coal gas combustion
Design and simulation of a hybrid
entrained-ow and uidized bed mild
gasier part 1 e design considerations and
development of a multiphase model
Two-dimensional computational uid
dynamics simulation of coal combustion in
a circulating uidized bed combustor
MFIX
2D
ke
L F R and E D M
Yes
No
Cornejo and Farias [86]
2011
Mathematical modeling of coal gasication

in a uidized bed reactor using a Eulerian
granular description
Ansys Fluent
3D
ke
EDM
Yes
Yes
Myohanen and Hyppanen

[31]
2011
A three-dimensional model frame for

modeling combustion and gasication in
circulating uidized bed furnaces
Ansys Fluent
3D
NS
Not specied
Yes
No
Li et al. [94]
2011
Numerical simulation of biomass

gasication in a uidized bed
Ansys Fluent
3D
NS
No
Yes
Mahalatkar et al. [72]
2011
Ansys Fluent
2D
NS
Yes
Yes
Wang et al. [73]
2011
Not specied
3D
NS
Yes
Yes
Zhou et al.[7]
2011
Simulations of a circulating uidized bed

chemical looping combustion system
utilizing gaseous fuel
Multiphase computational uid dynamics
(CFD) modeling of chemical looping
combustion using a CuO/Al2O3 oxygen
carrier: effect of operating conditions on
coal gas combustion
CFD modeling of oxy-coal combustion in
circulating uidized bed
Homogeneous
reactions/Arhenius
expression
Uniform reaction
model (Son and
Kim [66])
Shrinking core
model/L F R and E D
M
Chemical looping is
operated with
methane as fuel gas
and NiO as oxygen
carrier
CFD applied to
conceptual and
theoretical hybrid
gasier
Two-dimensional
with the furnace
depth of 0.1 m and
no inert material is
considered
Model assumes
drying of fuel at
mouth of gasier
and variation of one
of gas methane
from experimental
is above 60%
Simulations are
done in 3D test
furnace and model
includes sulphation
and calcination
model
Effect of mass ratio
steam and biomass
is studied
Manganese oxide
carrier with the fuel
gases
CuO/Al2O3 oxygen
carrier
MFIX
2D
ke
L F R and E D M
Yes
No
Oxy combustion of
coal in 2D geometry
is considered
Authors
Table 3
Discrete particle EulerianeLagrangian approach used in uidized bed combustion and gasication devices.
Year
Title
Code/software
Dimension
Turbulence
model
Extra
model/UDF
Agreement with
experimental
Remarks
Zabetta et al. [95]
1999
Fluent 5.4
3D
k-
Yes
Yes
Staged combustion is done
Soalidis and Faltsi [96]
2001
NOx reduction by staging in biomass

combustion e A kinetic and CFD modeling
study
Simulation of biomass gasication in
uidized beds using computational uid
dynamics approach
Fluent
3D
ke
No
Yes
Brink et. al. [11]
2001
Fluent
3D
ke
Yes
Yes
The biomass particle trajectories are by

no means representative of the real
situation, as the effect of solid-to-solid
interaction (sand-to-biomass) is
ignored.
Effect of turbulence is modeled with
eddy dissipation model.
Zevenhovan and
Jarvinen[14]
2001
Fluent
3D
ke
Yes
Yes
Mueller et al. [18]
2002
Fluent
3D
ke
Yes
Yes
Grabner et al. [98]
2007
Fluent
3D
ke
Yes
Yes
Lundmarket al. [19]
2007
Fluent
3D
ke
Yes
Yes
Agraniotis et al. [23]
2009
Ansys Fluent
3D
NS
No
Yes
Mueller et al. [15]
2005
Ansys Fluent
3D
ke
Yes
Yes
Zhou et al. [88]
2006
Fluent 6.0
3-D
ke
No
Yes
Brink et. al. [12]
2006
Fluent
3D
NS
Yes
Yes
New concept of combining CFD with

chemical fractionation analysis and
multiphase equilibrium calculations
Measured temperature increase at the
furnace exit which is not expected
All four stages drying, devolatization,
char carbon conversion and ash particle
formation are considered
Effect of particle size, steam to biomass
ratio and effect of equivalence ratio is
checked.
Splash zone model is formed
Ravelli et al. [21]
2008
Fluent 6.1
3D
ke
No
Yes
Two-mixture fraction using pdf is used
Wang and Yan [89]
2009
Fluent
3D
ke
No
Yes
Xiao et al. [99]
2009
Fluent
3D
ke
No
Yes
Reaction models using non premixed

combustion model and CHEMKIN
database
Reactor temperature is below 432 K
which seems extremely low
Brink et. al. [24]
2009
Fluent 6.2
3D
ke
Yes
Yes
Modied eddy dissipation concept

model is used
Yu et al. [100]
2009
Fluent 6.2.1
3D
ke
No
Yes
130 t/h boiler is under consideration
Wischnewski et al. [101]
2009
Not specied
3D
NS
Yes
Yes
Ratschow et al. [102]
2009
Ansys ICEM and Star CD
3D
NS
Yes
Yes
Four zones bottom zone, splash zone,

upper dilute zone and exit zone are
under consideration
Horizontal dispersion coefcients are
also discussed
CFD modeling of the fate of biomass fuelnitrogen in the freeboard of a 70 MW FBCnew aspects on controlling mechanisms
Particle/turbulence interactions, mass
transfer and gas/solid chemistry in a CFBC
Riser
CFD-based ash deposition prediction in
a bubbling uidized bed combustor ring
mixtures of biomasses
Numerical simulation of coal gasication at
circulating uidized bed conditions
Computational uid dynamic modeling of
combustion and ash deposition in a biomass
co-red bubbling uidized bed boiler
Numerical investigation on the combustion
behavior of pre-dried Greek lignite
Numerical simulation of the combustion
behavior of different biomasses in
a bubbling uidized bed boiler
Non premixed combustion model of
uidized bed biomass gasier for hydrogen
rich gas
A modied approach for predicting NOx
emission trends from biomass red
bubbling uidized bed boilers
Description, applications and numerical
modeling of bubbling uidized bed
combustion in waste-to-energy plants
CFD-based combustion model for sewage
sludge gasication in a uidized bed
Numerical simulation of sludge dryness
under ue gas atmosphere in the riser of
a uidized bed
A simplied model for the behavior of large
biomass particles in the splashing zone of
a bubbling bed
CFD modeling applied to the co-combustion
of paper sludge and coal in a 130 t/h CFB
boiler
3D-simulation of concentration
distributions inside large-scale circulating
uidized bed combustors
Three-dimensional simulation of
temperature distributions in large-scale
circulating uidized bed combustors
The effect of particle size, temperature,

reactor size and uidization velocity on
NO is checked.
New concept of combining CFD with
chemical fractionation analysis and
multiphase equilibrium calculations
CO is not incorporated in simulation
605
(continued on next page)
Authors
No
NS
3D
Barracuda
2011
Gerber and
Oevermann [105]
Weng and
Plackmeyer [106]
2011
2011
Snider et al. [104]
Own Code
2010
Tang et al. [82]
CPFD
2010
Park et al. [103]
Fluent
2010
Rozainee et al. [22]
Star ccm 4.02
engines burning fossil fuels emit gaseous pollutants, such as SO2,

NOx, CO, N2O and volatile organic compounds (HC). Fluidized bed
combustors or gasiers have been used for long times to control
and discussing the impact of these pollutants. CFD modeling of uid
dynamics has already reached a high level while numerical modeling of reactive multiphase ows is still in an early stage. Many
researchers have done a lot of work on the pollutant emission
modeling in the FB combustors and gasiers, but CFD modeling of
emissions in uidized bed devices is in still developing stage. Only
few papers [21,89,93,96,98,100] have been found discussing the
above. Most of the research in the literature dealing fuels particles
with DPM Lagrange approach and it is difcult to describe the
chemical processes properly with EeE TFM method. Only few of
them [28,31,39,107] discussed these emissions using EeE TFM
approach. The most authors discussed these pollutants as a part of
CFD model and compared their results regarding pollutants with
experimental values.
Yes
Inuence of different velocities has

been presented
The simulation has been done with new
concept of barracuda method
Yes
2D
NS
Yes
Energy and chemistry equations for the

MP-PIC method in CPFD are presented.
Yes
3D
NS
No
Koybashi at al. [42] devoltalization

model is used
Yes
3D
ke
Yes
Stage gasication is done

Yes
3-D
NS
No
Bed temperature of combustor drops

frequently
Yes
No
RNG ke
Ansys Fluent
Computational uid dynamics modeling of

rice husk combustion in a uidized bed
combustor
Numerical simulation of woody waste
gasication in two stage uidized bed
gasier
3D computational uid dynamics
simulation of natural coke steam
gasication in general and improved
uidized beds
EulerianeLagrangian method for threedimensional thermal reacting ow with
application to coal gasiers
EulereLagrange modeling of wood
gasication in dense uidized beds
Comparison between measurements and
numerical simulation of particle ow and
combustion at the Duisburg CFBC plant
3D
Code/software
Title
Year
Authors
Table 3 (continued )
Dimension
Turbulence
model
Extra
model/UDF
Remarks
Agreement with
experimental
606
3.3.1. Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide particularly in many areas comes primarily
from automobiles. The emission of carbon monoxide from uidized
bed boiler plants is not generally perceived to be a major problem
and is normally below the statutory limit. The emission depends on
the fuel composition and combustion temperature. It is one of most
important green house gas; it received the greatest attention in
terms of emission control. CFD is being is used to study its behavior
while combustion/gasication of fuel in uidized bed. Many authors [21,89,96,98,100] have reported the emissions using DPM
Lagrangian and other have used EeE TFM models [93] to study CFD
modeling of combustion/gasication in bed. Lagrangian approach
using DPM is used to study carbon monoxide emissions in freeboard, whereas for dense bed EeE TFM approach is used. The
emissions are part of CFD modeling for the case of combustors and
gasiers, which are validated by measurements. For the uidized
bed combustors the formation of carbon monoxide is considered as
emissions, where as in gasiers it is intermediate stage before
combustion.
Few authors [21,89,93,96,98,100] discussed carbon monoxide
emissions with Lagrangian DPM approach. Soalidis et al. [96] has
simulated biomass gasication in uidized beds using computational uid dynamics approach. Their simulation results include
various species and carbon monoxide is one of them. Fig. 14(a)
shows the contours of the CO mass fractions in the gas mixture. The
higher values for CO are located immediately above the air in lets,
while for CO2, at a greater height. Both gases acquire their exit
values very quickly, below the free board area.
Yu et al. [100] applied CFD modeling applied to the cocombustion of paper sludge and coal in a 130 t/h CFB boiler. The
carbon monoxide emissions are one of parameters in this. The
carbon monoxide proles are shown in Fig. 14(b). They concluded
that high concentration CO comes from the dense-phase zone and
that is consumed in both the uidized particle combustion and the
collision of bed material. The high CO region coincides with the
main pass of the gas ow and is close to the secondary air inlet. In
the volume space near the bed bottom, there is only low concentration CO. In the dilute-phase zone, temperature reduces to
a lower level and any further CO reaction is very slow. Grabner et al.
[98] also discussed the formation of carbon monoxide using numerical simulation of coal gasication at circulating uidized bed
conditions. Wang et al. [89] formed CFD-based combustion model
for sewage sludge gasication in a uidized bed. The model sensitivity is analyzed by performing the model in a laboratory-scale
uidized bed in the literature, and the model validation is carried
out by comparing with experimental data from the literature. Their
results show that reasonably good agreement is achieved. They also
607
Fig. 14. (a) Mass fractions of CO [96]. (b) CO concentrations proles of coal combustion (i) and co-combustion of paper sludge/coal (ii) (x 0 mm, range from 2256.5 mm to
2265.5 mm [boiler dimensions]) [100]. (c) Effect of ER on ratio of H2/CO for T 1023 K, 1073 K, and 1123 K (M) model results; (E) experiment data [89].
discussed the effects of temperature and equivalence ratio (ER) on

the quality of product syngas (H2 CO). A suitable ratio of H2/CO is
useful for the chemical industry. The ratio of H2/CO slightly decreases with increasing ER value when ER is less than 0.35 but increases with increasing ER when ER is over 0.35 as shown in
Fig. 14(c).
Hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio is one of critical output
parameters for liquid fuel synthesis and still variations of nearly an
order of magnitude are observed, which cannot be explained by the
current state of understanding of these systems. Only few authors
[89] discussed hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio in uidized bed.
Present research based on CFD models related to uidized bed
combustion and gasication related has been silent on this issue.
3.3.2. SO2 emissions
Due to burning of fuel the sulfur is oxidized primarily to sulfur
dioxide. The mineral matter in coal may contain some calcium
oxide, CaO, which may absorb a part of the sulfur dioxide as calcium
sulfate. Some amount of it will escape to atmosphere and some
amount will be converted to sulfur trioxide. Primarily during
combustion or gasication of fuel in uidized bed the chances of
formation of these gases are very thin. The sub-models of sulfur
emissions are added to main CFD model to know the emissions. The
CFD modeling of SOx will make the process computational very
expensive with multiphase approach. The CFD modeling of SOx is
possible both with Lagrangian and EulerianeEulerian Approach.
But for industrial uidized bed units more journeys have to travel
before any prominent results with SOx CFD models and multiphase
approach. Few authors [28,31,39,107] discussed formation SOx with
EeE CFD model in uidized bed.
Zhou et al. [107] discussed computational uid dynamics simulation of nitrogen and sulfur oxides emissions in a twodimensional circulating uidized bed combustor. Based on the
previously established two-dimensional computational uid
608
dynamics (CFD) model which described processes of coal devolatilization, volatile combustion and char combustion in circulating
uidized bed (CFB) combustors, nitrogen and sulfur oxides emissions are numerically simulated and investigated in their research.
Fig. 15(a) shows the contours of molar fraction of SO2 concentration. The char of sulfur will be converted to SO2 during char combustion. SO2 was retained by CaO calcined from CaCO3. By
converting reaction rate expressions to suitable forms for Euleriane
Eulerian modeling, sulfation reaction rates from two different literatures were compared. They evaluated the performance of SO2
emission for conditions with/without considering sulfur selfretention. Fig. 15(b) shows the comparison between simulated
and experimental pollutant concentrations at outlet on dry basis.
All the results are matching with the experimental values. Myohanen et al. [31] formed a three-dimensional model frame for
modeling combustion and gasication in circulating uidized bed
furnaces. They included sub model for sulfur, i.e. limestone reactions along with other sub-models in CFD calculation. Limestone
will act as sorbent for the absorption of sulfur dioxide in uidized
bed combustors. They have applied CFD on three-dimensional test
furnace to look various effects. The limestone is calcined quickly as
it enters the furnace. Regarding sulfur dioxide their on the results of
model is shown in Fig. 15(c). Fig. 15(c) presents the calcination and
sulphation rates. The resulting CaO is then reacting with sulfur
dioxide and the sulphation rate is naturally highest in the locations
where the concentration of SO2 is highest. The highest sulphation
Fig. 15. (a) Contours of SO2 concentration and related reaction rates without adding limestone [107]. (b) Comparison between simulated and experimental pollutant concentrations
at outlet on dry basis [107]. (c) Modeled calcinations and sulphation rates [31].
rate is located just above the bottom of the furnace and in the core
of the furnace, where the SO2 is released from combustion of char.
The limestone calcination plays important role in capture of
sulfur. Limestone calcination is introduced to a computational uid
dynamic model of uidized bed gasication process by Armstrong
et al. [28,39]. The limestone calcination in this study [39] is showing
only slight effects on gasication process. The slight changes are
observed in the gaseous compositions due to the introduction of
CO2 as a result of limestone decomposition. They explained the
reasons for this are because of relatively short simulation time.
Armstrong et al. [28] studied the parametric gasication using EeE
CFD modeling and one of parameters is the effects of limestone
calcination on coal bubbling uidized bed gasier in a bed of char
and limestone. They checked the effects of limestone calcination
a bed consisting of 100% limestone which includes inert limestone
and calcinating limestone. A close up of the products, CO, CO2, H2
and CH4, in Fig. 16(a) shows a signicant increase in the concentration of CO2 due to limestone calcination; however, as expected
this increase is only slight in comparison to the inuence heterogeneous reactions have on the gaseous compositions. Fig. 16(b)
shows the average mole fraction of O2 at different heights near the
air inlet for the three-bed compositions. Clearly this is higher when
the percentage of limestone is higher.
3.3.3. NOx emissions (nitrogen chemistry)
CFD modeling is used in predicting nitrogen chemistry parameters (NOx, NH3 and N2) in commercial bubbling uidized bed
combustors. The combustion temperature when ring biomass is
typically fairly low and most of the NOx emissions stem from the
fuel bound nitrogen. The NOx emissions can still be reduced by
primarily bound nitrogen and air staging. CFD is helpful in minimizing NOx emissions using optimization. But NOx emission modeling is one of the most challenging tasks in CFD-based combustion
Fig. 16. (a) Close up of the gaseous composition of the products for a bed of inert and
calcinating limestone [28]. (b) Average mole fraction of O2 at different heights near the
air inlet for the three-bed compositions char ratio is lower [28].
609
modeling. The main reasons are the large number of species and
radicals in low concentrations involved in the nitrogen chemistry
and their sensitivity to temperature and turbulent motion of the
ow. Few of authors studied [11e14,95,97] mechanism of nitrogen
chemistry in bubbling bed combustor. Brink et al. [11,97] used CFD
modeling to study the fate of biomass fuel-nitrogen in the freeboard of a 70 MW FBC-new aspects on controlling mechanism for
forest residue fuel. They have developed two-step mechanisms for
modeling the fate of fuel-N from biomass red combustion devices.
The effect of the turbulence is modeled with eddy dissipation
combustion model. They found that no inuence on the NO emissions could be obtained using a different air staging strategy. It is
because of fact that most of the volatile-N reacted in the lower part
of the freeboard between the second and third level of air ports.
Brink et al. [12] continued their previous work [11] and presented a modied approach for predicting NOx emissions trends
from biomass red bubbling uidized bed boilers. The modied
model is built on the argument that all nitrogen reactions share the
same radical pool and thus proceed at the same physical location in
the turbulent ow. Mathematically the modied EDCM for the twostep mechanism can be written as:
min
u1 min A

YNH3
rNH3 ;R1 rO2 ;R1

min YNH3 ; YO2

u2 min A
k
YO2
rNH3 ;R1 rO2 ;R1
r1
;u
r1 r2 1;chem
r1
;u
r1 r2 2;chem

(4.5)

(4.6)
Here is constant and r1 is the chemical rate for NH3 oxidation

by O2 and reaction rate r2 is the chemical rate for the reaction
forming N2 from NH3 and NO. To investigate the difference between
eddy dissipation model and the modied version, a 295 MWth
bubbling uidized bed boiler is modeled applying the both models
together with a two-step reaction mechanism for fuel-NO. With the
standard EDCM this increase resulted in a marginal increase of the
predicted NOx emission level only, indicating the insensitivity of
this model to the NO chemistry. The modied EDCM showed
a signicantly higher sensitivity to the nitrogen chemistry and
allowed prediction of reasonable NOx emission trends. The modied EDCM shows expected sensitivity of the NOX emissions to the
chemical description of the reaction rates. Zabetta et al. [95] applied
CFD to study reduction of NOx by staging in biomass combustion by
homogenous detailed chemical kinetic modeling. The effect of
temperature, devolatilized hydrodynamics, volatile nitrogen components (NH3, HCN) and number of air addition stages on NOx
formation is investigated at one dimensional, isothermal, ideal plug
ow conditions. Zhou et al. [107] has discussed computational uid
dynamic simulation of nitrogen and sulfur oxides emissions in
a two-dimensional circulating uidized bed combustor. Their CFD
model in two-dimensional uidized bed combustor predicted NOx
emissions using EeE approach. In their studies the char N converted to NO during char combustion and NOx is reduced to N2 by
char carbon or CO.
In all the studies except one [107] presented above, the computational domain focuses on the freeboard region. There is difculty in the accurate modeling of the fuel supply as most of fuels are
80e90% pyrolyzed in ight before arriving at the bed. The
remaining 10% fuel is assumed to be fully oxidized when entering
the freeboard from the bed surface. At present, there are no detailed
models available to determine the composition of the pyrolysis gas
with respect to nitrogen containing species. The values have to be
assigned based on experience and naturally also on the nitrogen
content of the fuel. The same uncertainty exists for the determination of the composition of the main pyrolysis gas. The ring
mode of fuel to uidized bed furnace is option to control NOx as
610
explained by Brink et al. [13] in their studies. According to the CFD

optimization it would be possible to reduce the NOx emission by
substantial amount only by adjusting the air supply.
4. Present trends and challenges
CFD modeling of dense bed and freeboard/riser with combustion and gasication issues has been studied separately in literature. No study is reported when both bed and freeboard have
simultaneously considered for CFD simulation. In generally EeE
TFM is used for dense bed and Lagrangian model with DPM
approach is used for freeboard/riser. As per trends turbulence
model ke is used in most of cases to study combustion and gasication of fuels in uidized bed units. Majority of studies related to
combustion and gasication in uidized bed is done using Ansys
Fluent software. However contribution of own codes and other
softwares like MFIX cannot be ruled out. The trends could be
divided into three different approaches discussed previously, i.e. Ee
E TFM, DEMeCFD and Lagrangian DPM approach.
4.1. Trends
4.1.1. TFM EulerianeEulerian and DEMeCFD
CFD modeling of the dense bed area is complicated and accuracy
in results is not sufcient. During last decade, mass conservation and
momentum balance for gas and solid have been applied to simulate
the hydrodynamics of bubbling uidized bed. DEM (Discrete element method) is based on molecular dynamics and two uid model
(TFM) is based on the assumption that the gas and particulate phases
form two inter-penetrating continuum. To model complex dense bed
with combustion and gasication issues and with the millions of
particles, huge computational times put DEM method at a disadvantage. In comparison to DEMeCFD, EeE TFM saves computational time. To study combustion and gasication, the EeE TFM
approach is more suitable for coal with some approximations. For
biomass like bark, cotton stalks or any other type, there is variation of
particle stream, density, porosity and the size of particle (rectangular
or cylindrical), which causes problems during modeling. The major
hurdle in prediction of accurate simulation results in these cases is
complexity of biomass. For multi scale results very ne mesh resolution is required, which requires huge computational power. Present Eulerian technique and present computational power fails to
predict dense bed characteristic in the case of biomass particles.
In the EeE TFM present trends are used to predict the characteristic of fuel in dense bed and it is done mainly for lab scale units.
The focus of most of research done is for Lab scale units and it is
focused on predicting solid volume fraction, i.e. qualitative information. Researchers used CFD to study devolatization behavior,
char oxidation, char particle physical movement in bed. EeE TFM
CFD modeling is used in literature to look the emissions for simple
two-dimensional or lab scale units. The quantitative information
for products of combustion like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide,
SO2 and nitrogen emissions is studied in literature. Sensitivity
analysis is another issue which is being touched in literature. It is
found in literature that bed material is having little or no effect on
combustion/gasication process.
The modeling of combustion, gasication and pyrolysis in uidized bed is possible with extra code inside present Ansys Fluent
Software. The computational cost of such simulations is very high,
even for two dimensions or lab scale units. The extensive code
development and the extremely high amount of memory allocation
have been slowed down the simulations signicantly. The mass,
momentum and energy sources of an inert material, air and fuels in
Eulerian phase in combustion and gasication in three dimensions
would make things very complicated.
The present Eulerian technique considered few seconds of ow

time of dense uidized bed simulations. For real uidized bed units
the initial ow time is not important as start of units is usually done
with conventional fuels and in conventional fashion.
Authors (We) also tried to apply the EeE TFM approach for bark
in reactive dense bed of commercial scale boiler. The user dened
function (UDF) for bark combustion in the uidized bed is created
using Arrhenius equation. The results are not satisfactory. The one
reason is shape of bark particles. The other reason is that when
combustion or gasication of fuels in dense bed is considered for
Eulerian phase, it comes with the three phases; barkesandeair and
the reaction of bark with air makes the thing more complex. Only
one author [9] reported combustion in uidized bed of 1 MWth.
Based on this it can not be concluded that TFM EulerianeEulerian
model at present is suitable for dense beds in commercial units
when phase reactions has to be considered. Present models are
not advanced enough to be considered as useful tool for biomass
gasication-pyrolysis or combustion in dense beds.
4.1.2. Discrete particle model with Lagrangian frame
DPM using Lagrangian frame of reference is the suitable technique to simulate combustion and gasication of fuels in freeboard
area. In mainstream simulation models of gas-uidized beds,
Lagrangian models are only used for the solid phase, in which the
particles are represented by perfect spheres for computation.
Lagrangian methods assume a small particle diameter as compared
to the gas phase computational grid. This assumption breaks down
when large particles are gasied in moderate size uidized beds.
For Lagrangian model of different fuels a particle size distribution is
prescribed and the corresponding initial particle diameters are
assumed to remain constant during simulation. The chemistry
involved considers devolatilization, heterogeneous char conversion
and gas phases reactions.
Present trends in CFD modeling of uidized beds using above
model is used to nd various gas compositions, devolatilization,
heat ux, temperature, trajectories of particles, ash aspects. Conventional fuel (coal) is used in most of cases. Most the cases are
solved for commercial boilers or three-dimensional geometries.
Although some authors used biomass but assumption underlying
them (spherical shape) is same for all the particles. Species gas
composition, heat release by particles is generally matching for all
the cases.
In one of case [105] it is being used in dense bed to look the
characteristics of biomass in simple two-dimensional conguration. Due to the very large number of particles involved in dense
beds, DPM approach become prohibitively expensive and making it
unsuitable for industrial dense beds.
The computational time reported for simulation with discrete
particle Lagrangian approach is comparatively very less as compare
to Eulerian approach. At present discrete particle Lagrangian model
is worked successfully for freeboard/riser of uidized bed to study
combustion and gasication issues.
4.2. Challenges
Present industrial units are mostly FB combustors. Simulating
dense bed considering all physical and chemical reactions is
a challenge. The actual dense bed is a complex thing. It is mixture of
sand, air, fuel, char and ash. The fuel fed to dense bed is a mixture of
different size of particles. Uniform size of fuel particles in real plant
is not possible. The physical characteristics and chemical composition of biomass material inuence how it can best be utilized.
Upon rapid heating, some bio fuels have high gas yields in dense
bed, rendering them suitable for gasication and reburn applications, but simulating them is major challenge for CFD. Very few
quantitative results are found in literature for industrial scale uidized bed boilers.
(a) Hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio
Quantication of hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio in uidized bed gasier during gasication is a critical issue than needs to
be explored.
(b) Fuel characteristics
Present research in CFD fails to predict about fuel characteristics
in uidized bed. The evolution of biomass particle size, density,
porosity and composition during combustion and gasication in
dense bed are still unknown. These variables are affected those
variables are expected to greatly impact both the hydrodynamics of
bed and product release a function of time.
(c) Fragmentation
All the reactive uidized bed studies have considered only global
conversion steps or multi-step kinetic schemes involving only a few
major species. Fragmentation of fuel into dense bed is major challenge
that modern CFD models faced. Simulating the complete process of
pyrolysis, one can have a realistic view of what is happening inside the
reactor. Reactor designs can be optimized for efcient char entrainment, something that would increase bio-oil yields. Few of authors
tried to look tar and nitrogen in uidized bed. The models mentioned
predict the amounts of tar, gas, and char released during pyrolysis, but
the quantitative yields of the main gas species are not predicted.
Quantitative yield of various gases is major challenge. Few bio fuels
have high char yields as compare to other and are better suited for coring in direct combustion congurations.
(d) Char inventory
Char inventory is the major problem in circulating uidized bed.
Although few authors tried to study the solid volume fraction of
sand in circulating uidized bed. The char comes in the bed along
with sand. This is important issue where application of CFD needs
to be explored.
(e) Fuel trajectory in dense beds
The fuel particles injected on top of a bed could remain on top,
sink to the bottom of the bed or be caught in a recirculation region.
Different particle size distribution is causing different trajectories of
fuel, which involve different types of physical process and different
heat transfer models. This is an important area where application of
CFD needs to be explored.
(f) Ash sintering
Ash sintering in dense bed is the other area which needs to be
explored.
(g) Exit gas composition
Quantication of exit gas composition in reacting dense bed is
another area where application of needs to be explored. Although few
studies are reported for lab scale units, but results of these are far away
for making solid conclusion towards industrial scale furnace design.
With the proper choices of biomass, coal, dense bed and freeboard and riser reductions in pollutant and net greenhouse gas
emissions can be realized with aid of CFD.
611
4.3. Future of CFD in uidization industry

Although the CFD modeling is used to study combustion and
gasication in uidized bed and it will benet the understanding of
the dynamics and physics of a uidization operation, but aid in the
optimization and design of existing and new equipments, lab and
commercial units, constraints are the requirements for faster, easier
and less expensive CFD techniques. The future growth in application of CFD in combustion and gasication in uidized bed boilers
should not only be qualitative but it should be quantitative and
effective in work.
In the coming years the continued high rate of advancement in
computer power and in CFD software development will turn
automatic design and optimization in realities and the development of uidization with thermo-chemical reactions. All these
developments will contribute CFD to becoming a mature discipline
and a powerful engineering tool in this eld. As a result, more
widespread and rapid adoption of the use of CFD in the complex
uidized bed industry will take place in future.
5. Conclusions
This paper summarized the CFD modeling tool to study combustion and gasication of fuels in uidized bed devices. There is
evidence that CFD can be used as a powerful tool to predict characteristics of fuels during combustion and gasication processes in
uidized bed units.
CFD has played an active part in analysis of the distribution of
products, heat ux, ow, temperature, ash deposits, CO, SOx and
NOx emissions during combustion and gasication of fuels in uidized bed. These parameters could affect the performance and
design. No evidence of EeE TFM CFD model inuencing the design
of industrial uidized bed units when combustion and gasication
issues involved.
The CFD model results are satisfactory and have made good
agreements with the experimental data in many cases. However,
the simulations still have many approximate models as well as
some assumptions. To ensure CFD simulations are more than just
theoretical exercises like two-dimensional units, experimental
validation is necessary to facilitate the model accuracy.
CFD modeling of commercial uidized bed considering combustion and gasication aspects using EulerianeEulerian TFM
approach still required to explore. Due to variation in size of biomass particles the EulerianeEulerian approach with biomass considering combustion/gasication issues in dense uidized beds is
not possible until wide approximations are chosen. No studies have
been reported on CFD simulation investigating both the bed and
freeboard simultaneously and applied either technique to both
dense bed and riser/freeboard of commercial units.
The understanding of Eulerian technique to uidized beds with
thermo-chemical reactions is still in a development stage. Several
mechanism models are available but none of them is suitable for
industrial scale boilers when then thermo-chemical conversion of
fuels is considered. At present stage application of DPM Lagrangian
technique with gas phase to freeboard with thermo-chemical reactions is seems to satisfy fully which can affect and enhance the
performance to industrial scale uidized bed boilers.
There are many aspects of uidized beds where the application
of CFD modeling still needs to be explored. The aspects like fuel
combustion/gasication behavior during feeding, mixing of fuel in
the dense bed, ash sintering, fuel characteristics, char reactivity and
inventory, fragmentation of fuel in dense bed with CFD still needs
to be explored.
Although there are still some obstacles such as inability in accurate simulation of large 3D problems on an affordable computer,
612
in particular, in large-scale sophisticated plants, the trend of

widespread application of CFD in the uidization industry will
continue in the 21st century. With the progressing of the computing power and the development of chemical and physical
models, the CFD application in the combustion and gasication of
fuels in uidized bed units will more widely spread in the future.
[20]
[21]
[22]
Acknowledgements
Financially support from Johan Gadolin scholarship program,
Abo Academy University, Finland is gratefully acknowledged for
this work.
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CFD Modeling To Study Fluidized Bed Combustion and Gasification

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Applied Thermal Engineering 52 (2013) 585e614

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Applied Thermal Engineering

CFD modeling to study uidized bed combustion and gasication

* Corresponding author. Johan Gadolin Fellow, Process Chemistry Center, Abo

are developing at fast pace in the power generating industry as they

R.I. Singh et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 52 (2013) 585e614

dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy (m2 s3)

viscosity (kg m1 s1)

R.I. Singh et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 52 (2013) 585e614

Fig. 1. Principal of uidization [26].

R.I. Singh et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 52 (2013) 585e614

1.2. CFD modeling and multiphase approach

processes. Unfortunately, FMs so far do not consider the fully complex

Time averaged 3D fluid dynamics

Gas Solid or Gas-Gas or Gas liquid Reactions

Solid Solid Interactions

Combustion, gasification and pyrolysis

Fig. 2. Cumulative number of uidized bed devices worldwide [27].

Fig. 3. Framework for CFD modeling.

R.I. Singh et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 52 (2013) 585e614

Direct numerical simulation (DNS)

Strong turbulent mixing/reaction rates

processes are never actually steady state, if the observation time is

Fig. 5. Scale-based classication of multiphase approaches for uidized bed [31].

dispersed, secondary phase is below 10e12%, although its mass can

R.I. Singh et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 52 (2013) 585e614

Here A and E are numerical constants of reacting substances.

Species transport equation

Coal or Biomass or RDF/ Volatiles Char/ Tar Gases Char

2.2.1. Devolatilization submodel

an FB unit, known as bed material, are fuel ash, sorbents or some

2.2. Combustion and gasication sub-models

The solid fuel is generally constitutes 0.5e5% by weight of the

2.2.2. Homogenous gas phase reactions

H2 1=2 O2 /H2 O 242 kJ=mol

CO 1=2 O2 /CO2 283 kJ=mol

CH4 2 O2 /CO2 2H2 O 35:7 kJ=mol

CH4 H2 O/CO 3H2 206 kJ=mol

CO H2 O/CO2 H2 41:1 kJ=mol

R.I. Singh et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 52 (2013) 585e614

Keeping the space considerations, here only basic and general

C CO2 /2CO 172kJ=mol

all the scales of turbulence being modeled. The instantaneous

The averaging of the ow eld variables is used to account for the

R.I. Singh et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 52 (2013) 585e614

A semi-transparent medium is considered and the refractive

Discrete ordinates model;

The details of all these models should be referred from Bakul

In addition to solving the conservation equation for the mean

The values of constants st, Cg and Cd in Eq. (2.23) will be taken

fi f*i ffuel ; psec ; H*

Here H* is given by:

More details about solution could be referred from Ref. [41].

2.4. Discrete particle model in Lagrangian frame of reference

2.5. EulerianeEulerian two uid computational uid dynamics

R.I. Singh et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 52 (2013) 585e614

obtained from empirical information, or, in the case of granular

For the gas phase density, a mixture of ideal gas

Equivalent to the thermodynamic temperature for gases, the

Cd 0:44; for Res 1000

where the drag coefcient Cd is given by

Here ls is bulk viscosity, it is based on expression given by Lun

fi fi ffuel ; psec ; H

maximum char temperature was 50 5 C higher than the average