General Thermodynamic Modeling of Gasification of Diverse Biomasses
Department
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Major
Chemical Engineering
Research Advisor
Al-Dahhan, Muthanna H.
Zahedi, Gholamreza
Advisor's Department
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Funding Source
AdaptiveARC
Abstract
A thermodynamic equilibrium approach is used in a gasification process in order to create a model and program, via MATLAB, that calculates the composition of the product gas and the gasification temperature. The model is flexible, taking in diverse biomass feedstock, as well as a variety of gasification agents. Through equilibrium reactions and mass balances, the syngas composition is calculated. Then, energy balance calculates the gasification temperature using an iterative method. The model and program were created, and then the program was verified through convergence and validated with experimental data from other papers. Finally, a parametric study was run in order to examine the effects on syngas composition caused by gasification temperature, biomass moisture content, amount of air input, and carbon content of the feedstock. The model will be used to optimize converting municipal waste to energy and syngas, which is a prime example of converting waste to wealth.
Biography
Alexandra Slimmer is a junior in Chemical Engineering from Wildwood, MO. She works for the chemical engineering department as a research assistant and MATLAB programmer and for the Missouri S&T Yearbook as a photographer. Her research focuses on biomass gasification. Outside of class, she is the president of the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity and is a member of Phi Eta Sigma and The National Society of Leadership and Success. Alexandra is currently in the process of being initiated into Tau Beta Pi and Kappa Mu Epsilon and hopes to continue working with biomass gasification and alternative energy in the future.
Research Category
Engineering
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Document Type
Presentation
Award
Engineering oral presentation, Third place
Location
Gasconade Room
Presentation Date
16 Apr 2014, 10:30 am - 11:00 am
General Thermodynamic Modeling of Gasification of Diverse Biomasses
Gasconade Room
A thermodynamic equilibrium approach is used in a gasification process in order to create a model and program, via MATLAB, that calculates the composition of the product gas and the gasification temperature. The model is flexible, taking in diverse biomass feedstock, as well as a variety of gasification agents. Through equilibrium reactions and mass balances, the syngas composition is calculated. Then, energy balance calculates the gasification temperature using an iterative method. The model and program were created, and then the program was verified through convergence and validated with experimental data from other papers. Finally, a parametric study was run in order to examine the effects on syngas composition caused by gasification temperature, biomass moisture content, amount of air input, and carbon content of the feedstock. The model will be used to optimize converting municipal waste to energy and syngas, which is a prime example of converting waste to wealth.
