Entrained flow black liquor gasification detailed experiments and mathematical modelling

Abstract: Black liquor, a by-product from the Kraft pulping process is a highly viscous fluid consisting of approximately 30% water, 30 % alkali salts and 40 % combustible material. The alkali salts originating from the pulp making process need to be recovered in order for the pulp mill to be economical and to satisfy environmental regulation. Currently, the recovery takes place in a large boiler called Tomlinson recovery boiler named after its inventor. However, a more energy efficient way to recover the chemicals could be via gasification in a pressurized, entrained flow, high temperature gasifier. To demonstrate this technology a development plant (DP1) was built in 2005 by the technology vendor Chemrec. Since then, the plant has been running for more than 10 000 h and frequently been updated and optimized. As steps towards commercialization and scale–up different computational models of varying sophistication are used as design and optimization tools for the process. Still, the engineering tools can only provide sensible predictions if they are properly validated and verified. This licentiate thesis is concerned with validation of a comprehensive mathematical model based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) describing the gasification reactor and experimental investigations of the process characteristics in the DP1 gasifier. Paper A describes the system design and methodology for high temperature gas sampling during pressurized black liquor gasification. In this work a water-cooled gas sampling probe is installed in the hot part of the DP1 gasification reactor and several gas samples are withdrawn and analyzed. The experimentally obtained data in Paper A are then used as validation data for the CFD-model described in Paper B. In Paper C the obtained data from Paper A are thoroughly analyzed and the influence of reactor operation on producer gas composition is determined. In Paper D black liquor sprays from a gas assisted nozzle is experimentally investigated using high speed photography. Furthermore, the particle content in the cooled producer gas is measured using a particle sizing impactor. The obtained results in Paper D can be used to explain some of the observations in Paper A.