Experimental and numerical study of biomass flash pyrolysis in an entrained flow reactor

Experiments on flash pyrolysis of biomass (rice husk and sawdust) were performed in an entrained flow reactor at different temperatures (700–1000 °C). Results show that temperature has great impact on the biomass flash pyrolysis reactions. With the increase of temperature, the gas yield increased, while the yields of char and liquid decreased. After the early stage of pyrolysis, the gas yield increased gradually which could be attributed to the increase of CO and CH4 yields at low temperature, while to the increase of CO and H2 yields at high temperature. A first order kinetic model was employed to describe biomass flash pyrolysis characteristics and the relevant kinetic parameters were determined. Numerical simulation of pyrolysis process was carried out, the predicted yields of produced gases agreed reasonably with the experimental data.