Wood Pyrolysis Using Aspen Plus Simulation and Industrially Applicable Model

Abstract

Over the past decades, a great deal of experimental work has been carried out on the development of pyrolysis processes for wood and waste materials. Pyrolysis is an important phenomenon in thermal treatment of wood, therefore, the successful modelling of pyrolysis to predict the rate of volatile evolution is also of great importance. Pyrolysis experiments of waste spruce sawdust were carried out. During the experiment, gaseous products were analysed to determine a change in the gas composition with increasing temperature. Furthermore, the model of pyrolysis was created using Aspen Plus software. Aspects of pyrolysis are discussed with a description of how various temperatures affect the overall reaction rate and the yield of volatile components. The pyrolysis Aspen plus model was compared with the experimental data. It was discovered that the Aspen Plus model, being used by several authors, is not good enough for pyrolysis process description, but it can be used for gasification modelling.

Keywords

• Pyrolysis
• Spruce sawdust
• Modelling
• Aspen Plus