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Processes
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Progress in Thermochemical Conversion of Solid Fuels
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Progress in Thermochemical Conversion of Solid Fuels

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 17671

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Adam Smoliński

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Central Mining Institute, Plac Gwarkow 1, 40-166 Katowice, Poland
Interests: energy environmental science; thermochemical conversion of various fuels; biomass/biowaste/ sewadge sludge; sustainable development; energy technologies in particular coal and biomass gasification/co-gasification; combustion/co-combustion; cogeneration; renewable energy; hydrogen technologies; sustainable energy systems; environmental impact of industrial systems; energy storage; carbon dioxide capture; storage and chemical utilization (CCS and CCU); advanced methods of data mining (chemometrics); work health and safety culture in mining; risk assessment and strata monitoring
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Natalia Howaniec

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Energy Saving and Air Protection, Central Mining Institute, Plac Gwarków 1, 40-166 Katowice, Poland
Interests: clean coal technologies; CCUS; hydrogen; renewable energy; environmental engineering; carbon materials; sorbent materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is devoted to thermochemical conversion of various fuels (hard coal, lignite, biowaste, and waste) into power, heat, and valuable chemical products. While coal combustion and gasification are mature technologies, the application of other materials in these processes, including biomass and waste, is still subject to intensive research and development activities all over the world. Within the thematic area covered by this Special Issue, the thermochemical methods of waste biomass utilization are also considered, e.g., the technologies of thermal processing of waste water sludge, with particular attention given to the existing and future installations. The studies concerning the advancements in hydrogen-rich gas production in a gasification route the environmental aspects associated with this process, as well as the issues related to the potential recovery of valuable by-products, are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Adam Smoliński
Prof. Dr. Natalia Howaniec
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • combustion
  • gasification
  • pyrolysis
  • liquefaction
  • biomass
  • biowaste
  • sewage sludge
  • hard coal
  • lignite

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 1831 KiB  
Article
Application of a Modeling Tool to Describe Fly Ash Generation, Composition, and Melting Behavior in a Wheat Straw Fired Commercial Power Plant
by Ibai Funcia, Fernando Bimbela, Javier Gil and Luis M. Gandía
Processes 2020, 8(11), 1510; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8111510 - 20 Nov 2020
Viewed by 1667
Abstract
Ash behavior is a key operational aspect of industrial-scale power generation by means of biomass combustion. In this work, FactSageTM 6.4 software was used to develop and assess three models of wheat straw combustion in a vibrating grate-fired commercial boiler of 16 [...] Read more.
Ash behavior is a key operational aspect of industrial-scale power generation by means of biomass combustion. In this work, FactSageTM 6.4 software was used to develop and assess three models of wheat straw combustion in a vibrating grate-fired commercial boiler of 16 MWth, aiming to describe the inorganic elements release as well as fly ash melting behavior and composition. Simulations were carried out solving four consecutive calculation stages corresponding to the main plant sections. Chemical fractionation was adopted in order to distinguish between reactive, inert and partially reactive biomass fractions. The developed models allow take into account different levels of partial reactivity, values of the temperature for each sub-stage on the grate, and ways to apply entrained streams based on data from the elemental analyses of the fly ashes. To this end, two one-week experimental campaigns were conducted in the plant to carry out the sampling. It has been found that considering chemical fractionation is indispensable to describe the entrainment of solid particles in the gas stream. In addition, the best results are obtained by adopting a small reactivity (2%) of the inert fraction. As for fly ash composition, the concentrations of the major elements showed good agreement with the results from the chemical analyses. In the case of S and Cl, calculations revealed a match with gas cooling effects in the superheaters as well as an entrainment effect. The melting behavior together with the presence of KCl and K2SO4 condensates, point out at possible corrosion phenomena in walls at temperatures of 700–750 °C. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Thermochemical Conversion of Solid Fuels)
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20 pages, 3279 KiB  
Article
Alternative Briquette Material Made from Palm Stem Biomass Mediated by Glycerol Crude of Biodiesel Byproducts as a Natural Adhesive
by Zuchra Helwani, Muliadi Ramli, Asep Rusyana, Marlina Marlina, Warman Fatra, Ghazi Mauer Idroes, Rivansyah Suhendra, Viqha Ashwie, Teuku Meurah Indra Mahlia and Rinaldi Idroes
Processes 2020, 8(7), 777; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8070777 - 02 Jul 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3122
Abstract
Recently, the global population has increased sharply, unfortunately, the availability of fossil fuel resources has significantly decreased. This phenomenon has become an attractive issue for many researchers in the world so that various studies in the context of finding renewable energy are developing [...] Read more.
Recently, the global population has increased sharply, unfortunately, the availability of fossil fuel resources has significantly decreased. This phenomenon has become an attractive issue for many researchers in the world so that various studies in the context of finding renewable energy are developing continuously. Relating to this challenge, this research has been part of scientific work in the context of preparing an energy briquette employing palm oil stems and glycerol crude of biodiesel byproducts as inexpensive and green materials easily found in the Riau province, Indonesia. Technically, the palm oil stems are used for the production of charcoal particles and the glycerol crude as an adhesive compound in the production of energy briquettes. The heating value of palm oil stem is 17,180 kJ/kg, which can be increased to an even higher value through a carbonization process followed by a densification process so that it can be used as a potential matrix to produce energy briquettes. In detail, this study was designed to find out several parameters including the effect of sieve sizes consisting of 60, 80, and 100 mesh, respectively, which are used for the preparation of charcoal particles as the main matrix for the manufacture of the briquettes; the effect of charcoal-adhesive ratios (wt) of 60:40, 70:30, and 80:20; and the effect of varied pressures of 100, 110, and 120 kg/cm2 on the briquette quality. The quality of the obtained briquettes is analyzed through the observation of important properties which involve the heating value and the compressive strength using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The results showed that the produced briquettes had an optimum heating value of 30,670 kJ/kg, while their loaded charcoal particles resulted from the mesh sieve of 80, in which there was a charcoal loading of 53 g and it pressed at 93.1821 bar, whereas, the compressive strength value of the briquette was 100,608 kg/cm2, which loaded charcoal particles from the mesh sieve of 100, the charcoal-adhesive ratio of 53:47 (wt) and the pressure of 93.1821 bar. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Thermochemical Conversion of Solid Fuels)
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22 pages, 3260 KiB  
Article
Valorization of OFMSW Digestate-Derived Syngas toward Methanol, Hydrogen, or Electricity: Process Simulation and Carbon Footprint Calculation
by Aristide Giuliano, Enrico Catizzone, Cesare Freda and Giacinto Cornacchia
Processes 2020, 8(5), 526; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8050526 - 29 Apr 2020
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 4717
Abstract
This paper explores a possible waste-based economy transition strategy. Digestate from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is considered, as well as a low-added value product to be properly valorized. In this regard, air gasification may be used to produce syngas. [...] Read more.
This paper explores a possible waste-based economy transition strategy. Digestate from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is considered, as well as a low-added value product to be properly valorized. In this regard, air gasification may be used to produce syngas. In this work, the production of methanol, hydrogen, or electricity from digestate-derived syngas was assessed by ChemCAD process simulation software. The process scheme of methanol production comprises the following parts: water gas shift (WGS) with carbon capture and storage units (CCS), methanol synthesis, and methanol purification. In the case of hydrogen production, after WGS-CCS, hydrogen was purified from residual nitrogen by pressure swing absorption (PSA). Finally, for electricity production, the digestate-derived syngas was used as fuel in an internal combustion engine. The main objective of this work is to compare the proposed scenarios in terms of CO2 emission intensity and the effect of CO2 storage. In particular, CCS units were used for methanol or hydrogen production with the aim of obtaining high equilibrium yield toward these products. On the basis of 100 kt/year of digestate, results show that the global CO2 savings were 80, 71, and 69 ktCO2eq/year for electricity, methanol, and hydrogen production, respectively. If carbon storage was considered, savings of about 105 and 99 ktCO2eq/year were achieved with methanol and hydrogen production, respectively. The proposed scenarios may provide an attractive option for transitioning into methanol or hydrogen economy of the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Thermochemical Conversion of Solid Fuels)
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20 pages, 1981 KiB  
Article
Simulation of Batch Slow Pyrolysis of Biomass Materials Using the Process-Flow-Diagram COCO Simulator
by Chaiyot Tangsathitkulchai, Natthaya Punsuwan and Piyarat Weerachanchai
Processes 2019, 7(11), 775; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7110775 - 24 Oct 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 7492
Abstract
The commercial COCO simulation program was used to mimic the experimental slow pyrolysis process of five different biomasses based on thermodynamic consideration. The program generated the optimum set of reaction kinetic parameters and reaction stoichiometric numbers that best described the experimental yields of [...] Read more.
The commercial COCO simulation program was used to mimic the experimental slow pyrolysis process of five different biomasses based on thermodynamic consideration. The program generated the optimum set of reaction kinetic parameters and reaction stoichiometric numbers that best described the experimental yields of solid, liquid and gas products. It was found that the simulation scheme could predict the product yields over the temperature range from 300 to 800 °C with reasonable accuracy of less than 10% average error. An attempt was made to generalize the biomass pyrolysis behavior by dividing the five biomasses into two groups based on the single-peak and two-peak characteristics of the DTG (derivative thermogravimetry) curves. It was found that this approximate approach was able to predict the product yields reasonably well. The proposed simulation method was extended to the analysis of slow pyrolysis results derived from previous investigations. The results obtained showed that the prediction errors of product yields were relatively large, being 12.3%, 10.6%, and 27.5% for the solid, liquid, and gas products, respectively, possibly caused by differing pyrolysis conditions from those used in the simulation. The prediction of gas product compositions by the simulation program was reasonably satisfactory, but was less accurate for predicting the compositions of liquid products analyzed in forms of hydrocarbons, aromatics and oxygenated fractions. In addition, information on the kinetics of thermal decomposition of biomass in terms of the variation of fractional conversion with time was also derived as a function of temperature and biomass type. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Thermochemical Conversion of Solid Fuels)
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