In a biomass gasification process, condensation of inorganic species can cause problems such as corrosion and deposition on the downstream equipment. In this work, in order to investigate the condensation of inorganics during the gas cooling step of the biomass gasification system, both experimental and modelling studies were conducted. Experiments were performed on a pilot-scale steam/oxygen blown fluidized bed gasification facility. A CO2 cooled probe was located at the head of a filter to condense inorganic species. Five thermocouples were used to monitor the probe temperature profile. Deposits on the probe were characterized using scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) to analyze the elemental composition of deposits. A process model based on the local chemical and phase equilibriums was developed using software SimuSage to predict both release and condensation of inorganics. A customized thermodynamic database extracted from the FactSage 7.1 was used during model calculations. Two cases including with and without addition of bed material were calculated. Results show that the identified elemental compositions of deposit under different gas cooling temperatures reasonably agree with the elemental compositions predicted by model calculations. This demonstrates that the established model and the customized thermodynamic data are valid. A large amount of carbon is identified in the deposit of low temperature probe sections, which may come from the condensed tar. Additionally, a temperature window is found, where melts are formed during gas cooling.

A model is established to investigate the release and condensation of inorganics for a wood steam/oxygen-blown fluidized-bed gasification process. In the established model, fates of major elements (C, H, O, N, S, and Cl) and minor elements (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Si, Ti, and Zn) are modeled separately. The composition of gaseous species involving major elements is predicted using Aspen Plus based on a semiempirical model. The release of minor elements and the condensation of inorganics are predicted using software SimuSage. The combination of Aspen Plus with SimuSage is achieved by manually inputting the stream parameters calculated from Aspen Plus into SimuSage. On the basis of this developed model, effects of gasification temperature on the condensation of Na-, K-, and Cl-containing species during gas cooling are studied. Results show that the process model established by combining Aspen Plus and SimuSage is valid and can be used to investigate the release of inorganics during gasification and condensation of inorganics during gas cooling. Under the investigated gasification conditions, regardless of the bed material, there are two temperature ranges within which no salt melt is formed during gas cooling. As the gasification temperature increases, the high-temperature range without salt melt formation becomes successively wider.

In order to eliminate problems such as corrosion and ash deposition caused by alkalis, effects of the biomass composition and the pressure of syngas in the downstream process on condensation of alkalis in a wood steam/oxygen blown fluidized bed gasification process are investigated based on a model. This model is established by combining Aspen Plus with SimuSage. Aspen Plus is applied to predict the composition of major gas species formed by C, H, O, N, S and Cl, using empirical correlations to predict the yields of non-equilibrium substances. SimuSage is used to study the release and condensation of inorganics associated with the minor elements (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na, P, Si and Ti) based on a customized thermodynamic database. Results show that carbonation reactions between alkalis and CO/CO2 can be occurred during gas cooling, leading to form alkali carbonates in the condensed phase. The temperature window forming melts varies with the change of the downstream pressure of syngas and the elemental composition of biomass. As the syngas pressure in the downstream process decreases, the initial temperature of forming melts during gas cooling is reduced. For biomass lower in K/Cl ratio, the condensate with the largest mass formed during gas cooling is potassium chloride. The condensation rate of Cl increases with the decrease of the K/Cl ratio in biomass.