Desenvolvimento de reator poroso de gaseificação de biomassa líquida por oxidação parcial aplicado ao glicerol.

• Ano de defesa: 2012
• Autor(a) principal: Parente, Rafael Benevides
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Palavras-chave em Português: Engenharia mecânica; Oxidação; Energia - Fontes alternativas
• Link de acesso: http://www.repositorio.ufc.br/handle/riufc/3811

The residual liquid biomass from agricultural and agroindustrial processes, in general way, represents a renewable resource in significant amount, without an economically and environmentally sustainable destination. For instance, the solution concerning glycerin stocks, remaining from the vegetable oil transesterification for obtaining biodiesel, has been postponed due to the lack of engineering alternatives appropriate to the proper utilization of this biomass. Therefore, the development of a liquid biomass gasification reactor based on partial oxidation has been initiated, where a non conventional combustion technology has been employed, Filtration Combustion, as a design basis for the reactor conception, in which the reference biomass used was glycerol. This work, eminently experimental, was carried out to build a gasification reactor prototype, in laboratory scale, in which its burner is completely filled by ceramic spheres of alumina (Al2O3), thus forming a inert porous matrix, which is partially immersed in glycerol at its bottom end and which involves a heat exchanger installed at the top of the reactor. The process is investigated to identify some key design features such as: reactor operation limit in terms of fuel-air mixtures; occurrence of instability phenomena; combustion wave propagation velocity; and influence of the main operation parameters, equivalence ratio, fuel consumption rate, and air and water flow rates into the reaction. Although all experimentation has been restricted to test the gasifier for the production of synthesis gas by partial oxidation method, theoretical investigation was broader, comprising the autothermal reforming. The experiments, supported by monitoring instruments and chromatographic analysis, were supported by a theoretical study based on a simplified analytical model, considering the global reaction of partial oxidation associated with water-gas shift reaction. Experimental results have demonstrated the feasibility of the process, providing operational stability over a wide range of equivalence ratio, and conversion efficiency (>20%) of glycerol to syngas, while maintaining energy extraction from reaction.