Modelling and Simulation for Extra Heavy Oil Gasification on Entrained Flow Gasifier

The objective of this study is to develop an evaluation tool for a design and performance of an extra heavy oil gasifier by a numerical simulation technique. The modelling and the numerical simulation for the extra heavy oil gasification on the 2.4 tons/day entrained flow gasifier of CRIEPI are described in this paper. The gas phase properties are calculated by three dimensional time-mean Eulerian conservation equations, in addition to the k-ε turbulence model. The fuel droplet behavior is modelled via a Lagrangian particle tracking approach. Four reaction processes are modelled in the present paper: atomization (micro-explosion), pyrolysis, coke gasification reaction, and gaseous phase reaction. As a result of the simulation, in a relationship between an oxygen ratio of the gasifier and the gasifier performance, such as heating value of the product gas, carbon conversion efficiency are presented. Distribution of gas temperature and gas composition in the gasifier, and the product gas composition are also presented. Comparison between the computational and the experimental results shows that the most features of the gasifier performance have been captured accurately by the computational procedure. The numerical simulation approach is very useful for the assessment of gasification performance, operation support and optimization of the gasifier design.