Peter Ciesielski, NREL, CO, USA
Pyrolysis is a pre-commercial thermochemical process that converts renewable, plant-based materials such as wood into liquid biofuels. To make pyrolysis a cost-effective method for biofuel conversion, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are using multiphysics simulation to better understand and optimize the process. Thus far, they have used COMSOL Multiphysics® to develop a computational model of the heat and mass transfer processes associated with pyrolysis, featuring the most accurate representation of biomass particle geometry to date. Ongoing development of the process involves adding chemical reactions and phase change to create a complete model of pyrolysis that can be used to improve the performance of large-scale reactors – an essential step in making the mass production of biofuels more efficient.
Suggested Stories
Get an Inside Look at an Innovative Rainwater Drainage System
Step into a busy neighborhood in Copenhagen, Denmark, to see how a multidisciplinary urban planning team used ...
Seeking Out Electrical Arcing Regions in Satellite Systems
Space is the epitome of an unpredictable and harsh environment. These conditions are near impossible to replicate via ...
Keynote: Modeling RF Heating of Hydrogen Plasmas for Nuclear Fusion
In nuclear fusion, the tokamak is the leading candidate for becoming a hydrogen fusion reactor, where the operating ...
Multiphysics Analysis of CO2 Foil Thrust Bearing Characteristics
Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL) is a research and development facility supporting the United States Naval ...
