Adaptive pore network modelling and experiments of thermochemical processes in single porous particles

A crucial component in the development of DEM/CFD computational tools to describe the thermochemical behaviour of bulk solids are the single particle models for DEM. Only with accurate single particle models, particle conversion and/or particle product qualities can be reliably predicted at the outlet of industrial reactors. The complexity in the description lies in the fact that at particle scale chemistry and transport compete at similar time scales.

Project B4 is driving the advancement in the modelling of reactive processes at particle level, with a primary focus on biomass pyrolysis and char conversion as model reactive systems in FP2. Biomass conversion has been selected as it can serve as a highly complex model system for DEM single particle models including heterogeneous reactions, change of particle shape and pore structure, as well as anisotropic intra-particle transport properties. As methodological approach to develop sophisticated single particle models, a novel, one-of-a-kind simulative-experimental framework will be derived. This framework will be sustained on three pillars: the development of adaptive pore network models (PNM), the parametrisation of continuum models (CM) based on effective transport, chemical, and morphological properties derived from the highly resolved PNM simulations, and the provision of measurement data that facilitate the bridging of scales from PNM to CM.