Mapping of Circulating Rate to Determine Non-mechanic Valve Operation in Dual Fluidized Bed Gasifier Cold Flow Model

The number of vehicles increases every year. It causes the energy supply in the transportation sector to rises. Currently, oil is the main energy of the transportation sector. On the contrary with demands, the production of petroleum decreases. To prevent the energy security problem renewable energy should be promoted. One of the alternative resources that can substitute for oil is biomass. Biomass can be converted into synthetic liquid fuels by the Fischer-Tropsch process by first being converted into high-quality syngas. Dual Fluidized Bed Gasifier (DFBG) is one of promoting technology to convert biomass into a high-quality gas. To ensure the DFBG work properly, a description of characteristics of circulating material is needed. One important factor that affects the circulating material is parameter operation of the non-mechanic valve. The aim of this paper is to study characteristics of the circulating rate of the particle with variations of gas supply in the non-mechanic valve. In the present study DFBG with the configuration of the riser as a combustor and bubbling fluidized bed as a gasifier has been constructed. To connect the reactor the L-valve and the loop-seal were used as the lower connection and the upper connection respectively. The influence of gas supply velocity in L-valve and loop-seal on the solid circulating rate was inspected. The result shows that inventory or high of bed and L-valve has a significant effect on the circulating rate of particle. The rate of particle changed when passing through the riser, cyclone, and loop-seal. The rate decreased when passing the cyclone and loop-seal so if the rate of the particle in the inlet of loop-seal is higher than in the outlet the particle will be stuck in loop-seal and the installation cannot be work properly. © 2020, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.