An investigation into the use of CFD to model the co-firing of Jatropha curcas seed cake with coal

摘要

Jatropha curcas seed cake is a potential candidate for co-firing with coal. Combustion modelling using Ansys Fluent 14.0 was carried out to assess the combustion and co-firing characteristics of untorrefied and torrefied Jatropha curcas seed cake. The effect of torrefaction on the devolatilisation characteristics, flame properties and consequently NOx pollutant formation was established. Compared to the torrefied biomass, the untorrefied seed cake devolatilised earlier, had a more dispersed flame and higher NO formation. The higher reactivity of the biomass was shown to have a positive effect on the devolatilisation rate of the less reactive coal under co-firing simulations.