16th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering and 9th International Symposium on Process Systems Engineering W.

Marquardt, C. Pantelides (Editors) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.

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Modelling and Simulation of a Tyre Gasification Plant for Synthesis Gas Production
Narendar R. Mitta, Sergio Ferrer-Nadal, Aleksandar M. Lazovic, Jos F. Perales, Enric Velo, Luis Puigjaner
Chemical Engineering Department-CEPIMA, Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya ETSEIB, Av.Diagonal 647, E-08028, Barcelona, Spain

Abstract
Gasification is becoming one of the best alternatives for waste solids reuse, especially for those, as tyres, which can cause a significant environmental impact. The proposed gasification model improves the understanding of the process and can be used as a predictive tool at the optimization stage. Validation of this model is carried out using the gasification pilot plant located at the Chemical Engineering Department of Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya (UPC). Keywords: Waste tyres, gasification technology, process modelling.

1. Introduction
The rapid increase in vehicle usage since the past two decades results in the generation of waste tyres to an alarming rate. Around 2, 6000,000 metric tons of used tyres were produced in the European Union in the year 2000 (Mastral, 2002) while only a small percentage of these waste tyres goes to reuse. At the moment, the most frequent option for this waste solid removal is land filling which causes environmental and hygiene problems. Furthermore, land filling is a potential danger because of the possibility of accidental fires with high emissions of hazardous gases. A better alternative is their employment as substituting fossil fuels in some industries like cement industry. But the complex nature of the tyres and the stringent environmental regulation makes it difficult to recycle through incineration. Nowadays, gasification is a commonly used technology for extracting the energy from solid materials like coal, coke, biomass, scrap tyres, etc. (Pan, 2000). This technology can make use of the high energy content of the tyres. These solid materials are gasified to produce a gas containing mainly carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The gases are utilized in gas turbines of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) systems. The use of hydrogen in fuel cells is another very attractive alternate for power production. In general, a typical gasification system essentially consists of a gasifier unit, a purification system and an energy recovery system. Gasifier reactors are basically classified as fixed beds, fluidized beds and entrained beds. Fluidized bed reactors have an excellent gas-solid contacting leading to very good heat transfer together with the ease of solids handling. In this work a rigorous model of a fluidized bed gasifier unit has been developed which could be used for enhanced hydrogen production. Numerical simulations are necessary to help in finding out feasible operating conditions to achieve better process performance. The introduction of solids in a process changes the heat and mass balances, even if the solid essentially passes through the process as an inert component. Aspen Plus is chosen as a simulation tool because of its capability on the solids handling. Aspen Plus includes particular physical property model and

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accurately represents the solid particle. In addition, FORTRAN and MATLAB calculation routines are introduced in the model. The development of the model is described in the following sections.

2. Gasification model
This gasification model has been divided into three different stages: drying, devolatilization-pyrolysis and gasification-combustion. The Aspen Plus flowsheet of the model is shown in the Figure 1.

Figure 1: Aspen Plus flowsheet of the Gasification model

When the raw material is fed, the first step is the heating and drying of the particles. A RSTOIC module has been used to model this instantaneous drying. Due to the high content of volatiles in the tyre it is important to consider the devolatilization step of its conversion. This devolatilization process, namely fast pyrolysis mechanism, produces volatile gases, tars and char. There is no general model for the prediction of the volatiles composition, being necessary to complement a good model with experimental results. RYield block is used to model the pyrolysis/devolatilization part of the model. For modelling purposes it is essential to know the mass fraction of the initial fuel, which is pyrolysed. It is assumed that the total yield of volatiles equals the volatile content of the parent fuel determined by the proximate analysis. The RYIELD module can convert its feed into a stream made up by the equivalent elemental components of the feed at the same enthalpy level. From the pyrolysis and kinetic experiments with the tyre it is observed that the temperature range for pyrolysis is between 300 and 500 C (DTG maximum is observed at 397 C). From these studies, the temperature for RYIELD is fixed to 500 C. RGIBBS reactor module is used to model the gasification and combustion reaction. The stream from the RYIELD block as well as the preheated oxygen and steam are directed into the RGIBBS module, which can predict the equilibrium composition of the produced gas from RYIELD at specified temperature and pressure. The ash of the gasification process will be removed from the RGIBBS module. In the model, an overall equilibrium approach was employed by neglecting the hydrodynamic complexity of the gasifier. Although higher hydrocarbons, tars and oils, are produced in the gasifier they have been considered as non-equilibrium products to decrease the complexity of the model. Therefore, CH4 is the only hydrocarbon taken into

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consideration in the calculation. All the results from the model were normalized to make them free from tars. The sulphur in the tyre is assumed to be converted mainly into H2S. Steady state conditions are assumed in the model.

3. Experimental
3.1. UPC Pilot scale plant The pilot plant is depicted in Figure 2. It consists of a fluidized bed reactor able to operate under a wide range of different feeds and conditions. The reaction chamber is a cylindrical vessel (stainless steel, ANSI-904-L) provided with electronically controlled rotary screw-feeders located over the gas distributor grid. Heating system consists of three individually controlled electric heaters which supply heat not only for the start-up but also maintain the steady temperature during operation. Rotary blades facilitate the discharge of materials from the bottom. The gasifying agent is pressurized air from a compressor and is injected to the reactor together with an adjustable amount of steam. Two cyclones, a filter and a condenser-cooler comprise the gas clean-up section. After measuring the composition of the produced gas a burner is provided to burn-off the produced gas before the vent. The plant is continuously monitored to make available measurements of operating conditions and outlet gas stream composition. Further details can be found in Pan et al. (2002).

Figure 2: Overview of the Pilot scale plant

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3.2. Procedure The mean particle diameter of the raw material is around 1mm. Hydrodynamic experiments were performed to calculate the required amounts of the fuel, air and water for the gasification experiment. The operating temperature of the gasification experiments was fixed to around 950 C. Distilled water and the air from the compressor are pre-heated until 500 C before feeding into the gasifier as gasifying agent. N2 is used as a purge gas during the start-up of the system. Around 3 to 4 hours time is required to reach the required experimental conditions. This gasifying agent, pre-heated air and steam, is introduced below the distributor. As this feeding material (tyre) is new to the system and to avoid further complexity, constant feed rate was chosen to perform the experiments. The gas composition is determined online by a continuous analyser and microchromatography of gases. CO2 and O2 are measured using IR and electrochemical sensors whereas measurements of concentrations of H2, O2, N2, CH4 and CO are available every 90 seconds using a thermal conductivity sensor. In the tests, once the steady state is reached, an outlet gas is obtained with a very uniform composition with time.

4. Results and discussions

4.1. Sensitivity Analysis Sensitivity analysis is performed to monitor the dependence of different parameters on the composition of the produced gas from the reactor. In this work, the temperature and feed composition are analysed in order to evaluate their effects on the composition of the produced gas. 4.1.1. Effect of Temperature The sensitivity analysis for the reactor temperature effect on the final gas composition between 750 and 1100 C is shown in Figure 3. For this sensitivity analysis, the feed conditions of the experiment are used in the model. From the Figure 3, the increase in CO and H2 and the decrease in CO2 and CH4 is may be because of the exothermic steam methane reforming and CO2 reforming reactions.
Temperature
25
% Composition

20 15 10 5 0 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 Temperature C

CO CO2 CH4 H2

Figure 3: Effect of temperature on final gas composition.

Table 1 presents the composition values of the final gas obtained from the model as well as from the experiments at the same temperature and pressure. The results from the model are deviated in a small percentage because of the several simplications in the model.

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Table 1: Composition of gas produced from model and gasification experiment at 950 C and 1atm.

Components H2 CO CO2 CH4

Model (% Vol.) 15.5 8.1 17.8 11.6

Experimental (% Vol.) 16 7.3 15 8

4.1.2. Effect of Fuel/Air ratio Figure 4 shows the effect of fuel to air ratio on the CO and H2 composition of the product gas. Here the flow rate of water is considered as constant. Sensitivity analysis is made by varying the fuel to air ratio from 0.2 to 0.8. A clear increase in the H2 and CO is observed with the increase in the ratio.
Fuel/Air
25 20
%Vol

15 10 5 0 0.2 0.4 Ratio 0.6 0.8

CO H2

Figure 4: Effect of Fuel/Air ratio on compostion at operating conditions 950 C and 1 bar and constat water flow

4.1.3. Effect of Fuel/H2O ratio Figure 5 shows the effect of fuel water ratio on CO and H2 composition of the product gas. Sensitivity analysis is made by varying the fuel to water ratio from 0.2 to 0.8. Here decrease of both concentrations is observed.
Fuel/Water
30 25
%Vol

20 15 10 5 0 0.2 0.4 Ratio 0.6 0.8

CO H2

Figure 5: Effect of Fuel/Water ratio on composition at operating conditions 950 C and 1 bar and constat flow of air

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5. Conclusions
In this work, the gasification process is modeled using ASPEN Plus process simulator. The developed model is able to predict the composition of the produced gas under various working conditions, including the flow rate, composition and temperature of the feed materials, as well as the operating pressure and temperature. Within a range of smaller deviations the model showed similar results from the experiment. The differences may be caused by the assumptions of complete conversion and several simplifications. The sensitivity analysis showed the effect of operating temperature of reactor on the composition of final gas. The model can be used to gain the primary understanding about the gasification process and for optimization purposes which are underway. According to the above discussion this model can be used to find the final gas composition from the gasification process of other solid waste fuels. The future modeling efforts will focus on including the chemical kinetics and possible gasification reactions in the model. The possibility of including the hydrodynamics of the fluidized bed reactor in the model is also a future interest.

Acknowledgement
Financial support received from the European Community projects (MRTN-CT-2004512233, RFC-CR-04006, INCO-CT-2005-013359) and the Generalitat de Catalunya (FI grant with the European Social Fund ) is fully appreciated.

References
Mastral, A. M., Murillo, R., Garca, T., Callen, M. S. & Lpez, J. M. (200.2) Study of the viability of the process for hydrogen recovery from old tyre oils.Fuel Processing technology 75, 185-199. Pan, Y.G., Velo, E., Roca, X., Manya, J.J. & Puigjaner, L. (2000). Fluidized-bed co-gasification of residual biomass/poor coal blends for fuel gas production. Fuel 79, 1317-1326. Sofer, S.S. & Zaborsky, O.R. (1981). Biomass Conversion Processes for Energy and Fuels. Gomez, C.J., Manya, J.J., Velo, E. & Puigjaner, L. (2004). Further applications of a revisited summative model for kinetics of biomass pyrolysis. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 43, 901-906. Nougues, J.M., Pan, Y.G., Velo, E. & Puigjaner, L. (2000). Identification of a pilot scale fluidised-bed coal gasification unit by using neural networks. Applied Thermal Engineering 20, 1561-1575