Numerical Simulation of the Flow and Transport Phenomena during Wood Pyrolysis

In this presentation we are concerned with the modelling and numerical simulation of the flow and transport phenomena that occur during wood pyrolysis. In our approach, the wood is treated as an orthotropic, elastic porous medium. Emphasis is placed on the modelling of wood shrinkage during evaporation of its bound water. Our model consists of the mass, momentum, energy and species concentration balance laws for both wood and the surrounding fluid. These equations are integrated numerically via a a fractional-step, predictor-corrector algorithm that we recently developed and implemented. Results from simulations of wood pyrolysis in a thermogravimetric apparatus are presented.