Optimization of the combustion of biomass in a commercial furnace - CFD 3D simulation

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Biomass combustion, which is a growing business, is used to generate heat and power. It is a very attractive technology because it provides energy at cheaper price compared to oil and gas fuels and also emits fewer pollutants into the atmosphere. As the name implies, the combustion system is fired using renewable fuels such as forest and agriculture residues. Biovalco Inc., which is a Canadian company headquartered in Winnipeg, is gradually increasing its share in this energy market. The ultimate goal of Biovalco is to optimize the design of their system in order to increase its efficiency while improving its capability to combust a variety of solid fuels/feedstock. To date, the biomass combustion system developed by Biovalco Inc. has been successful in combusting a number of feedstock such as woodchips, wood pellets and agricultural residues (straw, flax shives) with its chain grate stoker design. However, there are still several challenges to overcome in order to bring the design of the combustion system to its maximum best performance. For example, wood with higher moisture content will not burn as efficiently as wood with lower moisture content, and barley straw will cause more clinker formations than wheat straw because of its chemical properties. The key to the most successful biomass combustion has always relied on the consistency of the feedstock. All of these factors have to be considered when selecting feedstock. In addition, using improper materials or wrong mixture will have detrimental impact on the efficiency of the combustion. Therefore, the present research proposal aims at understanding the combustion process of Biovalco's system with the ultimate goal to come up with an optimum design that can also handle inconsistent feedstock in the event that the user needs to switch from material to another depending on the availability and price. Hence, further development of these systems for agricultural residue-based fuels will unleash a major source of revenue for Canadian agricultural industry by allowing clean and efficient green energy production. This will increase revenues for farmers by selling agricultural crop residues for fuel instead of burning them in the fields.