CFD Analysis of a Fluidized Bed Combustor Based on Co-Firing

In this paper computational analysis of a real plant Bubbling Fluidized Bed (BFB) combustor has been done, using FLUENT 6.3, CFD code. Keeping in mind the biomass potential in the agricultural state like Punjab, India, various corporate sectors initiated the use of these renewable energy sources such as rice husk, paddy rejects and sugarcane baggase etc. in sharing with conventional fuels such as coal. The study has been done at Captive Power Plant (CPP) of Ambuja Cement Limited, Ropar, Punjab, India. The boiler, with 45TPH capacity, based on Fluidized Bed Combustion (FBC) system uses coal and biomass (70% coal and 30% biomass) as fuels. Standard k–ε two-phase turbulence model has been used to describe the gas–solids flow in the BFB. The analysis of combustion is done by Non-Pre Mixed (NPM) approach in species model. In this paper temperature contours inside the furnace and mass fractions of O2 and CO2 have been obtained by CFD tool. Temperature in the vicinity of the bed was found up to 927 °C and at the exit of the furnace was found around 867 °C. The O2 concentration was found higher over the bed however the CO2 concentration was found more near biomass flame due to instantaneous combustion.