Numerical simulation and optimization of biomass pyrolysis in spouted bed reactors: a case study with sugarcane bagasse

Abstract The increasing demand for renewable energy has driven Brazil to expand its production from biomass sources, with pyrolysis emerging as a key technology. Despite advances, the detailed understanding of particle flow, heat, and mass transfer during biomass pyrolysis remains limited. This study investigates the influence of operational parameters on the pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse in a spouted bed reactor through numerical modeling. A CFD model based on the Eulerian-Lagrangian approach was developed and implemented in OpenFOAM. Single-particle pyrolysis and inert bed simulations were performed to validate the model against experimental data from the literature. Subsequently, a 2 K factorial design was employed to assess the effects of temperature, gas velocity, and particle diameter. Results revealed that temperature and particle size strongly affect pyrolysis kinetics, with the optimized condition (873 K, 142 m/s, particle diameter of 1.0 × 10⁻³ m) achieving a conversion efficiency of 71.56%. This work provides insights for the optimization of spouted bed reactors for efficient biomass pyrolysis.