Modeling of soot formation during partial oxidation of producer gas

Soot formation in a reverse-flow partial-oxidation reactor for reforming of gasifier producer gas has been studied. The process was modeled using a detailed reaction mechanism to describe the kinetics of soot formation. The numerical model was validated against experimental data from the literature and showed good agreement with reported data. Nine cases with different gas compositions were simulated in order to study the effects of water, hydrogen and methane content of the gas. The CO and CO2 contents, as well as the tar content of the gas, were also varied to study their effects on soot formation. The results showed that the steam and hydrogen content of the inlet gas had less impact on the soot formation than expected, while the methane content greatly influenced the soot formation. Increasing the CO2 content of the gas reduced the amount of soot formed and gave a higher energy efficiency and methane conversion. In the case of no tar in the incoming gas the soot formation was significantly reduced. It can be concluded that removing the tar in an energy efficient way, prior to the partial oxidation reactor, will greatly reduce the amount of soot formed. Further investigation of tar reduction is needed and experimental research into this process is ongoing. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.