FB_GF_ICINCO_Jul_2013

Belkhir, F.; Gierend, C.; Frey, G.: Component Oriented Modeling Of Biomass Incineration Plants. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (ICINCO 2013), Reykjavík, Iceland, pp. 396–404, Jul. 2013.

Abstract

The thermal treatment of biomass in the so called incineration plants represents one of the most appealing ways for biomass treatment. It reduces not only the volume of the disposed biomass, but also it can convert the heat produced by the combustion into electrical energy or steam for the district heating. Any organic non-fossil fuel can be considered as a biomass such as industrial and municipal waste and any material that was created by a photosynthesis reaction. Hence, it can contribute considerably in the global energy supply, as it can be collected from different sources. However, the variability in biomass composition, the complex thermochemical reactions and heat transfer phenomena occurring during the combustion have justified the development of multiple mathematical models to investigate the process as precisely as possible. Usually, they aim to achieve a better combustion chamber design. Unfortunately, these models are very complex and very detailed, composed mainly of a set of partial differential equations that cannot be considered if the intent is the control of the plant. Hence, the goal of the proposed work in a first step is to reduce the present complexity by proposing a simplified mathematical model that captures the main dynamics present inside the incineration chamber. The model takes the heterogeneous solid phase and the homogeneous gas phase into account, and it considers the large unsteady variation in the biomass composition. The control part of the plant is also addressed by giving an overview on the current control schemes that are used in the context of biomass combustion control. Finally, the model is implemented using the object-oriented language Modelica in order to investigate the dynamic behavior of the system.