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Title: Effectiveness of purging on preventing gas emission buildup in wood pellet storage

Journal Article · · Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/cjce.22199· OSTI ID:1328300
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Canada). Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering
  2. Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Canada). Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Environmental Sciences Division

Storage of wood pellets has resulted in deadly accidents in connection with off-gassing and self-heating. A forced ventilation system should be in place to sweep the off-gases and control the thermal conditions. In this study, multiple purging tests were conducted in a pilot scale silo to evaluate the effectiveness of a purging system and quantify the time and volume of the gas needed to sweep the off-gases. To identify the degree of mixing, residence time distribution of the tracer gas was also studied experimentally. Large deviations from plug flow suggested strong gas mixing for all superficial velocities. As the velocity increased, the system dispersion number became smaller, which indicated less degree of mixing with increased volume of the purging gas. Finally, one-dimensional modelling and numerical simulation of the off-gas concentration profile gave the best agreement with the measured gas concentration at the bottom and middle of the silo.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1328300
Journal Information:
Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol. 93, Issue 6; ISSN 0008-4034
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 7 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (4)

A new model for determining mean structure parameters of fixed beds from pressure drop measurements: application to beds packed with parallelepipedal particles journal January 1989
Emission of Volatile Aldehydes and Ketones from Wood Pellets under Controlled Conditions journal August 2009
A critical review of dispersion in packed beds journal September 2005
Emission of Hexanal and Carbon Monoxide from Storage of Wood Pellets, a Potential Occupational and Domestic Health Hazard journal June 2004

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