Mathematical model of gasification and combustion

of biomass
Monika ecov, Jn Terpk, ubomr Dork
Institute of Control and Informatization of Production Processes
Faculty of BERG, Technical University of Koice
Koice, Slovakia
monika.zecova@tuke.sk, jan.terpak@tuke.sk, lubomir.dorcak@tuke.sk
AbstractThis contribution deals with the creation of
mathematical model of biomass gasification and combustion. In
the introduction of contribution an analysis is given of biomass in
terms of its occurrence, composition, and caloric value and also
in terms of processes taking place with the biomass gasification
and combustion. The idea for a complex model for the
gasification and combustion of biomass is derived from the initial
process analysis, which was suggested as a synthesis of
elementary process models. In the case of elementary models the
heating model, drying model, thermal decomposition model,
oxidation of the solid component model, and oxidation of the
volatile component model are considered. The heating model is
based on the processes of heat accumulation and the transfer of
heat by convection. The basis of the evaporation model is
a process of the transformation of liquid water into water
vapour. The remaining three models include the thermal
decomposition of biomass, release of the volatile components and
the burning of the solid components from it. Elementary process
models were independently implemented and verified in
a MATLAB environment as individual m-functions. The results
from the simulations are also stated in this contribution, which
are analyzed, and further use and method of model gasification
and combustion is suggested.
Keywords-biomass; gasification; combustion; mathematical
modelling

I.

INTRODUCTION

Energy consumption has increased due to the growth of the

Earths population, and so the need to look for new energy
resources. Biomass is a renewable resource produced by the
Sun. It can be divided into plant mass (wood biomass and
phytomass) and animal mass (zoomass). This includes for
example wood, straw, organic farm waste, parts of communal
waste as well as artificially grown energetic plants [1, 2].
In biomass elements such as nitrogen, phosphor, sulphur,
potassium, sodium, chlorine, calcium, magnesium, iron,
copper, arsenic, lead and other elements which make their way
into the biomass during its growth as it absorbs nutrients from
the soil and air. It also contains free water and bound water.
The heating capacity of wood biomass by combustion depends
mainly on the amount of moisture, the more moist the less the
heating power [1, 2, 3].

978-1-4577-1868-7/12/$26.00 2012 IEEE

II.

GASIFICATION PROCESS OF BIOMASS

Gasification is a process in which flammable gasses like

hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and some inflammable
products are produced. The whole process takes place with the
incomplete combustion and heating of biomass with the heat
produced during combustion. The resulting mixture of gasses
has a high energy value.
Gasification of biomass is a process during which the
chemical energy of a solid fuel transforms the biomass into
a chemical and heat energy gas fuel. The gasification of
biomass is an automatic process during which heat for
endothermic gas reactions is obtained from the combustion of
some of the biomass with a deficiency of combustible air at
a certain temperature. Oxygen, water vapour or carbon dioxide
can also be used as a medium. Any type of biomass that does
not have very high moisture content can be used in the
gasification process. This means that the amount of heat to
evaporate the moisture in 1kg of biomass is less than the
heating power of 1kg of fuel. The main product from the
gasification of biomass is synthesis gas wood gas, made up
mainly of carbon monoxide and dioxide, hydrogen, methane,
water vapour, nitrogen and contaminants [2, 3].
III.

COMBUSTION PROCESS OF BIOMASS

Combustion is an oxidation process in which flammable

components of fuel are oxidized by oxygen whereby the energy
content of the fuel is changed into heat. Biomass combustion
products are ash, tar, and burnt gases (Fig. 1).
The technology of direct combustion of biomass is the most
common way its energy is used. It is a verified method and
commercially available on a high level. The heat generated is
used as a resource in technological processes (process heat) or
for the production of electrical energy. For effective
combustion a sufficiently high temperature must be present,
enough air and enough time for complete combustion of the
biomass [2, 3].
IV.

MATHEMATICAL MODEL

During the initial creation of a mathematical model

an analysis of individual partial models and the processes
occurring in them was performed (Fig. 1). Each of the models

780

were assigned input and output parameters. A mathematical

model consists of the following five elementary models:
1. heating model,

The description of heat exchange, i.e. the heating model

arises from an energy balance, which generally reflects the
relation [2, 7]
Accumulation = Input Output + Source Consumption (3)

2. water evaporation model,

3. thermal decomposition model,

B. Water evaporation model

The water evaporation model follows immediately after the
model of wood biomass heating because the evaporation can
take place or intensively take place only after prior heating.

4. combustion model of solid component,

5. combustion model of volatile component.

The basis for the water evaporation model is the process of

transforming liquid water into water vapour according to the
equation [2]

H 2 O(l ) H 2 O( g )

Figure 1. Processes occurring during the gasification and combustion of

biomass [2]

(4)

The evaporation velocity kH2O (kg.m-2.s-1) can be

determined using several methods [4, 8], for example the
approximate method based on the ratio ks/cg, thus the ratio of
convection heat transfer coefficient and specific heat capacity
of the gas component. If the available experimental data
obtained for example from Thermo-gravimetric analysis [9],
then the evaporation rate can be obtained by approximating of
experimental data (Fig. 2).

A. Heating model
An input and output for the model of heating wood biomass
is the wood biomass itself and the burnt gases resulting from
the combustion used for heating wood biomass. The heating
model is based on processes of heat transfer by convection and
accumulation of heat.
The following equation is a valid example for the process
of heat transfer by convection [2, 4, 5, 6]

I Q = k S .S .(Twb Tbg ) (W)

where

(1)

I Q is heat flux (W), k S is the convection heat transfer

coefficient (W.m-2.K-1), S is surface transfer (m2),

Twb is the

wood biomass temperature (K) and Tbg is burnt gases

Figure 2. Experimental evaporation rate of water

The following relation gives the course of the rate of

evaporation shown in Fig. 2

temperature (K).
In the case of the process of heat accumulation the amount
of accumulated heat is proportional to the temperature change
according to this equation [5, 6]

dQ
dT
= m.c.
d
d

(W)

(2)

Q is the volume of thermal energy (J), m is the weight

(kg), c is the specific heat capacity (J.kg-1.K-1), T is the
where

temperature (K) and is a time (s).

i
k H 2O = aiTden
i =0

(kg.m

.s 1

(5)

where Tden is the wood biomass temperature (K) from the

interval <35, 105> and ai (1,0117.10-4;-1,1841.10-5;3,3994.10-4;
-2,1895.10-9) are the polynomial coefficients.
C. Thermal decomposition model
The thermal decomposition model of wood biomass
follows on the heating model and water evaporation model.
Thermal decomposition occurs after the evaporation of water
and subsequent increase of temperature above 300 C.

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The velocity of thermal decomposition kvol is similarly

determined as evaporation rate, i.e. experimental on the base of
data of Thermo-gravimetric analysis [9] (Fig. 3).
Experimentally measured values of thermal decomposition
rate shown in Fig. 3 were approximated by the following
formula
3

i
k vol = a i Tden
i=0

(kg.m

.s 1

(6)

mH O.T20.cp H O
dT10 IV1
I
k .S
2
(T10 T20 ) + 2
= T1 V10 T10 S
+
dt V1
V1
1.cp1.V1
1.cp1.V1
(7)
mprch.T20.cp v IV pl .H
+
+
1.cp1.V1
1.cp1.V1

mH O.T20.cpH O
k .S
I
dT20 IV2
2
(T10 T20) 2
= T2 V20 T20 + S

2.cp2.V2
2.cp2.V2
V2
dt V2

where Tden is the wood biomass temperature (K) from the

interval <250, 350> a ai (3,5888.10-1; -3,8904.10-3; 1,3917.10-5;
-1,6374.10-8) are the polynomial coefficients.

mH O.HH2Oev mvol.T20.cpvol mvol.Hvol msc.HT

2

+
2.cp2.V2
2.cp2.V2 2.cp2.V2 2.cp2.V2

(8)

T1 / T2 is an incoming gas/wood biomass temperature

(K), T10 / T20 is an outgoing gas/wood biomass temperature
(K), I V 1 / I V 2 is an incoming flow volume of gas/wood
biomass (m3.s-1), I V 10 / I V 20 is an outgoing flow volume of
gas/wood biomass (m3.s-1), IV pl is a flow volume of volatile
where

combustible component (m3.s-1),

3

gas/wood biomass (m ),
-3

density (kg.m ),
(kg.s-1),

Figure 3. Experimental velocity of thermal decomposition

D. Combustion model of volatile and of solid component

Combustion model of volatile component derives from
a model of combustion of gaseous fuels in the field of
imperfect and perfect combustion. The volatile component
contains flammable components similarly gaseous fuels
(carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane and so on), which react
with oxygen from the air to produce waste gases. The basis of
combustion model is the material balance from which the
results are the quantity and composition of waste gases. For the
total model is the heating power of volatile component an
important parameter, which is determined on the base of
composition of volatile component. Model of combustion is
more detailed described in literature [10, 11, 12] and this model
is implemented in MATLAB, available as Combustion toolbox
[13].
E. The total model
Based on a detailed analysis of individual models energy
balance equations were created, the resultant shape of which
represents a system of two first order differential equations,
namely for the gaseous component (7) and wood biomass (8)

1 / 2

V1 / V2 is a volume of
is the gas/wood biomass

m H 2O is the mass flow of evaporated water

mvol is the mass flow of volatile components (kg.s-1),

msc is the mass flow of a combustible solid component (kg.

s-1), c p1 / c p 2 is the specific heat capacity of gas/wood biomass
(J.kg-1.K-1),

c p vol is the specific heat capacity of volatile

components (J.kg-1.K-1),

c p H O is the specific heat capacity of

2

water (J.kg-1.K-1),

H is the heating value of volatile

combustible component (J.kg-1),

H H 2O ev is the evaporation

H vol is the decomposition heat of

volatile components (J.kg-1), H T is the heating value of solid
heat of water (J.kg-1),

component (J.kg-1).

V.

IMPLEMENTATION

Individual models of elementary processes of the

gasification and combustion of biomass have been
implemented in the programming environment MATLAB [14,
15, 16]. Implementation was primarily carried out for the
heating model, water evaporation model and thermal
decomposition model.
A. Heating model
The heating model is represented by the function of
heating which can be declared, with the corresponding
inputs and outputs, as follows
function [tau,out] = heating(in,T1p,T2p,ks,S,time)

782

2012 13th International Carpathian Control Conference (ICCC)

where in is a data structure of an array type containing two

items (1 air, 2 wood biomass), each item of array is the type
of record containing the following items: ro density, cp
specific heat capacity, V volume, Iv flow volume, T
temperature; T1p, T2p are the initial temperatures of gas and
wood biomass; ks is the convection heat transfer coefficient;
S is the heat transfer surface; time is the length of simulation;
out is the data structure of an array type containing two items,
each item of array is a vector of temperatures (1) of gaseous
component and (2) wood biomass.
B. Water evaporation model
The evaporation model was realized by the function
heating_drying which is based on the function heating,
completed with the evaporation of water from the wood
biomass, which requires the addition of input variables on the
rate of evaporation kH2O. Function declaration with its inputs
and outputs has the form

Figure 4. The course of the simulation heating (ks = 300 W.m-2.K-1)

function [tau,out]=heating_drying(in,T1p,T2p,ks,kH2O,
S,time)

C. Thermal decomposition model

Thermal decomposition model was implemented by the
function heating_drying_thermal which is based on the
function heating_drying expanded by the velocity of
thermal decomposition kvol. The header of this function has the
following form
function [tau,out]=heating_drying_thermal(in,T1p,T2p,
ks,kH2O,kvol,S,time)

VI.

SIMULATIONS

The main objective of simulations, which were realized

with individual implemented models, is the qualitative of
verification and the sensitivity analysis of models.
The basic simulation of the heating model was specifically
implemented for wood biomass of spruce, which was heated by
a gaseous component formed by flowing air. Input parameters
for wood biomass: density 470 kg.m-3, specific heat capacity
1800 J.kg-1.K-1, volume 1,06 m3, initial temperature 20C,
surface 1,34 m2 and air with parameters: density 1,2 kg.m-3,
specific heat capacity 1012 J.kg-1.K-1, flow volume 0,375 m3.s-1,
initial temperature 120C, volume of space above wood
biomass 1,06 m3 and convection heat transfer coefficient 300
W.m-2.K-1. Then simulations were carried out to the basic
simulation, in which the input air temperature (60 and 180 C),
the volume above wood biomass (0,53 and 1,59 m3)
and convection heat transfer coefficient (150 and 450 W.m-2.
K-1) were altered.

Figure 5. The course of the simulation heating (ks = 450 W.m-2.K-1)

In the case of setting parameters of the basic simulation it

leads to stabilization of temperatures of wood biomass and air
in a time of 2370 s (Fig. 4). If we increase the heat intensity,
i.e. increasing the convection heat transfer coefficient for
example by 50% the value 450 W.m-2.K-1, leads to stabilization
of wood biomass temperatures and air in a time of 1950 s
(Fig. 5), which is about 20,73% earlier than in the case of
baseline simulation. For comparison, in the case of reduction of
area above wood biomass from 1,06 to 0,53 m3, leads to
stabilization of temperatures in a time of 2370 s, which is only
3,66% earlier than in the case of baseline simulation.
From the above, but also from further results of simulations
we conclude that the heating model responds most sensitively
to a change of the heat transfer coefficient by convection.
Furthermore, we can also state that in qualitative terms the
heating model responds to changes of inputs and parameters by
the corresponding change of dynamics, i.e. corresponding the
course of temperatures in a time.

2012 13th International Carpathian Control Conference (ICCC)

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Figure 6. Simulation process without evaporation of water

Figure 8. Simulation process without thermal decomposition

Figure 7. Simulation process with evaporation of water

Figure 9. Simulation process with thermal decomposition

Simulations of water evaporation model from biomass

follow from the same parameters and inputs, as in the case of
the heating model only a higher value was used for air
temperature at the input. An initial simulation with zero
velocity of evaporation was made to compare the curves of
model simulations of this evaporation shown in Fig. 6.
Subsequently, simulations were performed with various
multiples of the rates of evaporation. In the case of velocity
according to equation (5) the course of the simulation (Fig. 7)
is seen to reflect the evaporation of water when compared with
the course in Fig. 6. In the section from 60 C to 110 C the
increase of biomass temperature slowed down, due to the
evaporation of water from it.

From the curves in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9 it can be seen that

under thermal decomposition the increase in the temperature of
the biomass and gas is slowed, this is caused by the
consumption of heat for thermal decomposition in the interval
of temperatures 250 to 350 C, i.e. not all the heat that is
transferred from the gas component by convection is used for
wood biomass heating.

Similarly as in the case of the water evaporation model,

simulations were performed with the model of thermal
decomposition, i.e. simulations without thermal decomposition
(Fig. 8) and with thermal decomposition (Fig. 9).

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Finally simulations were carried out that resulted from the

simulation model comprising the three partial models, i.e. the
heating model, the water evaporation model and the thermal
decomposition model. In Fig. 10 a process simulation with
a zero velocity of evaporation and with a zero velocity of
thermal decomposition as a comparative process is mentioned,
thus a process without evaporation and thermal decomposition.
Taking into account the experimental velocity of evaporation
and thermal decomposition, in Fig. 11 the corresponding
simulation is shown. From the course of temperatures it is
evident at what temperatures and at what time evaporation and
thermal decomposition occur. From the results we see that the
temperature increase being slowed down leads to increase in
the time it takes to achieve their stabilization.

2012 13th International Carpathian Control Conference (ICCC)

analysis of the processes and the study of the impact various

parameters have on the partial processes. Further use of the
model is in terms of design of device parameters for the
gasification and combustion of biomass. The model can even
be used in the design and implementation of management
processes of combustion and gasification of biomass.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This contribution was supported by projects VEGA
1/0746/11, 1/0479/11 and 1/0729/12.
REFERENCES
[1]

[2]
Figure 10. Simulation process without evaporation and thermal
decomposition

[3]
[4]

[5]

[6]
[7]

[8]

[9]
Figure 11. Simulation process with evaporation and thermal decomposition

VII. CONCLUSION
The importance of biomass energy use can only be
evaluated positively. The result of the use is not only obtaining
its own energy, but biomass also has other aspects that
predispose it to more intensive use, for example biomass is
a certain alternative to fossil fuel resources.
The purpose of this work, which is initiated in this
contribution, has been to create a mathematical model of the
combustion and gasification of biomass, to carry out
a qualitative verification and to find out the sensitivity of inputs
and parameters on the course of processes. The results of
simulations from three partial models, namely from the heating
model, evaporation model and thermal decomposition model,
and simulations model made by the synthesis of partial models,
are listed in this work.
Created partial models can be used for process simulations
of heating, evaporation and thermal decomposition in terms of

[10]
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[12]

[13]

[14]

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