Petroleum Science and Technology

ISSN: 1091-6466 (Print) 1532-2459 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/lpet20

Aspen plus simulation of heavy oil gasification in a

fluidized bed gasifier

Xiuying Yang, Amir Hamidzadeh, Mohammad Ilkhani, Amin Foroughi,

Mohammad Javad Esfahani & Mohsen Motahari-Nezhad

To cite this article: Xiuying Yang, Amir Hamidzadeh, Mohammad Ilkhani, Amin Foroughi,
Mohammad Javad Esfahani & Mohsen Motahari-Nezhad (2016) Aspen plus simulation of heavy oil
gasification in a fluidized bed gasifier, Petroleum Science and Technology, 34:17-18, 1530-1533,
DOI: 10.1080/10916466.2016.1208227

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10916466.2016.1208227

Published online: 26 Sep 2016.

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PETROLEUM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
, VOL. , NOS. –, –
http://dx.doi.org/./..

Aspen plus simulation of heavy oil gasification in a fluidized bed

gasifier
Xiuying Yanga , Amir Hamidzadehb , Mohammad Ilkhanic , Amin Foroughid , Mohammad
Javad Esfahanie , and Mohsen Motahari-Nezhadf
a
Hainan Institute of Science and Technology, Haikou, China; b Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of
Guilan, Rasht, Iran; c th District of Gas Transmission Operation, National Iranian Gas Transmission Company, Azar Shahr
Road, Tabriz, Iran; d Department of Industrial Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Delijan Branch, Delijan, Iran;
e
Department of Industrial Engineering, Young Researchers and Elite Club, Naragh Branch, Islamic Azad
University,Naragh Branch, Naragh, Iran; f Young Researchers and Elite Club, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Gasification is a clean technology to convert fuels to high-quality syngas in Aspen plus; energy;
presence of a gasifying agent. In this study, an Aspen Plus model of heavy gasification; heavy oil;
oil gasification was developed to produce the hydrogen rich syngas. Effect hydrogen
of some parameters such as gasification temperature and steam/fuel ratio on
the hydrogen yield and was investigated. Results showed that the tempera-
ture plays a major role in the process; higher temperatures produce the higher
hydrogen content. It was also found that the operation under high steam/fuel
ratio can cause a significant increase in the hydrogen yield. The modeling
results were compared with the experimental data available in the literature
and found to be in good agreement.

1. Introduction
Hydrogen is an attractive alternative energy source for fuel cells and internal combustion engines, which
currently is produced from the natural gas and biomass materials. The steam gasification of biomass or
heavy oil to obtain the hydrogen and syngas presents highly interesting possibilities for the management
heavy oils and power generation. It is well known that the gasification process is an efficient method to
drive the chemical energy from the low-rank coal, petroleum residue, and municipal solid wastes because
of its low cost, high efficiency, and low emissions compared with the other methods such as combustion
and oxidation. Extensive simulation studies reported in the literature (Loha et al., 2011; Palma, 2012)
show that the steam gasification can be used as an alternative technology to produce the high caloric
value syngas, which is recognized as an environmentally friendly and economical method to drive the
chemical energy.
One of the most important applications of pure hydrogen is proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel
cell. It is a viable alternative power source, and converts the hydrogen energy to electrical energy and
power by the electrochemical reaction between oxygen and pure hydrogen. In addition, the PEM fuel
cell has been widely recognized as a good candidate for future power generating devices in the automotive
and portable electronic applications. The efficiency of PEM fuel cells is known to be influenced by several
factors, such as reaction temperature, type of catalyst layer, and system pressure.

CONTACT Mohsen Motahari-Nezhad motaharinezhadmohsen@gmail.com Young Researchers and Elite Club, South Tehran
Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/lpet.
©  Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
 PETROLEUM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 1531

Table . Model validation.

Ashizawa et al. () Model

Pressure, atm .

Equivalence ratio .
Gas composition, vol%
CO . .
CO . .
H . .
HO . .
CH . .
Others . .

In recent years, various simulation studies on gasification, focusing on deferent aspects, have been
published. Beheshti et al. (2016) developed an Aspen Plus model of biomass gasification in a bubbling
fluidized bed to simulate the steady state behavior of an integrated biomass gasification-PEM fuel cell for
power generation. The authors have explored the effects of some critical parameters such as equivalence
ratio and biomass particle size on the cell potential. Their results were showed the higher feed humidity
is more favorable to increase the cell voltage. Chutichai et al. (2013) analyzed the performance of an
integrated biomass gasification-PEM fuel cell system, experimentally. Effects of biomass sources and a
series of important factors such as equivalence ratio moisture content and biomass type on the cell voltage
were explored.
In this study, we developed an Aspen Plus model to simulate the influence of the key parameters
on hydrogen yield from steam gasification of heavy oil using an Aspen Plus model. The results were
compared with the experimental data available in the literature and found to be in good agreement.

2. Results
To validate the simulation results, the experimental data of Ashizawa et al. (2005) is used, for which
measurements are available. The comparison between the model predictions and experimental results
for syngas production is shown in Table 1. It is clear that the simulation results are in a good agreement
with published experimental data. The gasifier used in this study is a high-pressure fluidized bed, which
is schematically shown in Figure 1. The hydrodynamic properties of the gasifier and kinetic of reactions
can be found elsewhere (Nikoo and Mahinpey, 2008). The system consists of a fluidized bed gasifier fol-
lowed by tar cracking, clean-up units and a valve at the bottom of the bed, allowing continuous feeding
of heavy oil. The system operates steady state and high-pressure conditions, resulting in a high-quality
syngas and low emissions. It is also assumed that the devolatilization take places instantaneously due to

Figure . Schematic diagram of the gasifier.

1532 X. YANG ET AL.

Figure . The influences of steam/fuel ratio hydrogen yield. T = °C.

high temperature. The influences of steam/fuel ratio (S/B) on hydrogen yield were studied for a gasifica-
tion temperature of 800°C. As shown in Figure 2, the cell voltage smoothly increases with the increase
of S/B, probably due to the forward direction of water gas shift reaction (CO+H2 O→CO2 +H2 ) and
methane reforming reaction. It is also clear that the hydrogen yield increases with increasing the S/B
ratio. One the most common technology to produce hydrogen-rich gas is gasification in the presence of
steam as gasifying agent. As can be seen, a small reduction in hydrogen yield observes as the steam to
biomass ratio increases from 0.7 to 0.8. These observations are in good agreement with other published
experimental measurements (Delgado et al., 1996; Panigrahi et al., 2003). The increases of the hydrogen
yield and tar concentration with steam/biomass ratio are due to (a) the greater production of syngas in
the initial devolatilization, (b) the endothermic nature of char conversion, and (c) the thermal crack-
ing and reforming of the tars which can be caused serious operational problems. The influence of the
gasification temperature on hydrogen yield is shown in Figure 3. As can be seen, higher temperatures
considerably results in higher hydrogen yield, probably due to a significant improvement in the nature
of endothermic reactions involved during the process. As has been reported by many authors (Li et al.,
2001; Demirbas et al., 2011), this observation is related to the fact that the hydrogen concentration of
the carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, are linked together by the methanation and equi-
librium of the water–gas shift reactions under high-pressure conditions. With the increase of steam/fuel
ratio, the variation of hydrogen and carbon dioxide yields is not a monotonic trend (Li et al., 2001). A
possible solution to increase the efficiency of the process and decrease the tar yield is the addition of an
efficient catalyst. The tar yield in the produced syngas depends on the tar production during pyrolysis,

Figure . The influences of the gasification temperature on hydrogen yield. S/B = . (wt/wt).
 PETROLEUM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 1533

the extent of oxidation, and the reforming of tars. As the increasing the temperature enhances the hydro-
gen concentration, it could increase the cracking of light tar inside the gasifier. The presence of catalysis
leads to more tar cracking and char conversion in steam gasification (Palma, 2012), which can cause a
rapid increase of syngas production and cold gas efficiency. Although increasing the gasification tem-
perature is a common solution for higher syngas yield, higher temperatures can cause serious structural
problems, which increase the maintenance and repair costs.

3. Conclusion
In this paper an Aspen Plus model of heavy oil gasification was used to produce the hydrogen-rich gas.
The system consisted a fluidized bed gasifier followed by tar cracking, clean-up units, and a valve at the
bottom of the bed, allowing continuous feeding of heavy oil. Results showed that with increasing the
S/B ratio, the hydrogen yield increases, although for higher S/B ratio an inverse trend was observed. It
was also found the higher temperatures lead to higher hydrogen yield. Although this model was used
for heavy oil gasification, it can be applied for a wide range of fuels such as biomass, waste lubricant oils,
coal, and waste municipal solid wastes.

Funding
The authors are grateful to the National Iranian Gas Transmission Company-8th District of Gas Transmission Operation
(NIGTC-DIST8) for the support.

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