Reactor Engineering for Biomass Feedstocks

Biomass differs from coal, peat, and other solid fuels in that it is composed of carbohydrate and lignin polymers whose chemistry sometimes overlaps that of food. It is also important to notice that co-existence of components results in complicated reaction networks. Consequently, it is far more reactive than coal and resulting reactions are more complex, so the design of reactors for its conversion into fuels, chemicals, and higher-value products demands detailed knowledge of the unique reaction chemistries of carbohydrates, lignin, and whole biomass composed thereof. This session welcomes presentations on the fundamentals of reactor design aimed at the unique properties of biomass feedstocks and interaction between the components and intermediates. The design should be able to be applied to all kinds of biomass utilization reactions including fermentation, pyrolysis, and gasification through reactor designs, chemical kinetics, and numerical modeling.