Abstract Thermochemical conversion of biomass into useful products is a promising route to harness biofuels. This process is clean, renewable and can reduce the use of fossil fuel. In this study, SuperPro Designer (SPD) software and response surface methodology (RSM) is used to simulate and optimize rice husk pyrolysis process. The SPD simulator was built to handle kinetics and stoichiometric reaction of lignocellulosic composition of rice husk into final products. The SPD simulation and RSM optimization were performed at a temperature ranging from 350 to 800 °C and residence time of 0.25 to 60 seconds. The simulated results were in agreement with product yield published in the literature at an average relative error of 6.8%. The combined effect of temperature and residence time were analysed by using RSM and analysis of variance (ANOVA). A cubic model for bio-oil and quartic model for char and gas yield were proposed. The desirability function in Design-Expert showed that the optimum bio-oil yield (36.72%) could be attained at a temperature 588 °C and a residence time 0.25 s while the optimum gas yield (73.25%) could be achieved at a temperature 798.8 °C and a residence time 15.47 s. These findings therefore revealed that the energy content of the rice husk could be harnessed by pyrolysis/gasification to obtain substantial fuel products.

中文翻译：

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稻壳热解的模拟与优化：气化应用的初步评估

摘要 生物质热化学转化为有用的产品是利用生物燃料的一条有前途的途径。这个过程是清洁的、可再生的，并且可以减少化石燃料的使用。在本研究中，SuperPro Designer (SPD) 软件和响应面方法 (RSM) 用于模拟和优化稻壳热解过程。SPD 模拟器旨在处理稻壳木质纤维素成分转化为最终产品的动力学和化学计量反应。SPD 模拟和 RSM 优化在 350 至 800 °C 的温度范围和 0.25 至 60 秒的停留时间下进行。模拟结果与文献中公布的产品产量一致，平均相对误差为 6.8%。通过使用 RSM 和方差分析 (ANOVA) 分析温度和停留时间的综合影响。提出了生物油的三次模型和焦炭和气体产量的四次模型。Design-Expert 中的合意性函数表明，最佳生物油产率 (36.72%) 在温度 588 °C 和停留时间 0.25 s 时可达到，而最佳气体产率 (73.25%) 在温度 798.8 时可达到°C，停留时间为 15.47 秒。因此，这些发现表明，稻壳的能量含量可以通过热解/气化来获得大量的燃料产品。