CFD modeling of biomass hydrolysis reactors

IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN) est un acteur majeur de la recherche et de la formation dans les domaines de l’énergie, du transport et de l’environnement. De la recherche à l’industrie, l’innovation technologique est au cœur de son action, articulée autour de quatre priorités stratégiques : Mobilité Durable, Energies Nouvelles, Climat / Environnement / Economie circulaire et Hydrocarbures Responsables.

Dans le cadre de la mission d’intérêt général confiée par les pouvoirs publics, IFPEN concentre ses efforts sur :

• l’apport de solutions aux défis sociétaux de l’énergie et du climat, en favorisant la transition vers une mobilité durable et l’émergence d’un mix énergétique plus diversifié ;
• la création de richesse et d’emplois, en soutenant l’activité économique française et européenne et la compétitivité des filières industrielles associées.

Partie intégrante d’IFPEN, l’école d’ingénieurs IFP School prépare les générations futures à relever ces défis.

CFD modeling of biomass hydrolysis reactors

The context of the internship is the development of a process for transforming lignocellulosic biomass into 2nd generation bioethanol, i.e. a biofuel that does not compete with food agriculture as it is based on the recovery of waste from conventional agriculture.

To do this, the pretreated biomass is first transformed into sugars by enzymatic hydrolysis, before being fermented into alcohol. The first step of enzymatic hydrolysis, called the liquefaction step, is characterized by a very viscous and non-Newtonian rheology, which greatly complicates the technological development and scaling up of the process. Consequently, it appears crucial to characterize the hydrodynamics of liquefaction reactors in order to assess the quality of the mixture (presence of dead zones), the distribution of the shear rate and local viscosity, and to evaluate the relevance of different mixing technologies to convert biomass of varying quality (and therefore different rheology).

Description

Ansys-Fluent software will be used during the internship. 3D laminar flows will be modeled and the nonlinear behavior of biomass rheology will be implemented in the CFD model and simulated.

Depending on the progress of the study, the hydrolysis reaction may be implemented in the code in order to evaluate, as some specific moments of the liquefaction step, the distribution of the conversion rate in the reactor.

The internship will be supervised by the IFPEN team of Solaize and Joelle Aubin, CNRS research director at the Laboratoire de Génie Chimique (LGC), Toulouse, France.

Required profile

2nd year of Master or Engineering school in Chemical Engineering or Fluid mechanics.

• Knowledge of CFD is appreciated

Additional information

Duration of the internship : 5 to 6 months
Workplace : IFPEN, rond-point de l’échangeur de Solaize, 69360, Solaize, France
Transport : public transport from Lyon center
Paid internship (1080€/month)

Please send your candidature (CV and motivation letter) !