The effect of the blend ratio and reactor temperature on the gasification characteristics of pyrolysis oil (PO) and black liquor (BL) blends with up to 20 wt% PO was studied in a pilot-scale entrained-flow gasifier. In addition to unblended BL, three blends with PO/BL ratios of 10/90, 15/85, and 20/80 wt% were gasified at a constant load of 2.75 MW_th. The 15/85 PO/BL blend was used to investigate the effect of temperature in the range 1000–1100 °C. The decrease in fuel inorganic content with increasing PO fraction resulted in more dilute green liquor (GL), and a greater portion of the feedstock carbon ended up in syngas as CO. As a consequence, the cold gas efficiency increased by about 5%-units. Carbon conversion was in the range 98.8–99.5% and did not vary systematically with either fuel composition or temperature. Although the measured reactor temperatures increased slightly with increasing PO fraction, both unblended BL and the 15% PO blend exhibited largely similar behavior in response to temperature variations. The results from this study show that blending BL with the more energy-rich PO can increase the cold gas efficiency and improve the process carbon distribution without adversely affecting either carbon conversion or the general process performance.

The main goal of this work is to investigate if thermodynamic equilibrium calculations can be useful for understanding and predicting process performance and product composition for entrained flow gasification of spent pulping liquors, such as black liquor. Model sensitivity to input data is studied and model results are compared to published pilot plant data. The high temperature and the catalytic activity of feedstock alkali make thermodynamic equilibrium a better predictor of product composition than for many other types of biomass and gasification technologies. Thermodynamic equilibrium calculations can predict the flows of the main syngas and slag products with high accuracy as shown by comparison with experimental data with small measurement errors. The main process deviations from equilibrium are methane formation and sulfur distribution between gas and slag. In order to study real process deviations from equilibrium, it is very important to use consistent experimental data. Relatively small errors in the model input, primarily related to fuel composition, can lead to grossly erroneous conclusions. The model sensitivity to fuel composition also shows that the gasification process is sensitive to naturally occurring feedstock variations. Simulations of a commercial-scale gasification process show that cold gas efficiency on sulfur-free basis can reach over 80 % and that greatly improved efficiency can be obtained by reducing ballast present in the form of water or inorganics.