A Discussion on Use of Wood chips for wood logs in combustion applications in industrial termal energy supply

Biomass is an important renewable Abstract: energy source of primary energy supply in Sri Lanka. However, the methods used in these sectors for converting biomass into useful energy are primitive and inefficient, especially in the industrial sector. Energy generation is transforming towards low emission alternatives. Therefore, demand for renewable energy sources is escalating and it is essential for introducing efficient biomass conversion methods. This study focuses on improving efficiency of wood combustion methods to save fuel wood as well as mitigate unsustainable wood harvesting. Biomass fuels exhibit range of chemical and physical properties, particulate size and shape. There is an advantage of using wood chips over conventional logs because higher surface area availability and controllability making combustion more efficient. In this review paper, potential and advantages of wood chip combustion are reviewed and discussed to promote in the industries for thermal energy requirement. In conventional furnaces, wood logs are manually loading to the furnace by monitoring temperature. However, in the wood chip combustion technologies, wood chips are continuously loading to the furnace using an automated mechanism. This paper is trying to discuss the advantage of wood chip combustion over wood logs using the available empirical models and to compare with results of wood chip application technology in Sri Lanka

Simulation of ancient wind-driven iron smelting furnaces of Sri Lanka

Metal processing industry in Sri Lanka began around 3000BC. Ancient chronicles like Mahavansaya, Thupavansa and Pujavaliya proved the Sri Lanka’s history of metal industry. Archaeometallurgical surveys of Sri Lanka have revealed a non-conventional wind-driven iron smelting furnace for the first time in the world. Some of them dated back to third century BC. Replications of iron smelting process have shown the ability of those furnaces to operate and produce high carbon Steel. CFD modeling and simulation is a popular tool to further understand the fluid flow patterns within and surrounding a furnace. This paper discusses the initial steps of modeling and simulation of the total process of iron smelting in the west-facing furnaces situated in Samanalawewa area of Sri Lanka. Main focus of the paper is to analyze the cold flow at 2D and 3D steady state conditions by using the open source OpenFOAM CFD software with over 9million cells for 3D simulation in finite volume method. The results have been compared with a validated simulation on the same furnace using the commercial CFD code Fluent.IEEE IEEE Sri Lanka Section Robotics and Automation Section Chapter, IEEE Sri Lanka Sectio

Simulation of ancient wind-driven iron smelting furnaces of Sri Lanka

Metal processing industry in Sri Lanka began around 3000BC. Ancient chronicles like Mahavansaya, Thupavansa and Pujavaliya proved the Sri Lanka’s history of metal industry. Archaeometallurgical surveys of Sri Lanka have revealed a non-conventional wind-driven iron smelting furnace for the first time in the world. Some of them dated back to third century BC. Replications of iron smelting process have shown the ability of those furnaces to operate and produce high carbon Steel. CFD modeling and simulation is a popular tool to further understand the fluid flow patterns within and surrounding a furnace. This paper discusses the initial steps of modeling and simulation of the total process of iron smelting in the west-facing furnaces situated in Samanalawewa area of Sri Lanka. Main focus of the paper is to analyze the cold flow at 2D and 3D steady state conditions by using the open source OpenFOAM CFD software with over 9million cells for 3D simulation in finite volume method. The results have been compared with a validated simulation on the same furnace using the commercial CFD code Fluent