Thermodynamic equilibrium approach to predict the inorganic interactions of ash from biomass and their mixtures: A critical assessment

Process simulation approaches based on thermodynamics calculations can provide good capabilities to predict the ash behavior of biomasses and their mixtures. In the present work, a critical assessment of such simulations was performed in the field of biomass ashes, and experimentally checked to be at equilibrium. Two commercial thermodynamic databases, FToxid and GTOX, were used together with the FactSage Gibbs energy minimization software. For the first time in literature, a comparison was performed between the calculated phase equilibria using the recent market versions of the two databases. The predicted results were then compared to those measured on various ash samples of straws and barks along with their ash mixtures, highlighting the lingering need for improvements for the recent versions of these commercial databases.