CLASS 11 – BIOENERGY-THERMAL CONVERSION

6th Sem. 2019  Green Technology – 12G6E02

Thermal Gasification of Biomass

 The word gasification implies converting a solid or liquid

into a gaseous fuel without leaving any solid carbonaceous
residue
 Gasifier : equipment which can gasify a variety of biomass
such as wood waste, agricultural waste like stalks, roots
and various crops, maize cobs etc
 Essentially a chemical reactor where various complex
physical and chemical processes take place
 Biomass gets dried, heated, pyrolysed, partially oxidised
and reduced, as it flows through it
Thermal Gasification of Biomass

 The gas produced in the gasifier - clean burning

fuel - heating value: 950-1200 kcal/m3
 Main constituents : hydrogen (18-20%); carbon-
monoxide (18-24%)
 Thermal gasification: a solid fuel is converted by
a series of thermochemical processes like drying,
pyrolysis, oxidation, and reduction to a gaseous
fuel – producer gas
Thermal Gasification of Biomass

 If atmospheric gas is – gasification agent, the producer gas

consists mainly : CO, H2, O2
 Wood gasification yields on volumetric basis

the following composition of the gas

 CO 18-22%

 H2- 13-19%

 CH4 – 1-5%

 Heavier hydrocarbons – 0.2 -0.4%

 CO2 – 9-12%

 N2- 45-55%

 Water vapour – 4%
Thermal Gasification of Biomass

 Engines operating on a spark ignition system (eg

petrol engines) can be made to run entriely on
producer gas
 Those using compression ignition systems ( eg
diesel engines) can be made to operate with
about 60-80% fuel oil replacement by the gas
 In larger systems, the gas can be burnt directly
(eg in an industrial oil fired boiler)
Classification of Biomass Gasifiers

 Gasifiers are classified as per:

 1) output or capacity of the gasifiers

 2) the direction of the gas flow

As per the output power, gasifiers are classified as

 i) Small size gaisifers with output upto 10 kW

 ii) Medium size gasifiers with outputs between 10 -50kW

 iii) Large size gasifiers with output in the range of 50 –

300kW
 iv) Very large gasifiers with outputs of 300 kW and above
Classification of Biomass Gasifiers

 As per the direction of the gas flow:

 i) Updraft gasifiers
 ii) Downdraft Gasifiers
 iii) Cross draft gasifiers
Updraft gasifiers
 Air enters below the combustion zone and the
producer gas leaves near the top of the gasifier
 Easy to build and operate
 Gas produced has practically no ash but contains
tar and water vapour because of passing of gas
through the unburnt fuel
 Suitable for tar free fuels like charcoal
Types of Gasifiers

 Updraft Gasifier
Downdraft gasifiers
 Air enters at the combustion zone and the gas produced
leaves near the bottom of the gasifier
 The volatiles and the tars produced from the descending
fixed bed have to pass through the reaction zone where
mostly they are racked and gasified
 Also a constriction provided an the heart, i.e. the throat
ensures that the gaseous products pass through the
hottest zone,
 The gas produced contains less of tar and more of ash
 Suitable for fuels like wood and agricultural wastes
Types of Gasifiers

 Downdraft Gasifier
Crossdraft gasifiers
 In this type, the gas produced passes upwards in the
annular space around the gasifier that is filled with
charcoal
 The charcoal acts as an insulator and a dust filter
 Air enters the gasifier through a water cooled nozzle
mounted on one side of the firebox
 The gas is produced in the horizontal zone in front of the
nozzle and passes through a vertical grate into the hot gas
port on the opposite side
 Not very commonly used
 Types of Gasifiers

• Crossdraft gas producers

Chemistry of the gasification process

 Thermo-Chemical reactions
 The conversion process revolves around the
combustion reaction which supplies heat to the
neighboring zones in the reactor
 i) Carbon constitutes the major portion of the
feed and the main reaction is
 C+ O2 +3.79 N2 → 3.79 N2 +CO2
 Exothermic reaction: 395, 000 KJ/kg atom of
carbon
Chemistry of the gasification process

 ii) The carbon dioxide formed is reduced in the

presence of flowing carbon, over 90% of the CO2 is
reduced to CO at temperatures above 9000C
 C+ CO2 +3.79 N2 → 3.79 N2 +CO
 Endothermic reaction: 172,000 kJ/kg atom of carbon
 The main reaction which ideally should occur in the
reactor bed is
 2C+ O2 +3.79 N2 → 3.79 N2 +2CO
 Exothermic reaction 223,000 KJ/kg atom of carbon
Chemistry of the gasification process

 An important function of the combustion zone is to raise

the reduction zone temperature to promote the
carbon/steam gasification reaction which has a higher
activation energy
 This reaction requires temperature of 9000C and above
 C + H2O→ CO + H2
 Endothermic reaction: 130,000 kJ/kg atom of carbon
Chemistry of the gasification process

 Termed ‘wet gasification’ and has the added

advantage of dropping the temperatures in the
immediate vicinity of the hearth and reducing the
formation of clinker
 Very important in producer gas generation as it
can enrich the gas manufactured with hydrogen,
thus enhancing its calorific value
Chemistry of the gasification process

 The other reaction with carbon/steam occurs at

lower temperature and predominates between
500-6000C
 C + 2H2O →CO2 + 2H2
 Endothermic reaction 88,000 kJ/kg atom of
carbon
Chemistry of the gasification process

 Further steam reaction which occurs in the gas

producer with an excess of steam is the water
gas shift reaction
 CO + H2O →CO2 + H2
 Exothermic reaction 42,000 kJ/kg mole of CO
 Other reactions which occur in the char at
temperature of about 5000C
 C+ 2H2→ CH4
 Endothermic reaction 75,000 kJ/kg
Applications of the gasifiers
 Gasification technology has tremendous
potential in terms of its applications as the
process outputs can be converted into electrical,
mechanical and/or heat energy
Applications of the gasifiers
 Small size gasifiers
 Find applications in rural areas, especially for providing
shaft line power to agricultural pumps, processing
machinery and agricultural-processing machineries like
thrashers, straw choppers etc
 Ex: to provide shaft line-power to a 10 HP pump used for
irrigation
 Operating period for such pumps ranges from 600 to 1200
hrs/year which can irrigate 10 to 15 hectares of land
 Feed required : 6 to 11 MT/year which can be available
from one or two hectares only
Applications of the gasifiers
 Medium size gasifiers
 Can meet shaft line power requirements of various rural
industries like saw mills, carpentry workshops, mechanical
fabrication shops as well as small rice mills
 Finds extensive applications as a decentralized source of
electrical energy in milk chilling centers
 EX: A small size chilling center with a storage capacity of
5000 liters of milk shall have a shaft line power
requirement of 30 to 40 kW and hot water requirement of
1000 to 2000 liters per day.
 Both these requirements can be met
Applications of the gasifiers
 Large size gasifiers
 Find applications in rural as well as urban industries,
besides being a source of decentralized electrification
 Meet the shaft power requirements of diary, oil mill,
mineral processing, brick manufacturing, ceramics and
pottery industries
 Also used in mining operations, forest based wood
processing units, well drilling etc
 Used for total electrification of small and medium size
villages