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Recent Advances in Power Generation Through Biomass and Municipal Solid Waste Gasification

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Coal and Biomass Gasification

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Abstract

This review focuses on the fundamentals, recent technology development, environmental and economic analyses, and commercialization of power generation by gasification of municipal solid wastes (MSW) and biomass wastes for distributed power application. Design and operational factors affecting the performance and emission characteristics of power generation systems using syngas are reviewed. The performance characteristics include maximum power output, engine efficiency, and specific fuel consumption of various technologies. Emissions characteristics include levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), unburned hydrocarbon (HC), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDF). Large-scale system (>1 MW) is typically selected for power generation via MSW gasification, which is generally accomplished using plasma-based gasification followed by the use of internal combustion (IC) engines or gas turbines to achieve high efficiency. Plasma is preferred for treating MSW due to its unique capability to ionize materials, minimize tars, and improve syngas quality. Besides, co-gasification of MSW and biomass is also an alternative for power generation. Finally, techno-economic and life cycle analyses of power generation from plasma gasification system are summarized.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported, in part, by Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station and Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP).

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Indrawan, N., Kumar, A., Kumar, S. (2018). Recent Advances in Power Generation Through Biomass and Municipal Solid Waste Gasification. In: De, S., Agarwal, A., Moholkar, V., Thallada, B. (eds) Coal and Biomass Gasification. Energy, Environment, and Sustainability. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7335-9_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7335-9_15

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