Abstract
Thermochemical conversion is a promising technology to generate producer gas (PG) from different types of agroforestry biomass residues. To use an existing open-core biomass gasifier for different feedstocks available in a agroforestry region, its viability must be studied systematically. Cocoa pod husk (CPH) is one of the promising agricultural wastes, widely available in tropical farmlands of hilly regions. In this study, a commercial 115 kWth biomass gasifier is used in both numerical and experimental methods to find the potential of CPH as a feedstock. The moisture of CPH is varied from 5 to 25%, and the performance of gasifier is investigated for ER between 0.20 and 0.40. The results show that compositions of CO, H2 and CH4 in PG are 20–24%, 12.0–16.5% and 2.0–3.2%, respectively, for the tested conditions. The best equivalence ratio and moisture content are identified as 0.25 and 5%, respectively. The calorific value, conversion efficiency and cold gas efficiency are found as 6.13 MJ/Nm3, 82% and 68%, respectively. The predicted performance parameters and temperature distribution are compared with experimental values and literature. Thus, CPH is identified as a promising feedstock for an open-core gasifier.
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Abbreviations
- A r :
-
Arrhenius rate (s−1)
- CCE:
-
Carbon conversion efficiency (%)
- CFD:
-
Computational fluid dynamics
- CG:
-
Constituent gases
- CGE:
-
Cold gas efficiency (%)
- CPH:
-
Coco Pod Husk
- CV:
-
Calorific Value (MJ Nm−3)
- CZ:
-
Combustion zone
- E a :
-
Activation energy (J k mol−1)
- ER:
-
Equivalence ratio
- PG:
-
Producer gas
- PZ:
-
Pyrolysis zone
- RMS:
-
Root mean square
- RZ:
-
Reduction zone
- \(C_{x\varepsilon }\) :
-
Model constants
- \(D_{i,m}\) :
-
Mass diffusion coefficient for species ‘i’ in the mixture (m2 s−1)
- \(\vec{F}\) :
-
Body forces (Nm−3)
- \(\vec{g}\) :
-
Acceleration due to gravity (ms−2)
- \(G_{b}\) :
-
Buoyancy turbulence kinetic energy (m2 s2)
- \(G_{{\text{k}}}\) :
-
Gradient turbulence kinetic energy (m2 s2)
- \(\overrightarrow {{J_{i} }}\) :
-
Diffusion flux of species i
- P :
-
Static pressure (Pa)
- \(R_{{i{\text{r}}}}\) :
-
Homogeneous reaction rate of species i (kg m−3 s−1)
- \({\text{R}}_{{{\text{i}},{\text{r}}}}\) :
-
Homogeneous reaction rate (kg m−3 s−1)
- \(S_{h}\) :
-
Source term (Wm−1)
- \(S_{k} ,S_{e}\) :
-
User-defined source terms
- S m :
-
MASS added to the phase (kg)
- \(\vec{v}\) :
-
Velocity (ms−1)
- Y i :
-
Mass fraction of the species i (%)
- Y m :
-
Overall dissipation turbulence rate
- \({\uprho }\) :
-
Density (kg m−3)
- \({\upmu }\) :
-
Dynamic viscosity (kg m−1 s−1)
- \({\upvarepsilon }\) :
-
Turbulent dissipation rate (m2 s−3)
- k :
-
Turbulent kinetic energy (m2 s2)
- \({\upsigma }_{{\text{k}}}\) :
-
Turbulent Prandtl number
- \({\uplambda }_{{{\text{eff}}}}\) :
-
Effective conductivity
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Gunasekaran, A.P., Chockalingam, M.P., Padmavathy, S.R. et al. Numerical and experimental investigation on the thermochemical gasification potential of Cocoa pod husk (Theobroma Cacoa) in an open-core gasifier. Clean Techn Environ Policy 23, 1603–1615 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-021-02051-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-021-02051-w