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Syngas Production from Co-gasification of Forest Residue and Charcoal in a Pilot Scale Downdraft Reactor

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Abstract

A study on the co-gasification of forest residue and wood charcoal was executed on pilot-scale 50 kWth downdraft gasification reactor. The reactor parameters (i.e. temperature, pressure) were evaluated on various parameters namely heating value, syngas yield, exergy, feedstock consumption rate and produced syngas composition. To facilitate the optimization of the exergy efficiency of gasification systems, a comprehensive fixed-bed gasification model has been established using an Aspen Plus (V8.6) simulator to predict the product rate of syngas. The model is applicable for efficient analysis of fixed-bed biomass gasification under variable operating conditions, such as syngas ratio, moisture content of feedstock, and air inlet location. The concentration variation of the downdraft reactor showed that the CO concentration increased with increasing wood charcoal (up to 40%) with forest residue. In contrary, an opposite trend for the case CO2 concentration was observed with increasing the wood charcoal in the reactor. The optimal yield of syngas (H2:CO) ratio was found to be 1.14 after the FR:WC mixture of 70:30 and 60:40 w/w for maximizing the benefits of the gasification process.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thanks to the Faculty of Engineering and Technology (FTech), University Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia for providing lab facilities (Energy Mgmt. & Environmental Laboratory; Toxicology Laboratory). The authors would also acknowledge for the financial support of RDU (Grant No. RDU160317) and GRS (Grant No. PGRS170370) received from University Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, 26300, Gambang, Malaysia

    Minhaj Uddin Monir, Azrina Abd Aziz & Risky Ayu Kristanti

  2. Department of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Jessore, 7408, Bangladesh

    Minhaj Uddin Monir

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering and Polymer Science, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, 3114, Bangladesh

    Abu Yousuf

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Monir, M.U., Abd Aziz, A., Kristanti, R.A. et al. Syngas Production from Co-gasification of Forest Residue and Charcoal in a Pilot Scale Downdraft Reactor. Waste Biomass Valor 11, 635–651 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-018-0513-5

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