Thermochemical Conversion of Coal and Coal-Biomass Blends in an Autothermal Moving Bed Gasifier: Experimental Investigation

A unique laboratory scale auto-thermal moving bed gasifier was designed for studying the thermochemical conversion of coal-biomass blends. For this purpose, two coals (lignite and sub-bituminous), two biomass materials (corn stover and switchgrass), and their respective blends were used. Gasification characteristics of the fuels were evaluated with an emphasis on improving the producer gas composition. The efficiency and product gas compositions reveal that utilizing the inner stainless-steel tubing better promotes heat transfer upwards in the axial direction when compared to utilizing quartz insulation. The H2/CO ratio at the same operating conditions is much higher due to the increase in bed temperature and heat transfer upwards in the axial direction. This improved the overall efficiency by at least 20%. Using pure oxygen and steam, efficiency greater than 50% was obtained for blends with corn stover at steam to oxygen ratio of 2:1. Also, using air as the gasifying agent greatly improved the H2/CO ratios and overall efficiency in blends with corn stover. In contrast, blends with switchgrass were not very effective with respect to the overall gasification characteristics. Blending switchgrass with coal may not be viable option from the viewpoint of generating high quality producer gas for downstream operations.

Test and performance optimization of nozzle inclination angle and swirl combustor in a low-tar biomass gasifier:a biomass power generation system perspective

A nozzle inclination angle and swirl combustor inside the low-tar biomass(LTB)gasifier reactor were tested and optimized to evaluate these effects on tar reduction to design tar-free producer gas.The tar reduction process is mainly based on the concept of a swirling flow created by the nozzle inclination angle,with the inclination angle of 55◦to the radial line,allowing good mixing between pyrolysis gases and gasifying agents.A separate swirl combustor has created large internal annular and reverses flow zones with the help of swirl flow,resulting in homogenized temperature inside the combustor and providing longer residence time;both have a positive effect on the combustion of mixed gasifying air-pyrolysis gases by the thermal cracking in the partial oxidation zone.Recircling ratio(RR)and combustion degree of volatiles are the two optimization parameters for evaluating the performance of NIA and swirl combustor.The result observed that outstanding tar reduction occurred in this novel system.About 86.5 and 12.8%of tar compounds are broken down in the partial oxidation zone and pyrolysis zone using the novel swirl combustor and NIA,respectively;gas outlet has observed producer gas having tar concentration of less than 1%.The optimization results reveal that a lower recycling ratio(recycle gas/gasifying air)and a higher combustion degree of volatiles perform better in biomass gasification.Finally,this system generated producer gas with the tar concentration at an extremely low level of 7.4 mg/Nm^(3)for a biomass moisture content of 9%and appeared the lower heating value of 4.6–5.1 MJ/Nm^(3).This lower tar concentration might be directly coupled with an internal combustion engine or a gas turbine for power generation.