Gasification of Pelletized Woody Biomass Using a Downdraft Reactor and Impact of Material Bridging
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 4
Abstract
Biomass gasification shows a great potential to displace fossil fuels. In this study, the gasification of pelletized hard wood using a 10 kW downdraft gasifier is investigated. The variations of pressure and temperature parameters during the gasification process with air as a reagent medium were controlled. The gasifier started in continuous mode to burn the wood pellet feedstock. The results from the continuous mode indicate average temperatures of 838 and 754°C for combustion and reduction zones inside the gasifier, respectively, which shows a low temperature gasification process. Moreover, the pressure in the combustion zone varied on average from to , while the pressure on top of the main reactor showed average variation of less than 0.07 kPa. The pressure drop is assumed to be caused by bridging of the feedstock, which results in a large part of the feedstock to not flow and be burnt inside the reactor. The shape of feedstock is theorized to be the major reason for the feedstock to bridge, with air leaks in the reactor resulting from sealing challenges intensifying the problem.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank BioFuelNetwork Canada for the financial support for BFN Project #29, and Valfei Products for supplying the wood pellet feedstocks.
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Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 4 • December 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 1, 2015
Accepted: Oct 13, 2015
Published online: Jan 6, 2016
Discussion open until: Jun 6, 2016
Published in print: Dec 1, 2016
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