1. Biomass gasification involves the partial combustion of biomass to convert solid fuels into combustible gas mixtures through four processes: drying, pyrolysis, combustion, and reduction. 2. The gas produced through biomass gasification has applications for power generation through irrigation pumping, village electrification, and grid-fed power plants. It also has thermal applications such as for hot air generators, dryers, boilers, and furnaces. 3. There are different types of gasifiers, including updraft, downdraft, fluidized bed, and crossdraft gasifiers, each with advantages and disadvantages related to tar production, operating efficiency, and fuel flexibility. Biomass gasification is seen as

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BIOMASS GASIFICATION

2. • Conversion of solid fuels into combustible gas mixtures.
• Involves partial combustion of biomass.
• Four distinct process in the gasifier viz.
• Drying
• Pyrolysis
• Combustion
• Reduction

3. Particulars Rice Husk Woody Biomass
CO 15-20% 15-20%
H2 10-15% 15-20%
CH4 Upto 4% Upto 3%
N2 45-55% 45-50%
CO2 8-12% 8-12%
Gas C.V. (kcal/Nm3) Above 1050 Above 1100
Gas generated in
Nm3/kg of biomass
2 2.5
Producer Gas - Composition?

4. Applications
Power Generation Thermal Applications
o Irrigation Pumping
o Village Electrification
o Captive Power (Industries)
o Grid-fed Power from Energy
Plantations on Wastelands
o Simultaneous Charcoal and
Power Production
o Hot Air Generators
o Dryers
o Boilers
o Thermic Fluid Heaters
o Ovens
o Furnaces & Kilns

5. A Gasifier

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Carbonaceous materials >>> carbon monoxide and
hydrogen.
Carbonaceous material undergoes
three processes:
pyrolysis (de-volatilization),
combustion,
gasification
Pyrolysis
Combustion and gasification forming CO2
Gasification

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Scrubbing of the syngas

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The main Solvents

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• Clean technology
• Low S, N oxides and particulate matter
• Low cost removal for carbon dioxide
• Capital cost is competitive
• Support from environmental groups
• Many Govt initiatives and incentives
• Gret Promise for future!
• Flexible feedstock, process options and products
• New market (syn fuel, high-value chemicals & fertilizer)
• Feasible bridge from coal to hydrogen

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Poly usability of gasification process

14. 1. Updraught or counter current gasifier
2. Downdraught or cocurrent Gasifiers
3. Cross draught Gasifier
4. Fluidized bed gasifier
5. Other types of gasifiers
Types of gasifiers

15. Oldest and simplest type.
Air intake is at the bottom and the
gas leaves at the top.
Heating and pyrolysis of the
feedstock occur (upper part) as a
result of heat transfer by forced
convection and radiation from the
lower zones.
The tars and volatiles produced
during this process will be carried in
the gas stream.
Ashes are removed from the bottom
of the gasifier.
Updraught or counter current gasifier

16. Advantages
Simplicity.
High charcoal burnout and internal heat exchange leading to low gas exit
temperatures.
High equipment efficiency.
Possibility of operation with many types of feedstock (sawdust, cereal hulls,
etc.).
Major drawbacks
Possibility of "channelling" in the equipment, which can lead to oxygen
breakthrough.
Dangerous, explosive situations.
Necessity to install automatic moving grates.
Tar disposal (condensates that result from the gas cleaning operations).
(If the gas is used for direct heat applications, in which case the tars are
simply burnt).

17. Downdraught or cocurrent gasifiers
A solution to the problem of tar
entrainment in the gas stream.
Primary gasification air is introduced
at or above the oxidation zone in the
gasifier.
The producer gas is removed at the
bottom of the apparatus, so that
fuel and gas move in the same
direction.

18. On the way down, acid and tarry distillation products from the fuel pass
through bed of charcoal and therefore are converted into permanent
gases hydrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane.
Depending on the temperature of the hot zone and the residence time of
the tarry vapours, a more or less complete breakdown of the tars is
achieved.
Advantage:
Production of tar free gas suitable for engine applications.
A tar free gas is seldom produced!
Lower level of organic components in the condensate, down-draught
gasifiers suffer less from environmental objections than updraught
gasifiers.

19. Drawback:
Inability to operate on a number of unprocessed fuels.
(Ex. fluffy, low density materials give rise to flow problems and excessive
pressure drop, and the solid fuel must be pelletized or briquetted before
use.)
Also, suffers from the problems associated with high ash content fuels
(slagging) to a larger extent than updraught gasifiers.
Lower efficiency resulting from the lack of internal heat exchange as well
as the lower heating value of the gas.
Besides this, the necessity to maintain uniform high temperatures over a
given cross sectional area makes less practical.

20. The operation of gasifiers is influenced by
the morphological, physical and chemical
properties of the fuel.
Problems commonly encountered are:
- lack of bunker flow,
- slagging and
- extreme pressure drop over the gasifier
Fluidized bed gasifier

21. Air is blown through a bed of solid particles at a sufficient velocity to keep
these in a state of suspension.
The bed is originally externally heated and the feedstock is introduced as
soon as a sufficiently high temperature is reached.
The fuel particles; introduced at the bottom of the reactor, very quickly
mixed with bed material, almost instantaneously heated up.
The fuel is pyrolysed very fast, resulting in a component mix with a
relatively large amount of gaseous materials.
Gasification and tar conversion reactions occur in the gas phase.
System is equipped with an internal cyclone in order to minimize char
blowout as much as possible.
Ash particles are also carried over the top of the reactor and have to be
removed from the gas stream if the gas is used in engine applications.

22. Advantage:
Feedstock flexibility, easy control of temperature: ash (rice husks), and ability to
deal with fluffy and fine grained materials (sawdust etc.) without the need of pre-
processing.
Drawbacks:
Problems with feeding, instability of the bed and fly-ash sintering in the gas
channels can occur with some biomass fuels.
High tar content of the producer gas (up to 500 mg/m³ gas), the incomplete carbon
burnout, and poor response to load changes.

23. Double fired, entrained bed, molten batt; partly spinoffs from coal
gasification technology - under development.
Other types of gasifiers

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Gasification is future for coal !