Synopsis of the Ph.D.

Dissertation

EXPERIMENTAL AND COMPUTATIONAL STUDIES ON FLUIDIZED BED

BIOMASS GASIFIER FOR PRODUCTION OF CLEAN ENERGY

By

Deo Karan Ram

Roll No. 511CH105

Under Guidance of
Prof. Abanti Sahoo & Prof. K. C. Biswal

Department of Chemical Engineering

National Institute of Technology
Rourkela-769008

There is also concern for the availability of the fossil fuels in the near future for which the price
of fossil fuels is fluctuated. Now a reliable and sustainable energy supply has been a major
concern for the global community. To respond this energy crisis it has become essential not only
to use the existing energy sources efficiently but also to develop alternative or non-conventional
sources of energy. In this context a lot of effort has been made to explore renewable energy
production technologies around the world such as hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, solar and
biomass. Of the various renewable energy sources available, biomass appears to offer a
promising solution to tackle the ever increasing energy demand [1]. A wide variety of biomass
can be converted to energy by using gasification. Biomass can either be produced from wastes
which are discarded having no apparent value or dedicated energy crops can specifically be
grown for the production of bioenergy. Gasification is a process that converts organic or fossil
based carbonaceous material into gaseous fuel through partial oxidation. Of the various
renewable energy sources available, biomass appears to offer a promising solution to tackle the
ever increasing energy demand and biomass energy ensures the sustainability of energy supply in
the long term by reducing the impact on the environment. Consequently, producing hydrogen
from biomass not only offers a zero net carbon emission but also generates electricity and heat
which is clean. Biomass gasification is considered as one of the potential alternatives for the
production of hydrogen, a clean energy.
CHAPTER - 1: INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives introduction to the subject. Significance of biomass gasification has been
discussed in this chapter. Advantages of biomass gasification from environmental aspect have
been stated. Different types of gasifiers which are widely used have been mentioned with the
focus on fluidized bed gasifier. Advantages of fluidized bed gasifier are also discussed in this
chapter. Importance of computational fluid dynamics for gasification is also stated here. Finally
overview of the project thesis has been given in this chapter.
CHAPTER - 2: LITERATURE SURVEY
This chapter starts with a very brief introduction to fluidized bed biomass gasifier for energy
production. Gasification process has been explained with emphasis on gasifying medium,
gasifier zones and different reactions taking place within the gasifier. Mechanism of gasification
has also been explained here in this chapter. Research works of different researchers [1-4] are
reviewed and summary of some of these research works which are relevant to the fluidized bed
biomass gasification are also mentioned in this chapter.
In the field of fluidization, in particular, the use of CFD has pushed the frontier of fundamental
understanding of fluidsolid interactions and has enabled the correct theoretical prediction of
various macroscopic phenomena encountered in fluidized beds. The EulerianEulerian models
are more appropriate for fluidized beds for which this is selected in the present work. A
computational study for the flow behavior of a lab-scale fluidized bed gasifier is also carried out.
Some experimental studies with CFD simulation reported in literature [6-13] have mostly
focused on the effect of temperature for biomass gasification.
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CHAPTER-3: MATERIALS AND METHODS

Different types of commonly available biomass samples are collected from the local area. These
samples are required to be characterized and pretreated before gasification process to estimate
the amount of energy available in the biomass sample. Proximate and ultimate analysis for the
biomass sample is most important steps to know the percentage of basic elements present in the
samples. Feed materials (Biomass samples viz. Saw dust, Rice husk, Rice straw, Wood chips,
Sugarcane Bagasse, Coconut Coir) and bed material viz. Sand, Dolomite and Red Mud are used
in the fluidized bed gasifier for gasification experiments. The physical properties, ultimate
analysis and proximate analysis of the selected samples are shown in Table 1-3.
Table - 1 Physical Properties of Biomass and bed material
Property
Sand
Dolomite
Redmud
Rice husk
Rice straw
Saw dust
Wood chips
Coconut coir
Sugarcane bagasse

Mean particle(mm)
(size(mm)
0.38 (mm)
0.55
0.22
0.53
5.00
0.81
5.00
10.00
10.00

Apparent density (kg/m3)

2650
2800
1290
426
153
244
481
352
120

Table-2 Ultimate Analysis of selected biomass samples

Biomass
Carbon (%) Hydrogen (%) Nitrogen (%)
Rice
husk
38.45
4.96
0.82
samples
Rice straw
38.60
4.55
0.47
Saw dust
45.78
5.32
0.16
Wood chips
46.23
5.70
0.22
Sugarcane
44.60
6.20
0.20
Coconut
coir
43.76
5.80
0.40
bagasse
Table - 3 Proximate Analysis of selected biomass samples
Sl. No.
Biomass
Moisture content
Volatile matter
1
Rice
husk
7.34
samples
(%)
(%) 56.37
2
Rice straw
9.38
69.53
3
Saw dust
8.80
87.57
4
Wood chips
8.00
74.34
5
Sugarcane
5.00
73.80
6
Coconut
coir
5.30
76.80
bagasse

Porosity
0.44
0.36
0.42
0.81
0.46
0.70
0.47
0.96
0.62

Sphericity
0.77
0.79
0.72
0.37
0.56
0.45
0.10
0.04
0.01

Sulfur (%)
0.18
0.21
0.07
0.12
0.50
0.22

Oxygen (%)
55.59
56.17
48.65
45.20
46.84
47.12

Ash content (%)

15.83
3.04
1.94
1.80
1.66
0.90

Fixed carbon
20.46
(%)
18.05
16.45
16.80
19.54
17.00

Operating Procedure
Biomass sample is fed continuously by the screw conveyer carefully so that they are uniformly
distributed in the bed. The schematic diagrams of gasification unit is own in Fig.-1. A specied
quantity of hot water is added into steam generator for steam-generation. Afterwards feedstock in
the gasier is ignited to preheat the gasier by LPG till the temp reaches up to 550-6000C. When
temperatures at the neck and outer wall of furnace reach 900 0C, gasifying agents are driven into
the gasier and then the tests start up. The temperatures at 7 different points at different intervals
of test were recorded. Temperature profile is shown in Fig.2. The gas yield is measured by a ow
meter simultaneously. Usually, the steady state is reached after around 15 minutes of startup and
then gas sampling is carried out at an interval of 10 minutes. The gaseous sample collected from
the gasifier is then analyzed by online portable type Biomass Gas Analyzer (ACS MODEL ACE
9000 X CGA GAS ANALYSER). The yields of gasifier are noted down for different operating
conditions.
1 Air blower
2 Motor
3 Screw
Feeder
4 Fluidized
bed
gasifier
5 Continuous
cleaning
system
6 Bubble cap
7 Orifice
meter
8 Valve
Fig.-1 : Schematic diagram of the experimental setup

9 Cyclone
separator

Temperature in 0C

1000.00
Drying Zone

800.00

Pyrolysis Zone

600.00
Oxidation Zone

400.00
Gasification and
Reduction Zone

200.00
0.00
0

10

20

30

Time in min

40

50

60

Fig.-2 : Temperature profile for different zones existing within the gasifier

CHAPTER-4: EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONS AND RESULTS

The calculation of chemical formula is important to determine the stoichiometric amount of air
required for the combustion of the biomass sample [2] . The chemical formulas for these biomass
samples with and without N, S contents are shown in Table - 4. Effects of temperature on syngas
composition on N and S free basis are shown in Fig.-3.
Table 4: Chemical formula of biomass samples
Biomass Samples
Chemical formula of Biomass
With N, S
Without N, S
Rice husk

CH1.55O1.08 N0.02 S0.02

CH1.55O1.08

Rice Straw

CH1.49O1.19N0.011S0.0021

CH1.49O1.19

Saw Dust

CH1.392O0.8 N0.0037S0.00057

CH1.39O0.8

Wood chips

CH1.48O0.74N0.0042S0.001

CH1.48O0.74

Sugarcane bagasse

CH1.667O0.787N0.0038S0.0042

CH1.667O0.787

Coconut coir

CH1.589O0.808N0.0078S0.0019

CH1.589O0.808

Attempt is made to study the effects of different system parameters by correlating the yield of
hydrogen against different system parameters. The developed correlations (Eq.no. 1-6) are
mentioned below [5]. A sample plot is shown in Fig.4 for sugarcane bagasse. The calculated
values of hydrogen yield obtained through these developed correlations are compared against the
experimental values for the respective samples (Table-5). A sample plot for comparison of
experimental and calculated values of hydrogen yield is shown in Fig.-5 Average flow rates of
product gas for different biomass samples and their net heating values (NHV) are measured by
using flowmeter and gas analyser. These observations are listed in Table-6. Carbon conversion

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

H2

Syn Gas composition (vol%)

Syn Gas composition (vol%)

efficiency, thermal conversion efficiency and efficiency of the gasifier [1] are calculated for
different biomass samples and listed in Table 7.

CO2
CH4
CO

4505005506006507007508008509009501000
Temperature ( 0C )

(b) For rice straw

50.00

Syn gas composition(%)

Syn Gas composition

(vol%)

40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
4505005506006507007508008509009501000
Temperature ( 0C )

(c ) For saw dust

30
20
10
0
500 550 Temp
600 650
700 750 800
(deg.C)

60

H2 (vol %)
CO (vol %)
CH4 (vol %)

50
40
30

syn gas

30

syn gas

40

For wood chips

H2 (vol %)
CO (vol %)
CH4 (vol %)

40

H2 (vol %)
CO (vol %)
CH4 (vol %)
CO2 (vol %)

50

H2
CH4
CO2
CO

50

CO
2

4505005506006507007508008509009501000
Temperature ( 0C )

(a) For rice husk

60

H2

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

20

20

10

10

0
0

200

400

Temp. (deg.C)

600

800

1000

200

400

600

(e) For Sugarcane bagasse

(f) For coconut coir
Fig.- 3 : Syn-gas composition against temperature for different biomass samples

800

1000

Table- 5: Comparison of calculated values of hydrogen yield against the experimental values
Biomass Sample
Standard deviation % Mean deviation %
Rice husk
5.835094
-0.17504
Rice straw
0.167728
0.00845
Saw dust
6.670789
-0.13191
Wood chips
13.70658
-0.82464
Sugarcane bagasse
8.980832
-0.38822
Coconut coir
7.702166
0.301014
For sugarcane bagasse

H 2 yield

0.07

0.42 S
E.R.0.39 M
1.4906 T

0.198

(1)

(a) For coconut coir

H 2 yield

0.23

0.3835 S
E.R.0.15 M
2.9494 T

B

0.31

(2)

(b) For rice husk :

H 2 yield

0.1153

0.545 S
E.R.0.09 M 0.1782
1.3989 T

B

(3)

(d) For wood chips

H 2 yield

0.035

0.76 S
E.R.0.222 M
0.3427 T
B

0.103

(4)

(e) For rice straw

H 2 yield

0.239

1.108 S
E.R.0.197 M
0.0359 T

B

0.172

(5)

(f) For saw dust

H 2 yield

0.211

1.237 S
E.R.0.2662 M
0.0179 T

B

0.1887

(6)

Table-6: Heating values and flow rates of product gas

Sl. No.
Biomass sample
HHV,
Avg. gas production
MJ/kg
rate, m3/kg
1
Rice husk
16.2
1.30
2
Rice straw
16.78
1.28
3
Saw dust
16.2
1.12
4
Wood chips
15.6
1.15
5
Sugarcane bagasse
20
1.4
6
Coconut coir
19
1.45

NHV, Kcal/m3
2365
2340
2586
2462
2650
2317

43

Experimental H2-Yield, %

41

y = 1.4906x1.378

39
37
35
33
31
29
27
25
8

8.5

9.5
T0.309

(ER)-0.284

10
(S/B)0.05(Rho

10.5
m

11

11.5

)-0.144

Fig.-4: Correlation plot for Hydrogen yield against the system parameters [5]
43

Calculated Values
experimental Values

H2-Yield_Calculated

41
39
37
35
33
31
29
27
25
25

30

35
H2-Yield_Experimental

40

45

Fig. - 5: Comparison between experimental and calculated values of Hydrogen yield

Table-7: Efficiency of the gasifier with different types of biomass samples

Sl.
Biomass sample
Carbon
Thermal
Gasifier
No.
conversion
conversion
efficiency, %
efficiency, %
efficiency, %
1
Rice husk
93.36
79.71
79.50
2
Rice straw
96.88
74.97
76.51
3
Saw dust
77.96
75.09
77.96
4
Wood chips
71.24
76.22
78.02
5
Sugarcane
86.41
77.91
75.22
6
Coconut
coir
71.01
74.26
74.66
bagasse

Deviation,
%
-0.264
2.013
3.681
2.307
-3.576
0.536

The amount of hydrogen produced, carbon conversion efficiency and cold gas efficiency, amount
of flue gas produced and net energy produced by gasification of different biomass samples are
listed in the Table-8.
Table-8: Energy content obtained from different biomass samples through gasification
Biomass sample

Hydrogen
produced,
kg/kg of fuel

Carbon
Conversion
efficiency,%

Cold gas Fluegas produced, Net Energy

Efficiency, m3/hr for 10kg/hr Produced in
%
feed rate
kWhr

Rice husk
Rice straw
Saw dust
Wood chips
Sugarcane bagasse
Coconut coir

0.073874
0.060610
0.063914
0.058675
0.056000
0.056682

93.13
95.00
77.76
70.42
89.34
82.30

82.08
83.05
88.32
85.80
80.65
75.68

11
10
11
10
10
10

5. 37
4.32
5.08
4.25
3.96
4.13

CHAPTER-5: CFD SIMULATION

CFD simulation has been carried out for the selected biomass samples with ANSYS FLUENT 15 for bed hydrodynamics and bed pressure drop along with the temperature distribution within
the Fluidized Bed Gasifier. Both 2D and 3D simulations are studied. Sample plots are shown for
one sample.

(a) Hydrodynamics with respect to volume fraction

Fig.6.1- contour plot of volume fraction against time for saw dust at air velocity of 0.9m/s for
initial static bed height of 0.1m.
The above figure shows the contours of volume fractions of saw dust obtained at air velocity of
0.9m/s for initial static bed height 0.1m in 2-D fluidized bed after the quasi steady state is
achieved. The contour for air illustrates that volume fraction of the gas is less in fluidized section
than the solid particles.

Fig.6.2- contour plot of volume fraction against time for saw dust at air velocity of 0.9m/s for
initial static bed height of 0.1m.

Fig.6.3- contour plot of volume fraction against time for Saw dust at air velocity of 0.9m/s for
initial static bed height of 0.1m at 3 D modelling.

10

(b) Bed pressure drop

The axial pressure drop in a fluidized bed varies from higher value at the bottom of the bed to
zero value at the top of the column. The bed pressure drop can be determined from the difference
of pressure at the inlet and outlet. Fig.2.2 shows the contours of static gauge pressure. It is
evident from the figure that the pressure is higher in the inlet and gradually decreases and
became zero at the outlet.

Fig.7.1: 2D contour of bed pressure drop against air velocity for the fluidized bed for coconutcoir.

Fig.7.2: contour of bed pressure drop against air velocity for the fluidized bed for 3D Modelling.

Fig.7.3: Graph of bed pressure drop against position for the fluidized bed for coconut-coir.

11

(c) Thermal Flow Behavior

Fig.8.1 2D-Temperature profile at different time intervals inside the fluidized bed at temperature1273 K for coconut-coir at air velocity 0.9m/s.

Fig.8.2 -Temperature profile at different time intervals inside the fluidized bed at temperature1273 K for air at air velocity 0.9m/s 3D Modelling.

Fig.8.3 Graph of Temperature profile at different position inside the fluidized bed at
temperature- 1273 K for Coconut co

12

CHAPTER-6: CONCLUSION
From the calculations it is seen that net energy produced per hour for rice husk and saw dust are
slightly more than other biomass samples. However all these biomass samples can be utilized to
meet the energy demand. In general 20% of stoichiometric air is required for gasification which
gives around 75% gasification of efficiency. The increase in stoichiometric air percentage
increases the percentage of efficiency. Varying the types of wood also affects the percentage of
efficiency. Therefore by varying the percentage of stoichiometric air and wood the performance
of gasifier can be studied and thus the gasification efficiency can be optimized. For rice straw,
wood chips and coconut coir the calculated energy is found to be more than 4kW Biomass
gasification offers the most attractive alternative energy system. Biomass gasification offers the
most attractive alternative energy system. CFD simulations are also found to validate the gasifier
design and experimental data implying that the present gasification unit can be scaled up to the
industrial scale using simulation results only.

NOMENCLATURE
T=Temperature (0 K)
S/B = Steam to Biomass Ratio.
E.R. = Equivalence Ratio.

M = Density of Bed Materials (Kg/m 3)

REFERENCES
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(2009).
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gasification of sugarcane bagasse Energy 90 (2015) 1420-1425.
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7. Fletcher, D. F., Haynes, B. S., Christo, F. C., Joseph, S. D., A CFD based combustion
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Publications
1. Abanti Sahoo and Deo Karan Ram. Gasifier performance and energy analysis for
fluidized bed gasification of sugarcane bagasse Energy 90 (2015) 1420-1425.
2. Ram, D.K.-The Determination of Minimum Bubbling Velocity, Minimum Fluidization
Velocity and Fluidization Index of Fine Powders (Hematite) using Gas-Solid Tapered
Beds International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), India Online ISSN: 23197064. Volume 2 Issue 2, February 2013, page -287- 293.
3. Abanti Sahoo and Deo Karan Ram Coconut Coir Gasification in A Fluidized Bed
Gasifier: Energy Analysis. Communicated to Renewable Energy Journal, Ms. Ref.
No.: RENE-D-15-02168, Communicated, Under Review.

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