Gasification

Motivation:
Climate change phenomenon or the global temperature rise caused by the
emissions of CO2, NOx, and SOx pose a serious threat to mankind and the
other species. According to the international energy outlook (www.eia.gov),
world energy related CO2 emissions will increase from 30.2 (in 2008) to 43.2
billion metric tons in 2035. Since greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from
burning fossil fuels for power generation is a major contributor to climate
change, a switch from conventional to renewable power resources.

Biomass:
It is a general term for material derived from growing plants or from animal
manure (which is effectively a processed form of plant material). Biomass
energy is derived from the plant sources, such as wood from natural forests,
waste from agricultural and forestry processes and industrial, human or animal
wastes. It is a natural process that the entire biomass ultimately decomposes
to its molecules with the release of heat. So the energy obtained from biomass
is a form of renewable energy and it does not add carbon dioxide to the
environment in contrast to the fossil fuels.

Biomass conversion Technologies:-

In nature, biomass is not concentrated, and so, the use of naturally occurring
biomass requires transportation, which increases the cost and reduces the net
energy production. Biomass has a low bulk density, which makes
transportation and handling more difficult and costly. Apart from
transportation, incomplete combustion of biomass generates a concern among
the environmentalists, as it may produce organic particulate matter, carbon
monoxide and other organic gases. If high temperature combustion is used,
oxides of nitrogen would be produced.

The conversion technologies for utilizing biomass can be separated into three
basic categories: direct combustion processes, thermochemical processes and
biochemical processes. Direct combustion deals mainly with primary fuels, e.g.,
the form in which it is available in nature or after some form of processing. In
the other two processes the primary fuel is converted into a secondary fuel
(solid, gas and/or liquid form) by processes such as pyrolysis, gasification,
carbonization, digestion, fermentation, etc. The secondary fuels obtained from
the conversion process can be used directly for various end-use activities for
further processing.

Direct combustion is used to convert biomass into a useful energy. The heat
and/or steam produced during this process are/is used to provide process heat
for domestic cooking and industrial processes or to generate electricity. The
main disadvantage of this process is the incomplete and inconsistent
combustion of solid fuel. Direct combustion of biomass materials usually
results in smoke and ash pollution unless special filtering equipment is used.
Biochemical processes make use of the biochemistry of the raw materials, and
the action of microbial organisms, to produce gaseous and liquid fuels like
biogas, ethanol and methanol.

Thermochemical conversion processes can be subdivided into gasification,

pyrolysis, and direct liquefaction. Gasification is a process of conversion of
solid carbonaceous fuel into combustible gas by partial combustion. The
resulting gas, known as producer gas, is a mixture of carbon monoxide,
hydrogen, methane, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. The producer gas is more
versatile than the original solid biomass. It is burnt to produce process heat
and steam or used in gas turbines to produce electricity. In the pyrolysis
process, biomass gets decomposed by heat in the absence of oxygen, which
results in the production of various organic gaseous products, charcoal
(Lightweight black carbon residue produced by pyrolysis) and tar. The study of
pyrolysis is attracting researchers, as it is not only an independent process, but
also a first step in the gasification or the combustion process. We mainly focus
on gasification route.
Biomass Gasification:-
Gasification is a process that takes carbonaceous materials as its feed, such as
coal, petroleum, or biomass, and converts into carbon monoxide and
hydrogen. The raw material reacts with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or
steam at high temperatures. It is also a very efficient method for extracting
energy from many different types of organic materials.

There are mainly two techniques available for gasification of biomass, viz.,
fixed bed mode and fluidized bed mode. The three main configurations of fixed
bed gasifiers include Updraft, Downdraft, and Cross draft mode of operations
available. We will discuss each configuration in details later.

Fig 1.1 Schematic diagram of gasifier

It may be divided into four distinct zones:

(1) Drying/Preheating zone

(2) Pyrolysis/Devolatilization zone

(3) Combustion zone and

(4) Reduction/Gasification zone.

The description of these four zones is given in the subsequent sections.

1) Drying:-
The first zone in which the feed comes in contact in biomass gasifier is the
drying zone. Basically drying is a mass transfer operation resulting in the
removal of water moisture by evaporation from a solid or semi-solid. To
achieve this, there must be a source of heat, and a sink of the vapour thus
produced. This process should ideally take place at a temperature of around
160ºC using waste heat from the conversion process. In the drying zone, feed
descend into the gasifier and moisture is removed using the heat generated in
the zones below by evaporation. The water vapour flows downward in the
gasifier. Part of it may be reduced to hydrogen in the reduction zone and the
rest will end up as moisture in the gas. The rate of drying depends on the
surface area of the fuel, the temperature difference between the feed and the
hot gases, the re-circulation velocity, relative humidity of these gases, and the
internal diffusivity of moisture within the fuel. In this zone, no chemical
reaction takes place and only the water removal is carried out.

2) Pyrolysis:-
The pyrolysis of biomass is a promising route for the production of solid
(charcoal), liquid (tar and other organics such as acetic acid, acetone and
methanol) and gaseous products (H2, CO2, CO). These products are of interest
as they are possible alternate sources of energy. Pyrolysis is a process by which
a biomass feedstock is thermally degraded in the absence of oxygen/air. The
basic phenomena that take place during pyrolysis are:
 (1) Heat transfer from a heat source, leading to an increase in temperature
inside the fuel;

(2) Initiation of pyrolysis reactions due to this increased temperature, leading

to the release of volatiles and the formation of char;

(3) outflow of volatiles, resulting in heat transfer between the hot volatiles and
cooler unpyrolysed fuel;

(4) Condensation of some of the volatiles in the cooler parts of the fuel to
produce tar;

(5) Autocatalytic secondary pyrolysis reactions due to these interactions.