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4
crops characterized by high rates of carbon assimilation. Sims [3] comments that
the greatest potential source of biomass fuels in New Zealand comes from energy plantations of a
species known as Pinus Radiata.
Most of the biomass materials are found in the developing countries in Africa and Asia whose
main sources of revenue are agriculture, timber logging, animal rearing etc., where biomass is the
main byproduct. The rst impression is that biomass energy would be the most viable form of
energy in the developing countries. However, in recent years, the developed countries in Europe in
particular have promoted the importance of biomass energy [48]. Hence, biomass energy is not
only essential in the developing countries but has also aroused great interest in Europe. Sweden
has continued to invest in the biomass energy program as a renewable energy source [9]. The
diculties faced during the Second World War have always been a constant reminder to the
Swedes and should be for most countries in the world whose prime dependence is on imported
fossil fuel.
Utilization of biomass is a very important source of energy in many parts of the world, es-
pecially for areas remote from a supply of high quality fossil fuels, such as natural gas, liqueed
petroleum gas (LPG) etc. For small installations producing less than 1.5 MW thermal, coal is not
a popular fuel owing to its high sulphur content (typically 0.52%) and the resulting necessity for
expensive removal of SO
2
from the stack. Biomass gasication treats the solid feed material in a
reactor such that virtually all of it is converted into fuel gas with caloric values typically 35 MJ/
m
3
(natural gas is 34 MJ/m
3
) with most of the energy being available from H
2
and CO. After
cleaning, this gas can be used to run small reciprocating engines, boilers, process heaters etc.
Narvaez et al. [10] have studied biomass gasication with air in a small pilot plant in a bubbling
uidized bed, and the eect of several variables on the performance of the gasier has been in-
vestigated. Brookes [11] discussed a gasier for biomass waste and related volatile solids. Delgado
et al. [12] discussed upgrading (cleaning) the raw hot gases from a bubbling uidized bed biomass
gasier using cheap calcined minerals or rocks downstream from the gasier. Goldman et al. [13]
demonstrated the possibility of a two phase counterow concept as a means of providing super
adiabatic conditions, which are expected to enhance weak exothermic reactions and endothermic
gasication reactions in the reforming zone. They have also developed a mathematical model
based on a simplied case with a single source of reaction liberated energy to obtain temperature
proles in the gasication process. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has a major
1500 Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515
goal in the development of cost competitive technologies for the production of power from re-
newable biomass crops. Paisley and Anson [14] discussed the development and commercial
demonstration of the Battelle high through-put gasication process power generating system.
Hughes et al. [15] use a modeling approach to simulate the eect of varying moisture content in
the gasier feed biomass. Jorapur et al. [16] report the commercial scale (1080 MJ/h) development
of a gasication system using low density biomass (sugar cane leaves and bagasse, bajra stalks,
sweet sorghum stalks). Ergudenler et al. [17] validated a mathematical model for uidized bed
gasication of biomass using experimental data from a 400 kW thermal dual distributor type
uidized bed gasier. They also showed that the model predictions improved substantially when
the tar formation is included in the model. The amount of tar formed in a downdraft gasier is
very low, and it is ignored in our mathematical model. Beenackers [18] presents a critical review of
the moving bed biomass gasier system presently commercially available or under development in
the European Union. A spectacular increase in interest in biomass gasication technology is
hosted as catalyzed by the EC JOULE and AIR programs.
In view of the considerable interest in the gasication process world wide, it is necessary to
model and predict the performance of the gasier before the design of a gasier can be under-
taken. In this paper, an equilibrium modeling of the gasication process is performed to predict
the composition of the fuel gas produced and the associated caloric values.
2. Analysis
The equilibrium model assumes that all the reactions are in thermodynamic equilibrium. It is
expected that the pyrolysis product burns and achieves equilibrium in the reduction zone before
leaving the gasier, hence an equilibrium model can be used in the downdraft gasier. The re-
actions are as follows:
C CO
2
= 2CO (1)
C H
2
O = COH
2
(2)
C 2H
2
= CH
4
(3)
Eqs. (1) and (2) can be combined to give the shift reaction
COH
2
O = CO
2
H
2
(4)
The equilibrium constant for methane formation (Eq. (3)) is
K
1
=
P
CH
4
P
H
2
( )
2
(5)
and the equilibrium constant for the shift reaction is
K
2
=
P
CO
2
P
H
2
P
CO
P
H
2
O
: (6)
The typical chemical formula of woody material, based on a single atom of carbon, is
Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515 1501
CH
1:44
O
0:66
The global gasication reaction can be written as follows:
CH
1:44
O
0:66
wH
2
OmO
2
3:76mN
2
= x
1
H
2
x
2
COx
3
CO
2
x
4
H
2
Ox
5
CH
4
3:76mN
2
(7)
where w is the amount of water per kmol of wood, m, the amount of oxygen per kmol of wood, x
1
,
x
2
, x
3
, x
4
and x
5
, the coecients of constituents of the products.
Note:
Let MC = Moisture content per mol of wood
MC =
mass of water
mass of wet biomass
100% =MC =
18w
24 18w
100%:
Therefore,
w =
24MC
18(1 MC)
:
After the moisture content is known, the value of w becomes a constant.
From the global reactions, there are six unknowns x
1
, x
2
, x
3
, x
4
, x
5
and m, representing the ve
unknown species of the product and the oxygen content for the reaction. Therefore, six equations
are required, which are formulated based on the following:
Carbon balance:
1 = x
2
x
3
x
5
: (8)
Hydrogen balance:
2w 1:44 = 2x
1
2x
4
4x
5
=w 0:72 = x
1
x
4
2x
5
: (9)
Oxygen balance:
w 0:66 2m = x
2
2x
3
x
4
: (10)
Equilibrium constant from methane formation (Eq. (5)):
K
1
=
x
5
x
2
1
: (11)
Equilibrium constant from shift reaction (Eq. (6)):
K
2
=
x
1
x
3
x
2
x
4
: (12)
The equation for the heat balance for the gasication process, assumed to be adiabatic, is:
1502 Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515
H
0
f wood
w H
0
f H
2
O(l)
_
H
(vap)
_
mH
0
f O
2
3:76mH
0
f N
2
= x
1
H
0
f H
2
x
2
H
0
f CO
x
3
H
0
f CO
2
x
4
H
0
f H
2
O(vap)
x
5
H
0
f CH
4
DT x
1
C
p
H
2
_
x
2
C
p
CO
x
3
C
p
CO
2
x
4
C
p
H
2
O
x
5
C
p
CH
4
3:76mC
p
N
2
_
: (13)
Since H
0
f H
2
, H
0
f N
2
and H
0
f O
2
are zero at ambient temperature, Eq. (13) reduces to:
H
0
f wood
w H
0
f H
2
O(l)
_
H
(vap)
_
= x
2
H
0
f CO
x
3
H
0
f CO
2
x
4
H
0
f H
2
O(vap)
x
5
H
0
f CH
4
DT x
1
C
p
H
2
_
x
2
C
p
CO
x
3
C
p
CO
2
x
4
C
p
H
2
O
x
5
C
p
CH
4
3:76mC
p
N
2
_
; (14)
where H
0
f wood
, is the heat of formation of wood, H
0
f H
2
O(l)
, the heat of formation of liquid water,
H
(vap)
, the heat of vaporization of water, H
0
f H
2
O(vap)
, the heat of formation of water vapor, H
0
f CO
,
H
0
f CO
2
, H
0
f CH
4
, are heats of formation of the gaseous products, C
p
H
2
, C
p
CO
, C
p
CO
2
, C
p
H
2
O
, C
p
CH
4
, C
p
N
2
,
are specic heats of the gaseous products, DT = T
2
T
1
, T
2
, the gasication temperature at the
reduction zone; T
1
, the ambient temperature at the reduction zone.
Eq. (13) can be simplied to be:
dH
wood
wdH
H
2
O(l)
= x
1
dH
H
2
x
2
dH
CO
x
3
dH
CO
2
x
4
dH
H
2
O(vap)
x
5
dH
CH
4
3:76mdH
N
2
; (15)
where dH
(for any gas)
, is the heat formation enthalpy change
dH
(for any gas)
= H
0
f
DH; DH = DT(C
p(g)
); (16)
dH
H
2
O(l)
= H
0
f H
2
O(l)
H
(vap)
;
dH
wood
= H
0
f wood
:
Eqs. (8)(12) and (15) represent six equations with six unknowns. Two of the Eqs. (11) and (12),
are nonlinear equations while the rest are linear equations. The above system of equations can be
reduced to three sets of equations, one linear and two nonlinear equations.
From Eq. (8),
x
5
= 1 x
2
x
3
: (17)
From Eq. (9),
x
4
= w 0:72 x
1
2x
5
: (18)
Substitution of Eq. (17) into Eq. (18) gives:
x
4
= w 0:72 x
1
2(1 x
2
x
3
) =x
4
= x
1
2x
2
2x
3
w 1:28: (19)
From Eq. (10),
Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515 1503
m = 1=2(x
2
2x
3
x
4
w 0:66): (20)
Substitution of Eq. (18) into Eq. (20) gives:
m = 1=2(x
2
2x
3
x
1
2x
2
2x
3
w 1:28 w 0:66)
=m = 1=2(x
1
3x
2
4x
3
1:94): (21)
From Eq. (11),
x
5
= x
2
1
K
1
: (22)
Substitution of Eq. (17) into Eq. (22) gives:
1 x
2
x
3
= x
2
1
K
1
=x
2
1
K
1
x
2
x
3
1 = 0: (23)
From Eq. (12),
x
1
x
3
= x
2
x
4
K
2
: (24)
Substitution of Eq. (18) into Eq. (24) gives:
x
1
x
3
x
2
(x
1
2x
2
2x
3
w 1:28)K
2
= 0
=K
2
(x
1
x
2
) (w 1:28)K
2
(x
2
) 2K
2
(x
2
)
2
(x
1
x
3
) 2K
2
(x
2
x
3
) = 0: (25)
Substitution of Eqs. (17), (19) and (21) into Eq. (15) gives:
x
1
dH
H
2
x
2
dH
CO
x
3
dH
CO
2
(x
1
2x
2
2x
3
w 1:28) dH
H
2
O(g)
(1 x
2
x
3
) dH
CH
4
3:76
1
2
(x
1
3x
2
4x
3
1:94) dH
N
2
dH
wood
wdH
H
2
O(l)
= 0
=(dH
H
2
dH
H
2
O(g)
1:88dH
N
2
)x
1
(dH
CO
2dH
H
2
O(g)
dH
CH
4
5:64dH
N
2
)x
2
(dH
CO
2
2dH
H
2
O(g)
dH
CH
4
7:52dH
N
2
)x
3
(dH
H
2
O(g)
dH
H
2
O(l)
)w dH
CH
4
1:28dH
H
2
O(g)
3:6472dH
N
2
dH
wood
= 0: (26)
To simplify Eq. (26), the known constants are simplied as follows:
A = dH
H
2
dH
H
2
O(g)
1:88dH
N
2
;
B = dH
CO
2dH
H
2
O(g)
dH
CH
4
5:64dH
N
2
;
C = dH
CO
2
2dH
H
2
O(g)
dH
CH
4
7:52dH
N
2
;
D = dH
H
2
O(g)
dH
H
2
O(l)
;
E = dH
CH
4
1:28dH
H
2
O(g)
3:6472dH
N
2
dH
wood
:
Therefore, Eq. (26) simplies to:
Ax
1
Bx
2
Cx
3
Dw E = 0: (27)
The systems of remaining equations are 3, two nonlinear equations (23) and (25), and one linear
equation (27). The set of equations is solved using the NewtonRaphson method.
The heat of formation equation for the formation of 1 mol of solid biomass wood (CH
1:44
O
0:66
)
from solid carbon, hydrogen and oxygen is:
C
(sol)
0:72H
2
(g)
0:33O
2
(g)
CH
1:44
O
0:66
(28)
1504 Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515
and in reality, the reaction cannot occur. The formation of CH
1:44
O
0:66
is based on the following
reactions:
C O
2
CO
2
DH
c
= 393509
0:72H
2
0:36O
2
0:72H
2
O DH
c
= 0:72(241818)
CO
2
0:72H
2
O CH
1:44
O
0:66
2:06O
2
DH
c
= 449568
C 0:72H
2
0:33O
2
CH
1:44
O
0:66
DH
f
= 118050 kJ=kmol
Therefore, the heat of formation of wood is 118 050 kJ/kmol. Hence, the heat of formation
for any biomass material can be determined if the ultimate analysis and the heating value of the
material are known. The heating value can be determined experimentally by a bomb calorimeter,
and according to Reed and Levie [19], the heat of formation of any biomass material can be
calculated with good accuracy from the following:
DH
c
= HHV (kJ=kmol) = 0:2326(146:58C 56:878H51:53O6:58A29:45); (29)
where C, H, O and A are the mass fractions of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and ash, respectively, in
the dry biomass. The ultimate analyses and the heating values for various biomass materials are
shown in Table 1. The chemical formula of any biomass material can be determined if the ultimate
analysis is known.
At constant pressure, the specic heat can be written as:
C
p
=
oH
oT
_ _
p
(30)
or
dH = C
p
dT (31)
DH =
_
T
2
T
1
C
p
dT; (32)
where H is the enthalpy, T, the temperature.
Eq. (32) can be written as
DH = C
p
mh
(T
2
T
1
); (33)
where C
p
mh
is the average specic heat over the temperature change
C
p
mh
=
_
T
2
T
1
C
p
dT
(T
2
T
1
)
: (34)
Table 1
Ultimate analyses for various biomass materials chosen (dry basis, weight percentage) [20]
Material C H N S O Ash HHV (kJ/kmol)
Wood 50.0 6.0 0.0 0.0 44.0 449 568
Paddy husk 38.5 5.7 0.5 0.0 39.8 15.5 402 133
Paper 43.4 5.8 0.3 0.2 44.3 6.0 454 864
Municipal waste 47.6 6.0 1.2 0.3 32.9 12.0 433 034
Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515 1505
The dependence of specic heat on temperature is given by an empirical equation and the most
simplied version is [20]:
C
p
mh
= R A
_
BT
am
C
3
4T
2
am
_
T
1
T
2
_
D
T
1
T
2
_
; (35)
where T
am
= T
1
T
2
( )=2 is the arithmetic mean temperature and A, B, C and D are the constants
for the properties of the gases concerned (the values of the constants are shown in Table 2) and R
is the universal gas constant (8.314 J/mol K).
For example, take the gasication temperature, T
2
= 750C (1023 K) and the ambient tem-
perature, T
1
= 25C (298 K)
= T
am
= (298 1023)=2 = 660:5 K
Substituting the values of T
2
, T
1
and T
am
in Eq. (35),
= C
p
mh
= R A
_
660:5B 480062C
D
407154
_
: (36)
Substituting the values of A, B, C and D for the gases concerned, the specic heat of the gas can be
obtained as follows:
C
p
H
2
O
= 37:14 kJ=kmol K;
C
p
H
2
= 29:55 kJ=kmol K;
C
p
CO
= 31:04 kJ=kmol K;
C
p
CO
2
= 47:96 kJ=kmol K;
C
p
N
2
= 30:64 kJ=kmol K;
C
p
CH
4
= 55:39 kJ=kmol K:
Therefore, after the gasication process, the temperature of the gas increases from T
1
= 298C
to the gasication temperature T
2
= 1023C. The enthalpy change DH can be obtained using Eq.
(33),
Table 2
Heat capacities (constants A, B, C and D) [20]
Chemical species Formula T
max
A 10
3
B 10
6
C 10
5
D
Methane CH
4
1500 1.702 9.081 2.164
Hydrogen H
2
3000 3.249 0.422 0.083
Carbon monoxide CO 2500 3.376 0.557 0.031
Carbon dioxide CO
2
2000 5.457 1.047 1.157
Nitrogen N
2
2000 3.280 0.593 0.040
Water H
2
O 2000 3.470 1.450 0.121
Carbon C 2000 1.771 0.771 0.867
1506 Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515
DH = C
p
mh
(T
2
T
1
); T
2
T
1
= 1023 298 = 725;
DH
H
2
O
= 26926:5 kJ=kmol;
DH
H
2
= 21413:8 kJ=kmol;
DH
CO
= 22504:0 kJ=kmol;
DH
CO
2
= 34771:0 kJ=kmol;
DH
N
2
= 22214:0 kJ=kmol;
DH
CH
4
= 40157:8 kJ=kmol:
Therefore, the term dH
(of any gas)
in Eq. (16) can be determined from the value of the enthalpy
change DH of the gases.
The equilibrium constant K is a function of temperature only and is written as follows [20]:
RT ln K = DG
0
; (37)
where DG
0
is the standard Gibbs function of formation, and the values for the gases involved are
shown in Table 3 and DH
0
is the heat of formation. The dependence of DG
0
with temperature T
can be written as follows:
d(DG
0
=RT)
dT
=
DH
0
RT
2
(38)
with reference to Eq. (37),
DG
0
RT
= ln K
therefore,
d ln K
dT
=
DH
0
RT
2
: (39)
The above equation gives the eect of temperature on the equilibrium constant. If DH
0
is negative,
that is if the reaction is exothermic, the equilibrium constant will be reduced if the temperature
increases. On the contrary, K increases with T for an endothermic reaction.
Since the heat of formation is a function of T, Eq. (39) can be integrated as follows:
Table 3
Gibbs functions of formation at 298.15 K (kJ/kmol) [20]
Chemical species Formula Phase DG
0
f 298
Water H
2
O g 228 572
Water H
2
O l 237 129
Carbon dioxide CO
2
g 394 359
Carbon monoxide CO g 137 169
Methane CH
4
g 50 460
Hydrogen H
2
g 0
Oxygen O
2
g 0
Nitrogen N
2
g 0
Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515 1507
ln K =
_
DH
0
RT
2
dT I; (40)
where I is the constant of integration. DH
0
is given in the following equation [20]:
DH
0
R
=
J
R
(DA)T
DB
2
T
2
DC
3
T
3
DD
T
; (41)
where J is a constant.
DA, DB, DC, DD are the coecients for determining specic heat. Substitution of Eq. (41) into
Eq. (40) and integrating gives:
ln K =
J
RT
(DA) ln T
DB
2
T
DC
6
T
2
DD
2T
2
I: (42)
From Eq. (37), DG
0
= RT ln K and multiplying Eq. (42) with RT gives:
DG
0
= J RT DA ln T
_
DB
2
T
DC
6
T
2
DD
2T
2
I
_
: (43)
Eqs. (41)(43) will be used to nd the equilibrium constant for any reaction temperature T. For
this purpose, knowledge of the specic heat is sucient to determine the constants J and K. The
constant J can be determined using Eq. (41) at the temperature of 298.15 K where the value DH
0
is
known. Similarly, the constant I is determined using Eq. (42) or Eq. (43) at the temperature at
which the values of ln K or DG
0
are known, normally at 298.15 K.
In this paper, two equilibrium equations are required to determine the equilibrium constants K
1
and K
2
. K
1
is the equilibrium constant for the reaction of Eq. (3) and is solved as follows: DA, DB,
DC and DD can be obtained from the data of heat capacity. For the reaction from Eq. (3),
C 2H
2
= CH
4
D = CH
4
C 2H
2
The equations to determine the values of DA, DB, DC and DD can be written as [20]:
DA = A
CH
4
A
C
2A
H
2
;
DB = B
CH
4
B
C
2B
H
2
;
DC = C
CH
4
C
C
2C
H
2
;
DD = D
CH
4
D
C
2D
H
2
:
Therefore, from the data of heat capacity from Table 2
DA = 1:702 1:771 2(3:249) = 6:567;
DB = (9:081 0:771 2(0:422)) 10
3
= 7:466 10
3
;
DC = (2:164 0 2(0)) 10
6
= 2:164 10
6
;
DD = (0 (0:867) 2(0:0833)) 10
5
= 0:701 10
5
:
Calculation of the constants J and I for Eqs. (41) and (43) at 298.15 K requires the values for
DH
0
298
and DG
0
298
. This data is available from the heat of formation data (Table 4) and the Gibbs
function of formation (Table 3).
1508 Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515
DH
0
298
= DH
0
298
_ _
CH
4
DH
0
298
_ _
C
2 DH
0
298
_ _
H
2
;
DH
0
298
= 74520 0 2(0) = 74520 J=mol;
DG
0
298
= DG
0
298
_ _
CH
4
DG
0
298
_ _
C
2 DG
0
298
_ _
H
2
;
DG
0
298
= 50460 0 0 = 50460:
Substituting the known values into Eq. (40) for T = 298:15 K gives
74520
8:314
=
J
R
(6:657)298:15
7:466 10
3
2
298:15
2
2:164 10
6
3
298:15
3
0:701 10
5
298:15
=
J
R
= 7082:848
=J = 58886:8:
Substituting the known values into Eq. (43) for T = 298:15 K gives
50460 = 58886:8 8:314(298:15)
_
6:567ln 298:15
7:466 10
3
2
298:15
2:164 10
6
6
298:15
2
0:701 10
5
2(298:15)
2
I
_
=I = 32:541:
Therefore, the general equation for ln K
1
(using Eq. (42)) is:
ln K
1
=
7082:848
T
(6:567) ln T
7:466 10
3
2
T
2:164 10
6
6
T
2
0:701 10
5
2(T)
2
32:541: (44)
Table 4
Heats of formation at 25C (kJ/kmol) [20]
Chemical species Formula Phase DH
0
298
(kJ/kmol)
Water H
2
O g 241 818
Water H
2
O l 285 830
Carbon dioxide CO
2
g 393 509
Carbon monoxide CO g 110 525
Methane CH
4
g 74 520
Hydrogen H
2
g 0
Oxygen O
2
g 0
Nitrogen N
2
g 0
Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515 1509
The equilibrium constant K
1
for any temperature T can be obtained by substituting the tem-
perature T into Eq. (44). A similar procedure is used to determine the equilibrium constant K
2
for
the reaction of Eq. (6), that is
COH
2
O = CO
2
H
2
After going through the calculation steps, the general equation ln K
2
is obtained as follows:
ln K
2
=
5870:53
T
1:86 ln T 2:7 10
4
T
58200
T
2
18:007: (45)
Similarly, the equilibrium constant K
2
for any temperature T can be obtained by substituting the
temperature T into Eq. (45).
3. Results and discussion
The equilibrium model described above is used for the gasication of wood chips. Typical
results obtained are presented in Figs. 16 and Table 5. Table 6 shows the iteration and the
corresponding composition of the producer gas.
Fig. 1 shows the eect of moisture content in the wood chips on the composition of the pro-
ducer gas when the bed is working at 800C. It can be observed from the gure that the com-
position of the inert nitrogen is almost constant with moisture content, as expected. The
composition of the methane produced is almost constant at a very low percentage (0.71.6%). The
percentage of hydrogen in the fuel gas increases continuously with the moisture content from
about 20% to 25% for an increase in moisture content from 0% to 40%. A similar trend is also
observed for the carbon dioxide, however, the increase is from about 5% to 15%. It is interesting
to note that the percentage of carbon monoxide reduces from about 28% to 15% for the same
variation of moisture content. This is also expected in view of the increase in the percentage of
carbon dioxide with moisture content.
Fig. 1. Eect of moisture content in the wood chips on gas composition at 800C.
1510 Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515
Fig. 2 shows the composition of hydrogen plotted against the moisture content for various raw
materials, like paper, wood, municipal waste and paddy husk. It is surprising to nd that the
percentage of hydrogen in the fuel gas increases almost linearly with moisture content. At any
given moisture content, the composition of hydrogen in the fuel gas is highest for paper and
minimum for paddy husk with wood and municipal waste lying between these two compositions.
It is not surprising that the hydrogen in the fuel gas produced by the raw material paper is
maximum as it contains only carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
Fig. 3 shows the variation of carbon monoxide in the producer gas as a function of the raw
materials moisture content. We observe a reduction in the percentage of carbon monoxide with
moisture content for all the raw materials. At any given moisture content, the percentage of
carbon monoxide is highest for wood and minimum for paddy husk. The reduction in the per-
centage of carbon monoxide with moisture content is almost linear.
Fig. 2. Concentration of H
2
against moisture content at 800C for dierent biomass materials.
Fig. 3. Concentration of CO against moisture content at 800C for dierent types of biomass material.
Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515 1511
Fig. 4 shows the percentage variation of methane with moisture content. It is seen from the
gure that the highest percentage of methane is associated with paper followed by wood, mu-
nicipal waste and paddy husk. The variations of methane percentage in all the raw materials
increase linearly with increase in moisture content. However, it is to be noted that the methane
content in the producer gas is very small compared to those of hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
Fig. 5 shows the variation of caloric values for several raw materials against moisture content.
This is expected in view of the greater reduction in carbon monoxide content compared to the
increase in the hydrogen content as moisture content increases, as shown in Fig. 1. It is seen that
the caloric values decrease with increase in moisture content. Paper and wood have the highest
caloric values and paddy husk the minimum with municipal waste lying between.
Fig. 4. Concentration of CH
4
against moisture content at 800C for dierent biomass materials.
Fig. 5. Caloric value against moisture content at 800C for dierent biomass materials.
1512 Z.A. Zainal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 14991515
Fig. 6. Caloric value against temperature for wood at 20% moisture content.
Table 5
Comparison between model and experimental results for wood at 20% moisture content and gasication temperature of
800C
Model Experiment [21]
Hydrogen (%) 21.06 15.23
Carbon monoxide (%) 19.61 23.04
Methane (%) 0.64 1.58
Carbon dioxide (%) 12.01 16.42
Nitrogen (%) 46.68 42.31
Oxygen (%) 0 1.42
Caloric value (MJ/m
3
) 4.72 4.85
Table 6
Iteration results
k x
(k)
1
x
(k)
2
x
(k)
3
|x
(k)
x
(k1)
|