Gasification of Agroresidues for Syngas Production

Abstract

Biomass residues from agriculture and agroindustry are suitable sources for the production of energy because they don't compete with the food chain and they are produced cheaply. Their transformation into heat and power or energy vectors depends on morphology and composition. Shells of almonds and hazelnuts can be easily gasified in fixed beds because of their low fines content and high gas permeation. In this work we investigated the overall process performances and syngas composition, especially the H 2 /CO ratio, by changing the air and steam supply. The tests were carried out in a pilot updraft gasifier having a capacity of treating up to 20-30 kg/h of biomass. Experimental data were worked out by surface response analysis as function of the equivalence ratios (ER) in relation to the complete combustion and water reaction. By using only air at ER(O 2) 0.24 the ratio H 2 /CO in the syngas was 0.33 while adding steam at ER(H 2 O) 0.28 the ratio reached a value of 1.0. The energy conversion efficiency from solid to gas and oils reached maximum values of 76% and 28%, respectively. As anticipated by TGA, hazelnut shells produced less organic volatiles and gas efficiency was generally higher than for almond shells.

Optimization of Maleinized Linseed Oil Loading as a Biobased Compatibilizer in Poly(Butylene Succinate) Composites with Almond Shell Flour

“…This industry generates a huge amount of waste, mainly shells. Although the use of almond shell waste to remove contaminants by adsorption has been reported [ 15 , 16 , 17 ], and they can be a biomass source for energy and fuels [ 18 , 19 , 20 ], one of the most attractive uses of almond shells is in the form of powder or flour (ASF), to be used in combination with several polymer matrices to give wood-like composite materials. Some investigations have focused on the partially biodegradable composites of poly(propylene) (PP) with almond shell flour [ 21 , 22 ], and fully biodegradable composites with poly(lactic acid) (PLA) matrices [ 23 ].…”

BioEnergy and BioChemicals Production from Biomass and Residual Resources

“…The twenty-one published papers cover a variety of biomass or waste residuals that have been converted into different types of energy, biofuels or biochemicals including heat [1,11,16], methane [2,4,[7][8][9]17,[19][20][21], electricity [2,11,16], short chain fatty acids [2,19], ethanol [3,12,19], syngas [5,19], nutrient pellets [6], hydroxymethylfurfura [15], and hydrogen [2,10,14,18,19]. The key information including biomass or residuals, products, and technology for the production and type of research are summarized in Table 1.…”

“…Biomass residues from agriculture and agroindustry with less water content are ideal sources of syngas. Cerone and Zimbardi [5] investigated the effect of air and steam supply on the overall process performance and syngas composition in a pilot updraft gasifier. Nagy et al [6] conducted an economic analysis of a process that utilized digestate and waste heat from a biogas plant as the raw materials to produce a pellet.…”

BioEnergy and BioChemicals Production from Biomass and Residual Resources

“…Biomass residues from agriculture and agroindustry with less water content are ideal sources of syngas. Cerone and Zimbardi [5] investigated the effect of air and steam supply on the overall process performance and syngas composition in a pilot updraft gasifier.…”