Gasification of Fuel Cane Bagasse in a Downdraft Gasifier: Influence of Lignocellulosic Composition and Fuel Particle Size on Syngas Composition and Yield

Abstract

Gasification of fuel cane bagasse briquettes and pellets was carried out in a novel 50 kWe downdraft autothermal gasifier to evaluate the most suitable densified form for use in downdraft gasifiers. The results showed that the calorific value of the syngas produced from the briquettes was low, ranging from 1.95 to 3.12 MJ/m3 n, and ballooning of the briquettes accompanied by bridging of the fuel repeatedly occurred in the pyrolysis and throat zones. In contrast, gasification of pelletized bagasse under similar operating conditions produced syngas ranging in calorific value from 4.90 to 5.94 MJ/m3 n, the syngas yield increased by 65%, and bridging was non-existent. Investigation of the lignocellulose composition of the bagasse found that this high-fiber cane has a high lignin/cellulose ratio with a typical lignin content of 33 ± 4%. Scanning electron microscopy studies of the partially pyrolyzed and expanded briquettes showed that extensive porous structures had developed during pyrolysis. Because cellulose devolatilizes at a faster rate than lignin, this suggested that, during pyrolysis, the rapid production of volatile gases within the briquettes resulted in ballooning and cracking of these structures. This increase in volume coupled with the reduced mass of the briquette resulted in reduced bulk density, which restricted the capacity of the fuel bed to flow under gravity and ultimately led to bridging in the reactor, poor syngas composition, and low yield.

Gasification of Rice Husk in a Downdraft Gasifier: The Effect of Equivalence Ratio on the Gasification Performance, Properties, and Utilization Analysis of Byproducts of Char and Tar

“…Additionally, bridging or channeling was observed during the experimental process because of the poly-disperse nature of RH, which would make the bed unstable. Akay and Jordan (2011) claimed that this would significantly affect the quality of producer gas. Therefore, in this study, a long rod was used to stir the bed constantly for eliminating bridging and improving the quality of producer gas.…”

Process intensification in gas-to-liquid reactions: plasma promoted Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for hydrocarbons at low temperatures and ambient pressure

“…Due to the unavailability of a suitable technology that does not have the burden of economies of scale, large quantities of oil-field gases are flared causing environmental damage without any benefit. Furthermore, unlike oil and gas technologies, renewable energy production from biomass and biomass waste require small-scaledistributed production facilities in compliance with the distributed nature of the feedstock availability [37][38][39][40].…”

Sugarcane bagasse as raw material to Syngas production

“…The characterization of the residue: ultimate analysis, high and low heating values, proximate analysis and bulk density; was taken from the literature (Akay and Jordan, 2011), who made an experimental study of the bubbling fluidized bed gasifier of bagasse, work that enabled us to compare our results with those obtained by simulation of them were experimental. Geometric parameters and operating conditions for the gasifier were based on work of Chang et al, (2011) and Nguyen et al, (2012).…”