Biomass for dual-fuel syngas diesel power plants. Part I: The effect of preheating on characteristics of the syngas gasification of municipal solid waste and wood pellets

Abstract

Indonesia has the potential to develop biomass, such as MSW and wood pellets, as a source of energy. Syngas from biomass gasification can be used as fuel for dual-fuel diesel engines in order to transition energy. We investigated the gasification of MSW and wood pellets using a downdraft reactor with a capacity of 130–144 kg in order to determine the properties of the produced syngas for use in dual-fuel syngas diesel engines. Four days are dedicated to the process of preheating biomass with sunlight. The experiment was designed with an equivalent ratio of 0.22 and an oxidation zone temperature between 700 and 900 degrees Celsius. According to the experimental results, the average lower heating value of syngas produced by the air gasification of MSW biomass was 5.85 MJ/Nm³, the cold gas efficiency was 56.6%, and the carbon conversion efficiency was 94.77%. The average lower heating value from wood pellet biomass air gasification was 5.95 MJ/Nm³, the cold gas efficiency was 67.7%, and the carbon conversion efficiency was 94.28%. Solar heating of biomass has been shown to increase the calorific value of biomass gasification to syngas.

Keywords:

• Biomass gasification
• carbon conversion efficiency
• cold gas efficiency
• MSW
• sunlight heated
• wood pellets

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to the Director General of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Culture, the LL3 Coordinator of the Ministry of Education and Culture, and Institut Teknologi PLN for the trust given so that this research was conducted properly.

Author contributions

All authors contributed substantially to the manuscript. Conceptualization, P.S. and H.H; methodology, P.S and R.N.; data curation, P.S, H.H., and M.R.; writing—original draft preparation, P.S. and H.H; writing—review and editing, P.S., R.N., and H.H.; software, P.S.; validation, P.S., H.H, and M.R.; formal analysis, P.S., R.N., and H.H.; supervision, R.N. and M.R. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Data availability statement

Data are not publicly available; the data may be made available upon request from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Institut Teknologi PLN and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) in the 2022 fiscal year with the PDUPT scheme (parent contract number: 155/ES/PG.02.00/PT/2022 and derivative contract No: 385/LL3/Ak.04/2022).