Gasification of Natural and Waste Biomass in a Pilot Scale Fluidized Bed Reactor

Abstract

Three commercially available biomass fuels, made of natural and waste wood, were fed in a pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed gasifier having an internal diameter of 0.381 m and a maximum feeding capacity of 100 kg/h. The experimental runs were carried out at about 850°C and under values of the equivalence ratio between 0.20 and 0.30. The fluidized bed was generally made of natural olivine even though some runs utilized beds of dolomite or quartz sand. Measurements taken during each run include the gas composition, the content of tar in the syngas, the mass flow rate and composition of entrained fines collected at the cyclone and the characterization of bed material. The results indicate that the air gasification process is technically feasible with all the biomass tested. The olivine as tar removal bed catalyst provides for different results with waste and natural biomass fuels.

Keywords:

• Biomass
• Fluidized bed
• Gasification
• Tar
• Waste

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are indebted to CONAI, the Italian National Consortium for Packaging, which financially supported a 3-year research program focused on fluidized bed gasification of several alternative fuels. The biomass fuels were provided by RILEGNO, the Italian Consortium for Wood Packaging Recycle. The authors are also indebted to PhD students Maria Mallardo and Donato Santoro, who performed the off-line analyses of the reported runs.

Notes

Note. Cellulose data are as obtained by the value of acid detergent fiber (ADF) less that of acid detergent lignin (ADL). Hemicellulose data are as obtained by the value of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) less that of ADF. Lignin data are as obtained by the value of ADL.