Investigating the Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass in a Downdraft Gasifier With a Volatile Break-Up Approach

Kumar, U., Salem, A. M. and Paul, M. C. (2017) Investigating the Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass in a Downdraft Gasifier With a Volatile Break-Up Approach. In: 9th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2017), Cardiff, UK, 21-24 Aug 2017, pp. 822-828. (doi: 10.1016/j.egypro.2017.12.132)

Abstract

An affordable, reliable and clean energy supply is the major challenge facing by the modern world. Biomass energy is playing a promising role to that, but gasification technology able to convert biomass efficiently to valuable gases for power and heat generation is a vital need. The aim of this study is to develop a robust computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to better understand the gasification thermochemical processes of a selected biomass (rubber wood) in a 20 kW downdraft gasifier, which includes all the four zones, drying, pyrolysis, oxidation and reduction. A step-by-step approach is proposed to evaluate the composition of different species as a result of volatile break-up during gasification. Effect of the equivalence ratio on the synthesis gas composition is studied with results validated against a kinetic model.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Additional Information: Conference paper published in Energy Proceida 142: 822-828.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Kumar, Dr Umesh and Paul, Professor Manosh and Salem, Ahmed Morsy Mostafa
• Authors: Kumar, U., Salem, A. M., and Paul, M. C.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering; College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• ISSN: 1876-6102
• Published Online: 31 January 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Energy Procedia 142: 822-828
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License