Operation and modelling of an updraft long-stick wood gasifier

Autor: R. Kasturi Bai, T.M. Haridasan, A. Saravanakumar, Thomas B. Reed
Rok vydání: 2005
Předmět:
Zdroj: Energy for Sustainable Development. 9:25-39
ISSN: 0973-0826
DOI: 10.1016/s0973-0826(08)60497-4
Popis: Even though biomass gasification technology has come up in the past with impressive applications, the exact details of the gasification process are yet to be completely understood quantitatively. On the basis of the experience of gasifier users with regard to the efforts and energy needed for wood chip preparation in a typical gasifier, we have embarked on the development of a gasifier suitable to work with long-stick woody biomass as the feed material to avoid major fuel preparation problems in rural settings. With this concept, a 25m 3 /hr capacity updraft gasifier was designed and constructed. Since the interest here is in exploring and validating this concept, an updraft gasifier was designed. This gasifier attains a high-energy release rate per unit area due to high inlet air velocity and activated reaction in the combustion zone. The temperature ranged from 922o C in the combustion zone to 128o C in the drying zone. In all the zones, the heat balance equations show a good fit between the theoretical and experimental values. The gasifier was operated in a batch mode, both bottom-lit (conventional) and top-lit, and the air flow and gas outflow were measured. The temperature of the raw gas was measured. The gas and air flows can be converted to the air/fuel ratio (A/F), the most important aspect of gasifier operation. A/F shows operation in a combustion mode at start-up, a gasification mode for the middle part of the run and a charcoal gasification mode at the end of the run. For modelling, the gasifier was divided into a drying zone, a pyrolysis zone, a combustion zone and a reduction zone.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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