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Performance of a Pilot Scale Biomass Gasification and Producer

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Performance of a Pilot Scale Biomass Gasification and Producer Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2010 Performance of a pilot scale biomass gasification and producer gas combustion system using feedstock with controlled nitrogen content Sharan Sethuraman Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the Mechanical Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Sethuraman, Sharan, "Performance of a pilot scale biomass gasification and producer gas combustion system using feedstock with controlled nitrogen content" (2010). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 11725. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/11725 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Performance of a pilot scale biomass gasification and producer gas combustion system using feedstock with controlled nitrogen content by Sharan Sethuraman A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Major: Mechanical Engineering Program of Study Committee: Song-Charng Kong, Major Professor Terrence Meyer Gap Yong Kim Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2010 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ......................................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................viii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Motivation ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Objective ..................................................................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 4 2.2 Gasification process .................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Coal gasification .......................................................................................................................... 6 2.3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 6 2.3.2 Process ................................................................................................................................. 6 2.3.3 Lurgi slagging gasifier ........................................................................................................... 8 2.4 Biomass Gasification ................................................................................................................... 9 2.4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 9 2.4.2 Types of biomass gasifiers .................................................................................................. 11 2.5 Effect of biomass feedstock on the gas composition................................................................ 13 2.6 Gas clean-up technologies ........................................................................................................ 19 2.7 Fate of nitrogen in biomass feedstock ...................................................................................... 22 2.7.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 22 2.7.2 Fuel NOx chemistry ............................................................................................................ 24 2.7.3 Comparison of thermal NOx and fuel NOx ........................................................................ 26 2.8 Producer gas combustion.......................................................................................................... 29 2.8.1 Differences between syngas and producer gas ................................................................. 29 2.8.2 Status of producer gas combustion research .................................................................... 30 2.8.3 Low BTU Burner ................................................................................................................. 33 CHAPTER 3: METHODS AND PROCEDURES ......................................................................................... 36 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 36 3.2 BECON gasification system ........................................................................................................ 36 iii 3.3 COMBUSTION SYSTEM .............................................................................................................. 40 3.4 Producer gas analysis ................................................................................................................ 43 3.4.1 Micro gas chromatograph (GC) .......................................................................................... 43 3.4.2 International Energy Agency (IEA) tar protocol ................................................................. 44 3.4.3 Moisture analysis ............................................................................................................... 50 3.4.4 Tar and ammonia separation ............................................................................................. 50 3.4.5 Ammonia analysis .............................................................................................................. 53 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................................................................................ 56 4.1 Test matrix ................................................................................................................................ 56 4.2 Producer gas compositions ....................................................................................................... 58 4.3 Emissions using natural gas ....................................................................................................... 59 4.4 Emissions using wood ............................................................................................................... 63 4.5 Emissions using wood with 7% DDGS ....................................................................................... 65 4.6 Emissions using wood with 13% DDGS ..................................................................................... 67 4.7 Emissions using wood with 20% DDGS ..................................................................................... 69 4.8 Emissions using wood with 40% DDGS ............................................................................... 71 4.9 Emissions using wood with 70% DDGS ..................................................................................... 73 4.9 Emissions using yellow corn ...................................................................................................... 75 4.11 Discussions .............................................................................................................................. 77 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................... 86 5.1 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 86 5.2 Future recommendations ......................................................................................................... 87 APPENDIX A1. ENGINEERING EQUATION SOLVER (EES) CODE ........................................................... 89 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................... 91 iv LIST OF FIGURES Fig 2.1 - Schematic of coal gasification process .................................................................................... 8 Fig 2.2 - Schematic of OLGA technique ............................................................................................... 20 Fig 2.3 - Conversion of fuel bound nitrogen in biomass ..................................................................... 24 Fig 2.4 - Ammonia formation at different gasification temperatures for cane trash ......................... 27 Fig 2.5 - Laminar flame speed for CO/H 2 mixtures at different pressures .......................................... 30 Fig 2.6 - Effect of adiabatic flame temperature on CO and NOx emissions .......................................
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