JOULE JOR3-CT95-0021 Fixed bed gasification of agricultural residues

Contacts




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Agricultural Residues : Agriculture : JOULE/THERMIE Programme : Solid Biofuels : Thermochemical Conversion

	Type of Project	Shared Cost
	Contract No	JOR3-CT95-0021
	EC Contribution	1,014,400 ECU
	Start Date	01/12/1995
	Duration	24 Months

Fixed bed gasification of agricultural residues

Objectives

The development of advanced gasification technologies is especially important for Mediterranean countries, where no network of gasifiers exists to exploit the energy potentially available through the large quantities of agricultural residues produced. On the other hand, the infrastructure of the countries does not allow the installation of large plants because of the difficulties of feedstock collection and transportation. Thus, this project is concerned with atmospheric pressure gasification of straw and other agricultural residues, typical of Mediterranean areas, for decentralised heat and power production. The various aspects of the problem will be taken into account through the different stages of the process:

• availability, pre-treatment, transportation and storage of feedstocks
• evaluation of their physicochemical properties and thermochemical behaviour
• conversion, operation of a commercial plant and combustion tests on the producer gas

Technical Approach

The development of the work programme is based on both experimental and theoretical investigations. Intra-particle gasification characteristics (chemical kinetics) of different feedstocks will be evaluated through a fast radiant heating system, with controlled sample temperature (University of Napoli) and a free-fall reactor (KTH, Stockholm). Extra-particle (rate) gasification characteristics will be investigated by means of updraft (Ansaldo Volund R&D, University of Napoli), downdraft (University of Zaragoza) and fluid-bed (KTH, Stockholm) reactors on both a laboratory and a pilot plant scale. Effects of feedstock pretreatment (NTUA, Athens) on the gas quality will be studied and the feasibility will be assessed of using the producer gas for an internal combustion engine, as a way of generating electricity. The development of detailed transport models, including all main chemical and physical processes of gasification to predict process dynamics and to optimise reactor design and operation, is an important part of the project (University of Napoli).

Expected Results

The main outputs of the project are:

• quantification of the potential use of agricultural residues for decentralised heat and power production in some areas of Southern and Northern Europe
• definition of the optimal pre-treatments for transportation, storage and conversion
• determination of the intra-particle and rate gasification characteristics of agricultural residues (with special emphasis on fixed-bed gasification)
• optimisation of the updraft and downdraft gasification technologies
• improvement in the understanding of the fundamentals of biomass thermochemical conversion

Contacts

Coordinator

• Colomba DI BLASI / Universita di Napoli Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica / ITALY

Participant

• Prof Krister SJOESTROM / Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan Dept of Chemical Engineering / SWEDEN
• Emmanuel G KOUKIOS / National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) Dept of Chemical Engineering / GREECE
• Jesus ARAUZO / Universidad de Zaragoza Chemical & Environmental Engineering Dept - CPS / SPAIN