Biomass gasification in a novel 50kWth indirectly heated bubbling fluidized bed steam reformer

Abstract

In the
global chase towards sustainability and cleaner ways of generating power, the utilization
of biomass for clean energy conversion process has become increasingly interesting
as biomass is potentially a CO2-neutral energy source. Among the processes known
to produce power, gasification represents an attractive and versatile
technology to convert wide variety of biomass into product gas mainly composed
by CO, H2, CO2, H2O and CH4, that can be used for (combined) heat and power
(CHP) production, transportation fuels and chemicals. For small to medium scale
biomass gasification, fluidized bed technology is attractive: the process takes
place in a bed of small particles fluidised by a suitable gasification medium
and the very good gas-solid mixing ensures temperature uniformity through the
bed and leads to an excellent mass and heat transfer. In indirectly heated
gasification, also known as second generation or allothermal gasification, the
heat needed for the desired reactions is provided by ex-situ oxidation
reactions and this leads to a higher quality product.