Experimental assessment of oxy-CO2 gasification strategy with woody biomass
Giacomo Flori, Stefano Frigo, Federica Barontini, Roberto Gabbrielli, Pietro Sica
Abstract
This paper presents the results obtained during an extensive experimental campaign focused on analysing the application of Oxy-CO2 gasification technology to a small downdraft gasifier fed with woody biomass. Oxy-gasification enables the production of a nitrogen-free synthesis gas (syngas), which can be effectively employed in the synthesis of various high-value chemicals, including but not limited to synthetic natural gas (SNG), methanol (CH3OH), ammonia (NH3), hydrogen and more. The gasifier performances were analysed using different CO2/O2 ratios in the feed (between 1 and 3 kg/kg). The inlet biomass flow rate was approximately 12-18 kg/h, while the equivalence ratio ranged between 19% and 26%. The results show that the gasifier can produce a syngas flow rate in the range of 15-25 Nm3/h with a lower heating value (LHV) of between 8 and 10 MJ/Nm3 and a cold gas efficiency of up to 78%. The operative behaviour of the gasification system is stable and simple to control.