Bench-scale gasification of cedar wood – Part II: Effect of Operational conditions on contaminant release

Abstract

Here, we present the evolution profile of tar in the product gas during cedar biomass gasification. We also discuss the evolution of other contaminants (H2S, COS, NH3, HCN, and HCl). The cedar wood was gasified under various operating conditions in a bench-scale externally heated updraft gasifier; this was followed by thermal reforming.Tar levels in the product gas were significantly affected by the operating conditions used. At a gasification temperature of 923K, there was no clear relation between the evolution of phenolic tar in the product gas as a function of residence time. The evolution of PAH tar at a low gasification temperature was lower than the evolution of phenolic tar. With increasing temperature, the proportion of PAH tar content became significant. At a gasification temperature of 1223K, increasing the residence time reduced the content of PAH tar owing to a catalytic effect associated with ash generation at high temperatures. Increasing the steam-to-carbon (S/C) ratio under thermal conditions had a slight effect on PAH conversion. However, increasing the equivalence ratio (ER) effectively reduced the tar levels.The conversion of fuel-sulfur and fuel-nitrogen to volatile-sulfur and volatile-nitrogen, respectively, increased with increasing S/C ratio and ER. The evolutions of COS and HCN gases were much smaller than the evolution of H2S and NH3. The evolution of HCl in the product gas decreased slightly with increasing ER. Increasing the S/C ratio decreased the HCl levels in the product gas. The effect of temperature on contaminant levels could not be fully understood due to limited availability of experimental data at various temperatures. We also compare our findings with data in the literature.