Gasification studies of low-grade Indian coal and biomass in a lab-scale pressurized circulating fluidized bed

Abstract

The present research is focused on the gasification study of a lab-scale pressurized circulating fluidized bed (PCFB) gasifier considering low-grade Indian coal and biomass such as sawdust and rice husk with a mean particle size of 600 μm as feed materials. Syngas composition, lower heating value (LHV), dry gas yield (Y), carbon conversion efficiency (CCE), and cold gas efficiency (CGE) are evaluated based on the experiments in the range of pressure 1–4 bar. It is observed that the concentration of CH4 increases with pressure for all the three feed materials. The concentration of CH4 is found to be increasing from (3.65–4.86 vol%) and (2.98–3.46 vol%) for sawdust and rice husk, respectively. Similarly, the LHV is found to be increasing with pressure for coal and sawdust. There is a significant increase of 12% in LHV with an increase in pressure from 1 to 4 bar for both coal and sawdust. The CGE is found to increase by 34, 51, and 61% for rice husk, coal and sawdust, respectively with the increase in pressure from 1 to 4 bar.