Simulation of Sudanese Sugar Cane Bagasse Gasification Process Using ASPEN PLUS

Abstract

Bagasse has traditionally inefficiently burned in boilers for steam and electricity generation which still suffers from significant inefficiencies creating; therefore there is a need for alternative processes to be analyzed. Among the biomass utilization technologies, biomass gasification is an attractive solution for utilizing biomass effectively. In this study Aspen Plus simulation package V8 was used to develop a model for the gasification of Sudanese sugar cane bagasse in a fluidized bed reactor for syngas production. The developed model is based on Gibbs free energy minimization applying the non-stoichiometric equilibrium method for optimization of the gasifier performance. The objective is to study the effect of important operating parameters including gasification temperature, steam to biomass ratio (SBR) and air to biomass ratio (ABR), on syngas composition, low heating value (LHV) of syngas and cold gas efficiency (CGE). The optimal values of syngas composition, LHV and CGE were located at gasification temperature range from 750C to 950C, steam to biomass ratio around 0.5 to 0.8 and air to biomass ratio values equal to or below 0.4.