Small Scale Bubbling Fluidized Bed Gasifier for Syngas Extraction from Napier grass

Abstract

For some farmers, Napier grass is non-beneficial since it may compete for growth area and nutrients for common agricultural crops. However, this grass has the potential to become biomass energy source. It is known that Napier grass is a candidate source of syngas or synthetic gas which can be utilized in different applications. To extract synthetic gas, the Napier grass must undergo gasification process. This study focuses on the design and testing of a small-scale bubbling fluidized bed gasifier for Napier grass. The reactor chamber is made up of low carbon steel while the inert bed material used is silica. The materials for the gasifier were chosen by using the quantitative method of material selection. The temperatures at the inlet, sections of the reactor and exhaust of the reactor were monitored. The maximum furnace temperature of the gasifier was 473°C and observed after 170 minutes due to increased furnace and reactor heating surface area. The syngas extracted from the gasifier was tested and analyzed that there is 21.23 ppm of Carbon Monoxide (CO) and low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) content. The composition of syngas conformed with the standards and can be used for cooking applications