Sustainable Energy Production From Biomass: A Case Study On Tasmanian Blue Gum Eucalyptus Gasification

Abstract

The global transition to renewable energy sources is a crucial response to the urgent need to reduce global warming and its negative environment consequences. One feasible approach within this paradigm is to generate steam from syngas produced by biomass gasification. Background: Gasification is a thermochemical process that transforms organic materials into combustible gas mixtures, provides a sustainable and renewable way to generate energy, chemicals and fuels. This technology helps to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on fossil fuels. Materials and methods: In this experiment, Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus sawdust is used to generate pellets which will subsequently be processed into syngas using downdraft gasifier. The experiment investigates the effect of increasing air velocities specifically 10, 15, 20 and 25 M/sec as a gasifying agent to the gasification process. Results: The air velocity is measured at 10, 15, 20 and 25 m/s resulting in the time taken of 2280, 1860, 1560 and 1380 with efficiency increases of 41.11, 47.73, 49.62 and 54.67, respectively. This implies that optimizing air velocity is crucial for improving the overall performance of biomass gasification. The proximate and ultimate results of pellet are some better compared to the raw eucalyptus by researcher Filomena Pinto [16]. The efficiency is slightly high compared with the researcher R. Ravi Kumar [25]. The generated syngas may eventually replace the fossil fuel LPG for domestic purposes. Conclusion: The time taken for the gasification decreases with the increase of air velocity up to 25m/s. As the result the efficiency increases.