Abstract
The study is aimed at evaluating the availability of agriculture residues for syngas production, a case study for Sudan. 10 types of biomass are investigated: sugarcane (bagasse), cotton stalks, sesame straw, groundnut shells, maize straw, sorghum straw, millet straw, sunflower husks, wheat straw, and banana leaves. The available biomass is about 11 Mt/year (3.68 Mtoe). Aspen plus software is applied to simulate the gasification process. The study covered a wide range of operating conditions of steam to biomass ratio (0<SB<2) and equivalent ratio ( 0>ER>0.5). For all types of syngas characteristics, H2 is 0.32-0.42 (mole fraction), CO is 0.13 to 0.16 (mole fraction), LHV is 5.0 to 8.0 MJ/kg, and the yield is ≥1.5. Wheat, groundnut, and sunflower have the best characteristics, while millet and bagasse yield the poorest characteristics. In addition, all types of syngas haveH2/CO>2except Millet. These characteristics make all types of syngas except millet suitable for both energy and industry applications. The potential syngas production is 14.17 Mt/year.
Highlights
In Sudan, agricultural residues are poorly managed
No formation of methane is a common problem experienced by many simulations works [30]
The potential energy is estimated in Mtoe
Summary
In Sudan, agricultural residues are poorly managed. They are left in the field to decompose or burn as a part of land preparation. The available biomass for energy excludes that goes as animal feed, construction, and other industries. The available biomass for energy is about 11 Mt/year, with an energy content of 154 PJ/year (154 × 1015 J), equivalent to 3.68 Mtoe (1 TJ = 2:388 × 10−5 Mtoe) [1,2,3,4]. The potential electric generation from biomass is about 1 GW. Sudan biomass potential could increase four times the current amount. Sudan cultivable land is estimated at 74 million hectares, only 25% of which is currently used [5]
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