Abstract
A review was conducted on the use of thermochemical biomass gasification for producing biofuels, biopower and chemicals. The upstream processes for gasification are similar to other biomass processing methods. However, challenges remain in the gasification and downstream processing for viable commercial applications. The challenges with gasification are to understand the effects of operating conditions on gasification reactions for reliably predicting and optimizing the product compositions, and for obtaining maximal efficiencies. Product gases can be converted to biofuels and chemicals such as Fischer-Tropsch fuels, green gasoline, hydrogen, dimethyl ether, ethanol, methanol, and higher alcohols. Processes and challenges for these conversions are also summarized.
Highlights
A review was conducted on the use of thermochemical biomass gasification for producing biofuels, biopower and chemicals
The main advantages are that the feedstock for thermochemical conversion can be any type of biomass including agricultural residues, forestry residues, nonfermentable byproducts from biorefineries, byproducts of food industry, byproducts of any bioprocessing facility and even organic municipal wastes; and the product gases can be converted to a variety of fuels (H2, Fischer-Tropsch (FT) diesels, synthetic gasoline) and chemicals as substitutes for petroleum-based chemicals; the products are more compatible with existing petroleum refining operations
Lv observed that smaller particles resulted in more CH4, CO, C2H4 and less CO2 which led to higher gas yields, gas energy content (LHV) and carbon conversion efficiency (Ceff) [14]
Summary
The demand for energy sources to satisfy human energy consumption continues to increase. Fischer and Schrattenholzer estimated the global biomass potential to be 91 to 675 EJ/year for the years 1990 to 2060 [1] Their biomass included crop and forestry residues, energy crops, and animal and municipal wastes. The main advantages are that the feedstock for thermochemical conversion can be any type of biomass including agricultural residues, forestry residues, nonfermentable byproducts from biorefineries, byproducts of food industry, byproducts of any bioprocessing facility and even organic municipal wastes; and the product gases can be converted to a variety of fuels (H2, Fischer-Tropsch (FT) diesels, synthetic gasoline) and chemicals (methanol, urea) as substitutes for petroleum-based chemicals; the products are more compatible with existing petroleum refining operations. Cleaning of tar from syngas, Reforming of the syngas, Gas turbine, Gas burner, Fuel cell, Combined heat and power (CHP)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
