b i o m a s s a n d b i o e n e r g y 6 6 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 e3 8

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/biombioe

Gasification of tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze)

shrubs for black tea manufacturing process heat
generation in Assam, India
Partha Pratim Dutta a,*, Debendra Chandra Baruah b
a
b

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tezpur (Central) University, Assam, 784028, India

Department of Energy, Tezpur (Central) University, Assam, 784028, India

article info

abstract

Article history:

Gasification of uprooted tea shrub (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) is an attractive option for

Received 1 May 2012

partial substitution of thermal energy in tea manufacturing industries. Chopped and dried

Received in revised form

uprooted tea branches with moisture content (X < 20%) have high energy contents suitable

29 March 2014

to generate process heat. Good number of tea processing units in Assam use old design and

Accepted 31 March 2014

inefficient coal fired furnace and air heater with a low overall efficiency. Gasification of

Available online 26 April 2014

uprooted tea shrubs may be beneficial partially to substitute these old design coal fired
furnaces. The calorific values of uprooted tea branches and generated producer gas were

Keywords:

found 18.50 MJ kg
1 and 4.2 MJ m
3, yielded products at 65% cold gasification efficiency.

Biomass

Fermented tea samples with an average moisture content of 60% could be dried to 3%

Gasification

moisture using biomass gasifier and tea dryer setup. Simple economic analysis shows

Shrubs

gasifier cum tea dryer technology may be economically favorable option with an annual

Tea drying

saving of 21,067 $ in a medium scale tea factory (990 t per year made tea) if 28% of total

Process heat

thermal energy requirement is substituted by biomass gasification.

Payback period

1.

Introduction

Tea cultivation and processing units are second most important after oil and gas industries in Assam. Assam black tea
production in the year 2010e11 was estimated as 0.488 Mt
which alone accounted for about 50% of all India production
[1]. Tea drying is a highly energy intensive chemical engineering unit operation amongst all the tea manufacturing
operations. The sources of thermal energy for tea drying
process in factories located in Assam has been fossil fuel
consisting natural gas, furnace oil (known as tea drying oil)
and coal. One or more than one sources are used based on
local availability and economy. The specific energy

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ppdutta06@gmail.com (P.P. Dutta).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2014.03.062
0961-9534/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

consumption (coal) in commercial tea drying has been

reported within the range of (0.8 to 1.13) kg kg
1 of made tea.
The reported variation could be due to varying level of performances and overall efficiency of energy conversion devices. Variations of specific energy requirements for tea
processing were also observed amongst the fuel types. Specific
energy consumptions while using tea drying oil, coal and
natural gas had been reported as (23.88, 43.72 and 27.49) MJ
kg
1 of made tea respectively [2]. Overall, based on production
and average specific energy consumption rate, an estimated
9.42 PJ equivalent thermal energy was found to consume
annually for drying operation in tea factories of Assam. The
volatile prices and other environmental factors of fossil fuels
have caused uncertainties to continue relying on these fossil

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fuels for tea processing in Assam. This has necessitated

searching for a reliable and sustainable thermal energy system for tea drying. Uses of biomass as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels have been attempted in many cases with
success. However, success of such effort would require
comprehensive testing and analysis considering the fuel and
related technologies.
Combustion of cashew nut shell in furnace, semi open pit
and other open burning was poor with lower combustion
efficiency, high smoke emission, therefore efficient process
control was not convenient in such a situation [3]. Gasification of biomass using a reactor (gasifier) to convert solid
biomass into gaseous fuel is almost a matured technology.
However, the application of biomass gasification technology
as a source of thermal energy for tea drying is only in
research and development stage till now. There are literature
available with reports of research and development on gasification technology covering (i) efficacy of thermal energy
generation, (ii) performance analysis and (iii) economic
feasibility analysis. Some of such related research works are
highlighted below.
Rubber wood feedstock was used in an 80 kW thermal
output downdraft gasifier for tea drying process heat generation. The moisture content of rubber wood was considered as
an important parameter which in turn affected gasifier performance through reactor temperature and heat loss. The
optimum gasification zone length had to be selected for
maximum output in a given range of operating parameters.
The principal gasification reactions were pyrolysis, oxidation
and reduction and they produce combustible gases like CO,
H2, CH4, etc. The average calorific values of producer gas were
(4.18 to 4.62) MJ m
3 [4]. The use of open core gasifier
(1.25 GJ h
1) for process heat generation in pharmaceutical
industry had been reported in another study and it had stated
that (70e80) kg h
1 of wood could replace 20 L h
1 low density
diesel fuel [5]. In another study, babul wood (Prosopis juliflora),
groundnut shell briquettes, groundnut shell, mixture of wood
(P. juliflora) and cashew nut shell were satisfactorily gasified in
an open core throat less downdraft 50 kW gasifier that indicated fuel dependency on performance [6]. Waste wood
(moisture content less than 20%) gasification and thermal
energy balance of a 150 kW downdraft gasifier had been performed. An average cold gasification efficiency of 70% was
reported [7].
There are also reports of using by-products of coffee industry as fuel for gasification. Coffee grounds were successfully converted into gaseous and volatile matter by fast
pyrolysis at a temperature of 1073 K with about 88% conversion efficiency. Further, it was reported that tar separation
was done by combustion to produce additional process heat in
allothermal gasification [8]. Similarly, coffee husk gasification
using high temperature air steam in a batch facility that was
maintained at three different gasification temperatures
900  C, 800  C, and 700  C was studied. An increased gasification temperature led to a linear increment of CO concentration in syngas for all gasification conditions. It was also
reported that kinetic parameters established the reaction
mechanism of zero order with apparent activation energy of
161 kJ mol
1 and frequency factor of 6.48  102 s
1 [9]. In
another investigation, a downdraft biomass gasifier with

furniture wood chip as feedstock was used to measure

equivalence ratio, gas composition, calorific value and gas
production rate, etc. A peak was seen at about 0.38 equivalence ratios for optimum CO and CH4 yields; it showed first
increasing then decreasing trends of these constituents. At
equivalence ratio 0.38, they observed best performance of the
downdraft biomass gasifier. They also observed that gas production per unit weight of fuel increased linearly with equivalence ratio and a maximum cold gas efficiency of 80% was
achievable [10].
Techno-economic viability of cashew nut shells gasification was reported for hot water generation in a local food
processing factory. They found that cashew nut shells were
excellent feedstock for gasification and it had high energy
content and similar composition to fuel wood. The payback
period for additional investment made in plant and machinery was found less than one year. Studies revealed that 6.5 kg
of liquefied petroleum gas was fully replaced by gasification of
38 kg of sized wood on hourly basis. Fuel economic analysis of
gasifier showed that the saving was about 13,850 $ for 3000 h
of baking operation [11,12].
It is seen from the above discussion that there are several
efforts to use gasification technologies in diversified applications including selected food processing industries. Tea
estates in Assam generate biomass in the form of uprooted
tea branches, pruning litter and branches of shading trees.
The uprooting is done at certain intervals of plantation to
replant, so as to maintain optimum level of tea productivity.
Such uprooted tea branches are generally used as cooking
fuel through direct combustion in low efficiency traditional
cook stoves. The introduction of improved cook stoves with
higher conversion efficiency may lead to a substantial
saving of uprooted biomass and this saved biomass may be
used for tea manufacturing process heat generation. There
are two distinct options for generation of process heat using
surplus uprooted tea branches; viz. (1) Direct combustion
and (2) Gasification. Direct combustion of biomass in conventional inefficient coal fired furnace of some tea factories
has socio-environment problem including greenhouse gas
emission and accumulation of tars and shoots in nearby
areas. Because the existing coal fired furnaces in the representative tea factories had been observed running with a
very low overall efficiency. The reasons behind very low
overall efficiency in existing coal fired air heating furnaces
are inappropriate control of excess air for combustion,
improper insulation in flue gas path, inconsistent quality of
coal, inherently low flue gas to air heat exchanger heat
transfer rate, frequent fouling of cast iron tube heat
exchanger, and old conventional overall design of system.
Therefore, flue gases to air heat exchangers have very low
effectiveness compared to shell and tube heat exchanger
using steam as intermediate heat transferring medium to
heat tea drying air. Now, if these uprooted tea branches
were utilized through efficient gasification technology, then
lesser volume of greenhouse gases will be emitted compared
to inefficient fixed bed coal combustion furnace system. This
will contribute to a substantial saving of scared fossil fuels
such as coal or natural gas by application of renewable energy for tea drying and greenhouse gas emission balance,
etc.

b i o m a s s a n d b i o e n e r g y 6 6 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 e3 8

Although there are adequate works on biomass gasification

for different thermal and power applications as discussed
earlier, literature pertaining to gasification of biomass available in tea estates for process heat generation is very limited.
It is evident with the crisis of conventional fossil fuel both in
term of environment and economy, substitute renewable
fuels need to be searched for sustainability and viability of tea
industries. However, large scale applications of gasification
technology in tea processing using locally available biomass
would require systematic techno-economic investigation.
Keeping in view of these the present works have been undertaken with the objectives of (i) investigation of the efficacy
of application of locally available tea estates biomass as fuel
for gasification; (ii) investigation of tea drying using gasification technology and (iii) investigation of economic viability
gasification technology fueled by locally available biomass
compared with prevailing low energy efficient fixed bed coal
fired technology (Fig. 9) to heat air.

2.

29

Materials and methods

An experimental study was carried out to gasify uprooted

tea shrubs (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze), branches of
shading tree (Samanea saman (Jacq.) Merr.), etc. available
from an identified tea estate near Tezpur University (latitude 26 420 03 N and longitude 92 490 49 E) in Assam (India).
The biomass sample was characterized for the required
parameters in the laboratories of Tezpur University. A
laboratory scale biomass gasification unit was operated
for process heat generation. This process heat from producer gas combustion was used in laboratory scale tea dryer
(tray) to manufacture black tea. Further, the economic
feasibility of application of gasification technology for tea
processing was also assessed using a standard methodology. The details of the materials and methodology are discussed below.

Fig. 1 e a) Experimental setup of producer gas based tea drying using uprooted tea shrubs. b) Experimental setup of 10 kW
thermal output downdraft gasifier using uprooted tea shrubs.

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Fig. 4 e Variation of calorific value with equivalence ratio.

Fig. 2 e Pressure drop across gasifier with gas flow rate.

2.1.1.

Gasifier

A detail of the experimental setup (Fig. 1a, b) and instrumentations used for (i) evaluation of the gasifier performance and (ii) technical feasibility of tea drying by gasification
of uprooted tea branches have been presented in Table 1.
Description of different subassemblies and measuring instruments are briefly highlighted follows. With the studies of
above literature on gasification of various biomasses feedstock, a study had been made for gasification of locally
available uprooted tea shrubs etc., for process heat generation
in black tea manufacturing. An experimental setup for gasification of uprooted tea branches, tea pruning litter, etc. has
number of components as summarized below. The uprooted
tea shrubs were supplied by local tea estate for research
purpose.

An Ankur make downdraft type woody biomass gasifier

(Model-WBG-10, 10 kg h
1) was used for the present study. The
gasifier was consisted of (i) hopper, (ii) a double walled air
insulated cylindrical reactor, (iii) air nozzles (iv) a rotatable
grate controlled by a comb-rotor, (v) ash pit and (vi) some
auxiliaries viz., scrubber and water pump assembly, vibrator,
blower, saw dust filter, etc. The controls of auxiliary operations were done with the help of a control panel. The total
electrical energy requirement to run the supplementary
equipment of the gasifier was 0.8 kW. Air was supplied by the
two air nozzles circumferentially at 180 apart. The nozzle
ends pointed into the combustion zone and they were
extended up to the minimum constriction of V throat inside
reactor. The gasifier setup was also provided with water filled
U- tube manometers to observe the pressure drop at air entry
nozzle and at reduction zone inside the reactive gasifier.
The gasifier was operated using uprooted tea shrubs for
performance evaluation. The air and fuel ratio was varied and

Fig. 3 e Pressure drop across nozzle with gas flow rate.

Fig. 5 e Variation of gas production and cold gas efficiency

with equivalence ratio.

2.1.
Experimental setup for performance evaluation of
gasifier and operation of tea dryer

b i o m a s s a n d b i o e n e r g y 6 6 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 e3 8

2.1.3.
meter

31

Measurement of gas flow using master turbine flow

A master turbine flow meter was used in addition to a rotameter to measure producer gas discharge for combustion in
the partially premixed gas burner (Fig. 8) as well as surplus
flared gas. Flow straighteners of 10D and 5D were provided at
upstream and downstream of flow meter installation for
minimizing flow fluctuation. A magnetically coupling meter
head directly gave producer gas discharge used for combustion in tray dryer burner.

2.1.4.
Fig. 6 e Variation of gas composition and calorific value
with air fuel equivalence ratio.

thermal output in terms of calorific value; gas composition

and flow rate of producer gas were measured. The ash and
excess charcoal from the grate were rejected automatically
into the ash pit to maintain a constant reduction zone height
inside the gasifier. The gasification air discharge into the
gasifier at various loads was measured with rotameter. A
continuously running gasifier under study has been termed as
reactive gasifier.

2.1.2. Junker gas calorimeter for measurement of calorific

value of producer gas

Measurement of air flow using rotameter

Two rotameters were used to measure both gasification air

coming through air nozzles and producer gas combustion air
required in the tray dryer. A blower was used at the outlet of
gasifier to adjust the gas flow rate. The flow of input air was
recorded using a Rotameter (Table 1) for all the test conditions.
The measurement of this air was very important aspect to
calculate the equivalence ratio for biomass gasification process and system efficiency.

2.1.5. Measurement of pressure drops by U tube water

manometer
Pressure drop across the gasifier and nozzle were measured
with U tube water manometer at varying output gas flow rate.
With variation of air fuel equivalence ratio for gasification,
these two important pressure drops were indicative parameter for optimum performance of gasifier.

Junker gas calorimeter (INSURF, Make: Instrumentation and

Refrigeration of India) was used for online measurement of
calorific value of producer gas. Producer gas contains five
principal components namely nitrogen, carbon dioxide, some
hydrogen, carbon mono oxide, and traces of methane out of
which last three gases are combustible. Producer gas calorific
value was measured by tapping a small amount of gas from
the main gas stream to feed Junker gas calorimeter and then
its calorific value was evaluated at an interval of 10 min.

2.1.6.

Fig. 7 e GC Trace 600 for producer gas composition

analysis.

Fig. 8 e Flame of producer gas combustion at equivalence

ratio ( [ 0.27) form gasification of uprooted tea shrubs.

Measurement of biomass moisture and consumption

The moisture of the woody biomass feedstock was

measured with established method [17]. The gasifier hopper

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Besides, to nullify the effect of excess air because of refilling

of wood, constant pressure drops across the nozzles
and gasifier were maintained by controlling the blower
outlet flap valve. During actual experimental gasification
studies of uprooted tea shrubs, gasifier was filled once after
every eight hours and normally tea drying experiments
complete before eight hours. Therefore, average hourly fuel
consumption was calculated by dividing total fuel consumed
by total hours of operation. Moreover, any minor variation of
excess air was controlled by suction blower flap valve
adjustment. Therefore in actual gasification of uprooted tea
branches, the hopper door was closed for entire period of
experiments.

2.1.7. Use of tea biomass generated producer gas for black tea
manufacturing

Fig. 9 e A conventional inefficient fixed bed coal fire

furnace for tea drying.

had a capacity of 100 kg dry wood and average fuel consumption ranged from (5 to 8 kg h
1). Once filled, it may
uninterruptedly run for 8 h. However, refilling of wood on
hourly basis was performed to calibrate hourly fuel
consumption data given by the manufacturer as standard.

A laboratory scale tea dryer available in Tezpur University was

used to test the feasibility of manufacturing of black tea using
producer gas [18]. The dryer was fitted with a producer gas
partial premixed burner. The producer gas and combustion air
was supplied through a central tube and an annulus passage
respectively. Both of them were passed through a Venturi
constriction at a higher velocity to mix properly past a bluff
body for flame stabilization (Fig. 8). The flame height of the
producer gas burner could be optimized by controlling the
producer gas flow rate. The area of the each perforating plate
(10 numbers) of the tray dryer was 0.12 m2 and it had a capacity of 10 kg made tea per hour measured as per standard
procedure [19].
Fermented tea samples with initial moisture 60% (w.b.)
were collected in airtight container from a tea manufacturing
unit adjacent to the Tezpur University. Five kilograms of fermented tea was thin layered in 10 trays. The producer gas
combustion products were directly fed into the drying
chamber of tray dryer by using a hot gas blower. Identified
samples from each tray were collected to measure moisture
loss until final moisture become constant [20,21].

Table 1 e Experimental setup and details instrumentations.

Sl. no.
1.

Items

Technical specification
WBG-10 (thermal), make: Ankur [13]

2.

V throat downdraft woody

gasifier and relevant accessories.
Junker gas calorimeter

3.

Temperature data logger

4.

Gas turbine flow meter

5.

Rotameter

6.

Wood moisture meter

7.

U tube differential manometer

CDL-28, Shivaki, India,

accuracy: 0.15% FS [15]
DN50-G65, (6e2500) m3 h
1 Rockwine
India Ltd. [16]
Acrylic body, range: (0.1e10) m3 h
1,
accuracy: 2% FSD
Moisture: (0 to 40) %, resolution: 0.1
accuracy: (0.5% n 1), 190 g
Acrylic body, range: (250e0e250) mm

8.
9.

Tray dryer
Digital weighing balance

10.
11.

Gas chromatograph
Multifunction gas analyser

INSREF, fuel type: fuel gas/petrol [14]

10 kg h
1 size: (0.620  0.533  0.38) m3

KERN: read out 0.01 g, range: 1210 g,
linearity 0.03
Thermo-fisher Trace GC: 600
Testo, Germany

Remarks
Used for generating producer gas uprooted
tea shrubs feedstock
Online measurement of calorific value of
producer gas
Online measurement of various temperatures
To measure the producer gas flow rate
To measure gas flow rate into burner and also
to measure gasification air
To measure moisture content of biomass feedstock
To measure pressure drop across the gasifier,
air nozzle and filter
For fermented tea drying
To measure moisture loss of fermented tea
To measure producer gas composition
To measure flue gas composition producer
gas furnace

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2.1.8.

Temperature data logger with computer interface

This is a multi-channel online temperature data logger,

(Model No: CDL-28, SHIVAKI, and India: accuracy 0.15%).
Sixteen number of K-type thermocouples (ChromeleAlumel)
were used to measure different temperatures such as gas
outlet, scrubber water outlet, dryer inlet gas temperature,
combustion product, ambient air temperature, and ten trays
average temperatures and dryer outlet temperatures over the
entire experimental periods. The temperature measurements
were performed as per ASTM [22] standard. The temperature
sensors were connected to computer using RS232 interface
through 16 channel data logger which recorded online temperatures at the desired locations as shown in (Fig. 1).

of feedstock was calculated by taking mole ratios of hydrogen,

oxygen and nitrogen to one mole of carbon. Stoichiometric
oxygen requirement is the amount of oxidizer to completely
form one mole of carbon dioxide and water.
The stoichiometric oxygen requirement [24] may be
computed from Equation (1).
Kilogram of oxygen per kilogram of fuelMa 2:68C 8H
O
(1)
By using ultimate analysis data (Table 4), the stoichiometric air and biomass ratio is calculated from Equation (1) as
5.44 kg kg
1 of dry fuel.

2.4.
2.1.9.

An off line Gas Chromatograph (Trace GC: 600, Make: Thermo

Fisher, Italy) was used to measure producer gas quality at
different air fuel equivalence ratio (Fig. 7). Producer gas samples were collected in a bladder to inject it into the gas chromatograph and producer gas tapping point was fixed after fine
filter of gasifier setup to get desired quality of gas.

2.2.

Feedstock characteristics and preparation

The uprooted tea (C. sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) branches with

average age of 50 years were supplied by nearby tea estate
(latitude 26 420 03 N and longitude 92 490 49 E) was used as
gasification feedstock for present studies. They were chipped
by wood chipping machine to make sizes of (35  5) mm in
length, (20  5) mm in diameter. It then followed thin layer sun
drying until moisture was less than 20% on wet basis to use it
as gasification feed or to store in gunny bags for future applications. The said biomass had the physical (Table 2) and
chemical properties as measured in laboratory conditions.
Proximate analysis (Table 3) of uprooted tea branches used for
gasification was performed to calculate the following parameters namely moisture content (ASTM D3172-73), volatile
matter (ASTM D3175-73) and ash content (ASTM D3174-73).
Similarly ultimate analysis of feed stock was performed as
per (ASTM E-777) for carbon and hydrogen, (ASTM E-778) for
nitrogen and oxygen by difference [23]. By using automatic
bomb calorimeter (Make: Changsha, China), the higher heating value of uprooted tea shrub was measured as
18.50 MJ kg
1.

2.3.

Warm up and medium duration test

Gas chromatograph

Estimation of stoichiometric air fuel ratio

The ultimate analysis data of uprooted tea branches had been

used to compute stoichiometric air fuel ratio and equivalence
ratio for gasification. The molecular formula (CH1.65O0.71N0.03)n

The gasifier was operated according to the standard procedure

prescribed by the MNRE [25]. Since the producer gas generator
converts the solid biomass into gaseous fuel by a series of
thermo-chemical reactions, therefore to initiate proper gasification, some minimum warm up period is necessary. The
hopper of the gasifier was fully loaded with biomass through
top lid and then the lid was tightly closed. A firing torch
wrapped with cotton waste in support of kerosene oil was
used to fire the gasifier through air nozzles. The blower was
started immediately and combustion air was controlled by
means of the flap valve such that oxidation zone inside the
gasifier could be established. At the beginning, white opaque
smoke was released that was not combustible. After about
(15e20) min, the producer gas was less opaque with more
combustible and continued with sustained flame in producer
gas burners. The combustion products from the burner mixing chamber was directly supplied into tea dryer for drying of
fermented tea. Measuring parameters were rate of fuel consumption, pressure drop in gasifier and nozzles, calorific value
of producer gas, producer gas compositions, equivalence air
fuel ratio for gasification, different temperatures starting from
producer gas to dryer exhaust [26].

2.5.

Maintenance of gas producer system

Various field studies and literature surveys revealed that

normally after certain hours of operations, the gasifier system
may give rise to certain operational problems. They are
excessive pressure drop across the gasifier, less porosity of
reduction bed, clogging of gas cleaning system, removal of
excessive charcoal from the ash pit, bridging of V throat inside
gasifier, congestion of scrubber pump nozzle, etc. It may be
noted that regular health checking and appropriate preventive
maintenance of gasifier as per operational manual is the
healthiest practices. Hopper feed door rubber seal may be

Table 2 e Average physical properties of uprooted tea

shrubs.

Table 3 e Average proximate analysis of uprooted tea

shrubs.

Feed
stock
Uprooted tea
shrubs

Chip
sizes
(mm3)

Apparent
density
(kg m
3)

Bulk
density
(kg m
3)

Porosity

Feed stock

9425

1050

560

0.47

Uprooted
tea shrubs

Volatile
Fixed
Ash
Moisture %
matter % carbon % content %
wb
db
db
db
81.16

13.36

5.48

12

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(2) Salvage values a 10% of initial investment.

(3) Interest at 10% of initial investment.
(4) Depreciation at 20% of initial investment spread over 10
years.
(5) Repair and maintenance cost at 20% of initial investment spread over 10 years.
(6) Discount rate is assumed 10%.
(7) Electricity cost is 0.1 $ kW h
1 (Average, 2011).
(8) Annual operation is 250 days.

Table 4 e Average ultimate analysis of uprooted tea

shrubs.
Feed stock

C % by
H % by
N % by
O % by
weight db weight db weight db weight db

Uprooted tea
shrubs

44.43

6.16

1.65

41.9

checked after every 150 h. Similarly charcoal bed reconditioning should be done every after 400 h operations and
checking for crack at cone may be maintained after elapse of
400 h as per manufacturers specifications [13].

2.6.

Economic assessment

An effort had been made to investigate economic feasibility of

woody biomass based gasifier system for partial substitution
of conventional thermal energy in tea manufacturing. There
are different procedures available in literature for economic
feasibility analysis of a new energy system. However, in the
present investigation a specific procedure was followed where
(i) Net present value (ii) Benefit cost ratio and (iii) Payback
period pertaining to a new renewable energy technology were
assessed. The difference between the present value of all
future returns (Fn1) and present money required to make an
investment (Fn2) with rate of interest (i) for (n) years are
related with net present worth by Equation (2).
NPV

nn
X
Fn1
Fn1

(2)

n1

1 i

Benefit cost ratio defined as the present worth of benefit

stream to present worth of cost stream. An acceptable project
must have cost benefit ratio greater than one. Mathematically,
cost benefit ratio is expressed as in Equation (3).
nP
n

Cost benefit ratio

n1
nP
n
n1

Fn1
1in

(3)

Fn2
1in

The payback period is the total length of time from beginning of the project until the net value of the incremental
production stream recovers total amount of capital investment. The following parameters were considered to carry out
economic analysis of gasifier (150 kW) cum tea dryer system
[7,27,and28].
(1) The life of biomass gasifier and heating system is 10
years.

3.

Results and discussions

Quality of output gas and rate of gas production are the

measures of gasification performance of a biomass gasifier.
The performance of a gasifier depends on the various factors
pertaining to feedstock characteristics (moisture content,
composition, sizes of wood chips, etc.), operating conditions
(air:fuel ratio), and design of gasifier (position of air inlet
nozzles, reduction zone volume, etc.). As stated earlier, present investigation reports performance of a 10 kW thermal
output gasifier that used uprooted tea shrubs at varying air
fuel equivalence ratio. The pressure drops across gasifier bed
and air inlet nozzle were measured for varying measured flow
rate of output gas. Simultaneously, the calorific value and
compositions of output gas was also recorded. From the
measured data, the performance of the gasifier was analyzed.
Further, the results of the use of producer gas for tea drying
are also presented below. Finally, the results of economic
analysis to examine the prospect of gasification technology
with locally available biomass feedstock are presented.

3.1.

Pressure drop and gas flow rate

Pressure drop across a porous reactive gasifier bed, air nozzle

are important controlling variables of the system. The flow of
ambient air into the gasifier was assumed to be isothermal.
Fig. 2 shows the variation of gas flow rate with respect to
gasifier pressure drop for both a newly charged gasifier and a
reactive gasifier. It is clear that pressure drop is higher in a
reactive gasifier compared to a newly charged gasifier for
same output gas flow rate. This is because of less porosity and
higher resistance to gas flow inside a reactive gasifier. The
porosity in reduction bed of a gasifier gradually decreases with
continuous operations. If there is a continuous gasifier pressure drop beyond certain value (DPG  450 Pa) even with vibration for a particular producer gas flow rate, then this is the
time for reconditioning of reduction bed either with new
charcoals or adjustment of reduction bed height by shaking it

Table 5 e Average temperatures at different points in experimental setup.

Gas flow
rate (m3 h
1)
16
18
20
22
24

Ambient
( C)

Gas outlet
( C)

Scrubber outlet
( C)

Dryer inlet
( C)

Mixing chamber
( C)

Average tray
( C)

Dryer outlet
( C)

35
35
35
35
35

380
390
405
425
450

42
44
45
48
50

45
45
48
52
55

100
105
110
120
130

95
95
100
105
110

67
67
70
70
70

35

b i o m a s s a n d b i o e n e r g y 6 6 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 e3 8

Table 6 e Computation of equivalence ratio for

gasification.
Air flow rate
(m3 h
1)
7.5
8.5
9.5
10.5
11
11.5
12.5
13
14
14.5
16
16
17

SAFR

Biomass
(kg h
1)

AAFR

Equivalence
ratio (f)

5.44
5.44
5.44
5.44
5.44
5.44
5.44
5.44
5.44
5.44
5.44
5.44
5.44

8
8
7.5
8
8.20
8.20
8.50
8.50
9.00
9.00
9.50
9.00
9.00

0.94
1.06
1.27
1.31
1.34
1.40
1.47
1.53
1.56
1.61
1.68
1.78
1.89

0.17
0.20
0.23
0.24
0.25
0.26
0.27
0.28
0.29
0.30
0.31
0.33
0.35

in certain cases. Therefore, the good health (optimum performance) of the present gasifier was observed at
(DPG < 450 Pa).
Pressure drop across air nozzle is plotted against the gas
flow rate (Fig. 3) which is again another indicator of proper
gasification processes. If this pressure drop is increased
beyond certain values (DPN  90 Pa) for a newly charged
gasifier then it might go into combustion mode. The flow of
output gas (25 m3 h
1) still increased but the quality of gas as
measured by Junker gas calorimeter was poor due to combustion of a part of producer gas inside the gasifier. It also
increases corresponding pumping power of gasification process leading to losses of net output energy and power. Hence
from this analysis it is opined that this gasifier must be
operated with optimum (DPN < 90 Pa).

3.2.

Measurements of different temperatures

Sixteen different temperatures starting from ambient air and

finally to the dryer outlet temperatures were measured (Fig. 1).

Under varied output gas flow rate from (16 to 24) m3 h
1,
variation of different temperatures are presented in Table 5.
Minimum and maximum dryer mixing chamber recorded (100
and 130)  C, at corresponding gas flow rate and average tray
temperatures were varied from (95 to 110)  C. The average
dryer exhaust temperatures were varied from (67 to 70)  C.
Higher dryer exhaust temperature (70  C) was noted near the
completion of drying process.

3.3.

Equivalence ratio and calorific value

The equivalence ratio is an important design controlling

parameter of a gasifier. It is defined as the ratio of actual air
fuel ratio (AAFR) to stoichiometric air fuel ratio (SAFR).
Different researchers found effective equivalence ratio for
wood gasification in the range of (0.25 to 0.35) in their
experimental downdraft gasifier [10,14and26]. If equivalence
ratio is below 0.20, it may give rise to incomplete gasification,
excessive char formation and lower heating value of producer gas. For equivalence ratio above 0.4, it may result in
excessive formation of complete combustion products in the
expense of CO, CH4 and H2 of producer gas. The equivalence
ratio for the present study had been computed from ultimate
analysis data, biomass feed rate and gasification air flow rate.
The stoichiometric air requirement was calculated as
5.44 kg kg
1 of woody biomass. At biomass feeding rate of
8 kg h
1 and air flow rate of 7.5 m3 h
1, the least equivalence
ratio (0.17) was computed from experimental data. At
equivalence ratio 0.27 and wood consumption rate 8.5 kg h
1,
the best performance of the gasifier was observed. By the side
of variable gasification air flow rate and biomass feed rate,
the values of corresponding equivalence ratios are presented
in (Table 6).
The calorific value of producer gas obtained from gasification of uprooted tea branches was similar to literature
[3,5,8,29,30] as reported by researchers. With increase in
equivalence ratio, the gas production rate continuously

Table 7 e Parameters used for estimation of payback period.

No
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Description of parameter

Initial investment of 150 kW $6#down draft gasifier for thermal mode [30]
Interest one initial investment (@ 10%)
Depreciation (@ 20%) for 10 years
Repair and maintenance cost (@ 20%)
Cost of electricity to run the accessories $6#of gasifier
(8 kW h day
1  250 days $6# 0.1 $ (kWh)
1
6.
Fuel cost (wood, 100 kg h
1  15 h day
1 $6# 250 days  11 $ t
1) [7]
7.
Labor cost (2  2 $ day
1  250 days)
Total investment in first year
8.
Cost of operation per day
Cost of operation by coal fired furnace for equivalent heating
1.
Annual black tea production in an $6#average size tea estate
2.
Total coal requirement (@ 0.8 kg kg
1) $6#made tea
3.
Equivalent coal requirement (28%)
4.
Annual cost of coal (222 t  95 $ t
1)
5.
Cost of electricity to run ID and FD fan etc.,
(15 kW h day
1  250 days  0.1 $ (kWh)
1)
6.
Labor cost 2  2 $ day
1  250 days)
7.
Total cost
8.
Cost of operation per day

Amount $6#(US $)
10,000
1000
200
200
200
4125
1000
16725 $
4.46 $ h
1
990 t
792 t
222 t
21067 $
375 $
1000
22,442 $
6 $ h
1

36

b i o m a s s a n d b i o e n e r g y 6 6 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 e3 8

increased up to a particular value because it gave rise to a

higher air flow rate. After certain value of equivalence ratio
(0.27), calorific value of producer gas declined probably
because of higher concentration of CO2. The calorific value of
product gas was measured 4.2 MJ m
3 which was best calorific
value at 0.27 equivalence ratio (Fig. 4).

maximum calorific value (4.5 MJ m
3) of producer gas was

reported at this air fuel equivalence ratio. The Gas Chromatograph setup used for analysis of producer gas has been
presented in Fig. 7.

3.4.

Thermal energy requirement for per kilogram of made tea was

also accessed and it was found as 7.5 MJ kg
1 of water
removed from the fermented tea with initial moisture of 60%
on wet basis. It was also observed that 2.85 kg of water was
removed from 5 kg of fermented tea in 25 min by using 4 kg of
wood (moisture < 20%). The thermal energy required for

Gasifier efficiency and air fuel ratio

The cold gas efficiency of a biomass gasifier is defined as the

ratio of energy content of producer gas against unit weight of
biomass to higher heating value of unit weight of biomass as
given by Equation (4).

hcold_gas

Producer gas compositions

Fig. 6 shows variation of producer gas composition and

average calorific value with air fuel equivalence ratio for
gasification reaction. Both H2 and CO had increased with increase in gasification air fuel equivalence ratio (F 0.27) and
maximum values of these two components were reported as
18% and 24% respectively. Beyond this equivalence ratio, CO
decreased and H2 contents almost remained constant. The
CH4 content nearly remained constant at about 1.5% and

Table 8 e Cash flow (US $) for heating system of a tea

dryer.
Year
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Specific energy consumption of tea dryer

Calorific value of producer gas  Producer gas production rate per unit weight of biomass
Higher heating value of the biomass

It is evident from above expression that for a constant

calorific value of biomass, cold gas efficiency depends on
calorific value of producer gas and amount of gas produced
per unit weight of input biomass. Maximum cold gas efficiency of 65% was observed woody biomass feed rate of
8.5 kg h
1 and 0.27 equivalence ratio. This gave rich yield of
producer gas for tea drying. The cold gas efficiency was then
falling gradually beyond this equivalence ratio (Fig.5) probably
complete combustion of a part of producer gas. Equivalence
ratio beyond 0.27, the bulk volume of producer gas mixture
sharply increased and gasification efficiency decreased.

3.5.

3.6.

Cash PW of cash Cash

PW of
outflow
outflow
inflow cash inflow
10,000
16,725
16,725
16,725
16,725
16,725
16,725
16,725
16,725
16,725
16,725

10,000
15204.55
13822.31
12565.74
11423.40
10384.91
9440.83
8582.57
7802.34
7093.03
6448.21
112767.88

0
22,442
22,442
22,442
22,442
22,442
22,442
22,442
22,442
22,442
22,442

0
20401.82
18547.11
16861.01
15328.19
13934.72
12667.92
11516.29
10469.36
9517.60
8652.36
137896.37

NPV

10,000
5197.27
4724.79
4295.27
3904.79
3549.81
3227.10
2933.72
2667.02
2424.57
2204.15
25128.49

(4)

manufacturing one kilogram of back was found as

(9.95 MJ kg
1). The specific energy consumption was a bit to
higher side might be because of the full capacity of the dryer
was not utilized.

3.7.
dryer

Exhaust flue gas emission of producer gas fired

Producer gas fired tea dryer burner and conventional ID and

FD coal fired tea dryer furnace have been presented in Figs. 8
and 9. The average temperature of flue gas in the combustion chamber of producer gas burner was 375  C, at air fuel
equivalence ratio (F 1.25). The average value of carbon
monoxide was 8.5 ppm, carbon dioxide was 15.54% and
NOx emission was 150 ppm. The carbon monoxide emission
was within acceptable level as per ASHRAE standard [31]. The
NOx emission in the flue gas was higher probably because
presence of fuel bound nitrogen in the woody feedstock.

3.8.

Economic analysis

Annual black tea manufactured by an average size tea estate

in Sonitpur district (Assam) was 990 t in the year 2010e11 as
computed by geographical information system mapping. Reported tea plantation areas in a FCC image (band 2, 3 and 4)
were seen in dark-red to red tone depending on whether they
are directly planted or appearing below shaded trees in
different sizes with regular sharp edges indicating the presence of a fence around it. The average yield of black tea

Table 9 e Computation of payback period and benefit cost

ratio.
Years
1
2

Cash inflow

Present worth

22,442
20,402
22,442
18,547
Payback period
Benefit cost ratio

Cumulative
cash flow
20,402
4638
1 year 3 months
1.22

b i o m a s s a n d b i o e n e r g y 6 6 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 e3 8

manufactured was assumed as 2 t ha
1 to compute annual

black tea production for a representative average size tea estate. The total back tea production was calculated by multiplying yield of black tea by total mapped area of the tea estate
[32].
Annual black tea manufactured by an average size tea estate in Sonitpur district (Assam) was 990 t (GIS mapping). The
corresponding coal requirement is 792 t (Coal 0.8 kg kg
1 of
black tea manufactured). It was also observed from this study
that thermal efficiency was 20% for a conventional coal fired
furnace and 80% for proposed producer gas fired furnace.
Therefore producer gas fired furnace is a better option over
coal fired system. Coal international prices was 95 $ t
1, Birol
et al. [33] and that of woody biomass was 11 $ t
1 in the year
2011. A 150 kW thermal woody biomass gasifier was considered that could substitute 28% of this thermal load [34]. The
payback period of the system is 15 months and benefit to cost
ratio 1.22 (Tables 7, 8 and 9). The annual carbon-dioxide
reduction 1299.5 t is achievable [35]. It is a very attractive option in addition to green fuel application in tea manufacturing,
emission reduction, waste utilization and clean development
mechanism.

4.

Conclusions

There are potential advantages in application of gasification

technology for tea manufacturing industries in Assam, India.
The surplus uprooted tea branches, shrubs, shading trees are
in house generation of biomass in a tea manufacturing unit.
Therefore, a downdraft gasifier performance with uprooted
tea shrubs as feed stock and its economics in thermal mode
to substitute conventional inefficient coal fired furnace have
been summarized in the present studies. The uprooted tea
shrub has high energy densities (18 MJ kg
1, HHV) for gasification. It was observed that gasifier under study performed
well in respect of gas quality given by gas chromatograph and
calorific value at 0.27 equivalence ratios. The maximum
volumes of CH4, H2 and CO were reported as 1.4%, 18% and
24% respectively at above equivalence ratio. The average
calorific value was observed as (4.2 MJ m
3) from Junker Gas
Calorimeter. This is a satisfactory result with uprooted tea
shrubs as gasifier feed stock. The maximum cold gasification
efficiency was found as 65% near air fuel equivalence ratio of
0.27 and then it declined by increasing the gas flow rate. It
may be concluded that if only 28% thermal energy for tea
drying comes from biomass gasification in a typical medium
scale tea estate, the annual net saving in fuel cost is
computed as 21,067 $ and equivalent reduction of CO2
emission of 1299.5 t. A 150 kW biomass gasification unit can
give rise to a payback period of 15 months and hence the
investment seems attractive and environmentally sustainable for tea estate of Assam, India. However, the proposed
28% thermal energy requirement may not be possible by inhouse generation of above biomass in a representative tea
estate. Supplementary plantation of some fast growing variety trees in addition to biomass generated from tea plantation itself may be required. Wherever there is a scarcity of in
house biomass production, deficit biomass may be procured
from nearby market.

37

Acknowledgment
DST_SERB Research Project Government of India (2012e2015):
Development of an innovative model of Combined Heat and
Power from Purely Producer Gas Based Engine Alternator
System for Partial Conventional Energy Substitution of Tea
Processing Industries in North-East India.

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Nomenclature
AAFR: actual air fuel ratio
ASTM: American Society of Testing Material
CV: calorific value
D: diameter of gas flowing pipe
FC: fixed carbon
FD: forced draft
Fn: future amount of money at end of n year
FSD: full scale deflection
GC: gas chromatograph
HHV: higher heating value
ID: induced draft
i: rate of interest
kW: kilowatt
MNRE: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
n: numbers of years
NPV: net present value
P: principal amount
DPG: pressure drop across gasifier
DPN: pressure drop across nozzle
SAFR: stoichiometric air fuel ratio
VM: volatile matter
WBG: woody biomass gasifier
X: moisture percentage (wet basis)
Greek symbols
F: air fuel equivalence ratio
hcold_gas: cold gasification efficiency