Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 895–902

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Fuel Processing Technology

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / f u p r o c

Multi-stage biomass gasification in Internally Circulating Fluidized-bed Gasifier

(ICFG): Test operation of animal-waste-derived biomass and parametric
investigation at low temperature
Xianbin Xiao a,b,⁎, Duc Dung Le b, Kayoko Morishita b, Shouyu Zhang a, Liuyun Li a, Takayuki Takarada b
a
Gunma Industry Support Organization, Maebashi 371-0854, Japan
b
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Gunma University, Kiryu 376-8515, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, the design, construction and operation of an Internally Circulating Fluidized-bed Gasifier (ICFG)
Received 5 February 2009 are introduced in detail. ICFG design provides a multi-stage gasification process, with bed material acting as
Received in revised form 16 July 2009 the medium for char combustion and heat exchange by its internal circulation. And it is used for the steam
Accepted 15 August 2009
gasification of animal waste at low temperature in view of producing fuel gas. The effects of pressure balance,
pyrolysis temperature, catalytic temperature and steam/feedstock ratio on the gasifier performance (e.g.
Keywords:
Animal waste
product gas yield, gas composition, tar content) are also discussed. Hydrogen-rich and low-tar product gas
Multi-stage gasification can be produced from the low-calorific feedstock, in the properly designed process together with high-
Internally Circulating Fluidized-bed Gasifier performance catalyst.
(ICFG) © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Low temperature

1. Introduction low-energy, high-ash, and high-moisture content of animal waste

Waste production is a very important problem in all countries
especially in developed countries. Manure and other animal wastes
are unavoidable low valued byproduct of livestock feedlots. Compost-
ing process was available to make it as excellent organic fertilizer and
soil amendment before, but nowadays, it exceeds about 97 million
tons annually in Japan [1]. It is much more than the actual need and
results in some environmental problems, such as surface or ground
water contamination and air pollution problems with the release of
CH4 (a greenhouse gas), NH3, H2S, amides, volatile organic acids,
mercaptans, esters, and other compounds [2]. Therefore, environ-
mentally proper method of disposing animal waste is needed, because
of the environmental pollution, the regulatory constraints, and more
and more expensive landfill disposal.
With respect to global issues of sustainable energy and reduction
in greenhouse gases, biomass is getting increased attention as a
potential source of renewable energy. The use of biomass as an energy
resource would lead to decrease the emission of CO2, NOx, SOx, and
particulate matters into the atmosphere [3]. Currently, as one kind of
biomass fuel, different technologies like co-combustion of animal
waste and coal in boilers, can be used to reduce the dependence on
fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions [4]. However, the
⁎ Corresponding author. Gunma Industry Support Organization, Maebashi 371-0854,
Japan. Tel.: +81 277 30 1698; fax: +81 277 30 1697.
E-mail address: xiao@cee.gunma-u.ac.jp (X. Xiao).
make gasification an attractive technology [5]. Gasification in fluidized
bed offers great advantages to the solid waste treatment and is being
used extensively for various biomass fuels [6–12]. In addition, energy
efficiency and necessary heat input need to be paid more attention to
due to its low-calorific value of the special biomass feedstock. There-
fore, low temperature gasification is an interesting alternative, both
from the energy point of view [13,14], and to avoid the ash-related
problem at high temperature, such as sintering, agglomeration, de-
position, erosion and corrosion [11]. When the process is carried out
at lower temperature to get higher efficiency and easier operation,
more tar and char are produced [10]. But this tar can be eliminated by
catalytic decomposition [15]. Besides, steam gasification is a highly
endothermal process and needs heat. This heat can be provided by
burning the char in a separate chamber and carrying such heat to the
gasification with a medium like silica sand [16], which is the origin of
the Internally Circulating Fluidized-bed Gasifier (ICFG) design.
2. ICFG design concept
Reactor design is very crucial for gasification in terms of efficiency,
heat value of the product gas and also for tar formation [17]. Basically,
gasifiers can be categorized in several reactor design groups such as
‘single-stage’ and ‘multi-stage’ arrangement [18]. To improve the
gasification process, modern and advanced gasification technologies
separate the drying, devolatilization, gasification and combustion reac-
tion zones. These ‘multi-stage’ processes enhance process efficiency and

0378-3820/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.fuproc.2009.08.009
896 X. Xiao et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 895–902
product gas quality by combining several reaction zones under
consideration of various fuel characteristics. Various ‘multi-stage’
processes are currently under development or already in operation
[18–22]. The high volatile amount of biomass, which is released rapidly
as gaseous substances during pyrolysis, is taken into account in
numerous reactor concepts by spatial subdivision of the fuel conversion
steps. This makes it possible to influence and optimize the operating
parameters in each conversion step.
There has been a conceptual design of the Internally Circulating
Fluidized-bed Gasifier (ICFG) [23], which has three different functions:
gasification, char combustion and bed temperature control. It is com-
posed of two chambers with different specific functions, one is the
gasification chamber and the other is the combustion chamber. In each
of them, there is a bed material (e.g. silica sand) circulating between
these two chambers. Gasification residue including char is transferred
from the gasification chamber to combustion chamber by this internal
circulation. In the combustion chamber, combustion of char supplies
heat to the bed material. The heated bed material is returned to the
gasification chamber and supply heat needed for gasification reaction.
The design concept is shown in Fig. 1. This kind of gasifier can afford a
great diversity of fuels, such as coal, biomass and waste, which seems
to be a prospective option for manure compost we concern here.
The concept of that promising gasification process is shared by
different researchers and is catching an increasingly greater interest in
recent years. Corella et al. [16] gave a thorough review of the relevant
gasifiers which existed in the history and are operated today all over
the world. After an in-depth and detailed evaluation and analysis of all
the available data, the authors presented their doubt about the
economical feasibility. For example, external heat supply of energy is
necessary to keep the operating temperature of >800 °C because of
the highly endothermic gasification with pure steam, and the heat
required to generate steam to such temperature. Therefore, relatively
low temperature range (600–700 °C) is especially paid attention to
and the position of the catalyst bed is also cared in the current paper.
3. Objectives
Previous studies in a lab-scale fluidized-bed reactor have described
the gasification characteristics of manure compost and showed that
the combination of the high-performance catalyst with the fluidized-
bed reactor would provide a suitable system [24]. In addition, Corella
et al. [16] mentioned that most reports on ICFG technology were
published only in Japanese, making it difficult to report relevant data.
Therefore, the main objectives of this study are: (a) to introduce the
design and construction of Internally Circulating Fluidized-bed
Gasifier (ICFG), and (b) to investigate the feasibility of gasifying
manure compost using ICFG, and (c) to evaluate the effects of pressure
Fig. 1. ICFG concept.
balance, reaction temperature and steam ratio on the performance of
the gasifier.
4. Experimental section
4.1. Test facility
The ICFG test facility is an atmospheric installation and consists of
six main parts: (1) internally circulating fluidized-bed reactor (core
reactor); (2) feedstock feeding section; (3) air and steam supply
section; (4) gas cleaning and sampling section; (5) control and data
acquisition section; and (6) gas offline/online analysis section. Fig. 2
shows a schematic of ICFG system used in this study. It is designed
together with the help and expertise of Ebara Corporation and Suzuki
Shoko Co., Ltd. Some technical introduction of this facility has been
presented in some recent international conference [25]. With
reference to this figure, the following are descriptions of the system
components.
4.1.1. Core reactor
The core reactor is made of 6 mm-thick stainless steel with a total
height of 1.25 m. An enlarged disengagement section mounted on the
top of the main fluidizing part is used to reduce the elutriation rate
from the fluidized bed. The height of the enlarged section is 380 mm
whereas the bottom and top square cross sections are 212 × 212 mm
and 412 × 412 mm, respectively. The angle of inclination is 45° from
the vertical axis. In the bottom, perforated plate distributors are used
to ensure good gas distribution for a wide range of operating
parameters. The reactor is surrounded by three individually con-
trolled electric heating furnaces (10 kW, 7.5 kW and 7.5 kW) that
supply heat to keep the desired temperature for different parts during
operation. The catalyst bed is settled in the freeboard of the
gasification chamber in order to utilize the heat in the reactor for
the endothermic reforming reactions and to eliminate the down-
stream cleanup economically. It is a column container with the inner
diameter of 93.6 mm and the height of 320 mm. The catalyst is put
inside the catalyst bed, which is operated as a fixed bed.
4.1.2. Feedstock feeding section
It consists of a frame, two hoppers, a stirrer, a screw feeder and a
drive system with an electric motor and a speed controller. The frame
is designed in such a way that the hopper can slide in and out for easy
evaluation and modification. The funnel shaped hopper, which served
as a reservoir for the fuel material, has a capacity of about 15 L. The
stirrer is used to loosen and mix the fuel, in order to prevent it from
settling and consolidating to form a bridge, and to keep the fuel supply
homogeneous and consistent. The feedstock is fed by a variable
rotating screw feeder (of 25 mm diameter) from the feedstock storage
hopper. There is another lock hopper (of 2 L) above it to charge more
feedstock for long-time operation, whose principle is similar to solid
feeding into pressurized reactors. The compost feed rates are
calibrated at different rotating speeds and the maximum can reach
about 8 kg/h. The feeding pipe has a water-cooling jacket to avoid
feedstock pyrolysis before it enters the gasifier. The feeding point is at
260 mm from the bottom plate.
4.1.3. Air and steam supply section
The air required for both fluidization and combustion is supplied to
the combustion chamber by an air supply unit. The unit consists of an
air compressor (CFP15-8.5D, Anest Iwata Corporation), an air receiver
(AST-120C-140, Anest Iwata Corporation), a pressure gauge having a
pressure range of 0–1.0 MPa, a main valve, four rotometers (KOFLOC
MODEL RK1200, Kojima Instruments INC.) to control the air flow rates
and an air preheater with the capacity of 4 kW.
The water from the water feeding section (including a water tank,
a water pump (1M1HA-V0.2F-10D1K, Nikkiso Co., Ltd.), a pressure
 X. Xiao et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 895–902
Fig. 2. Schematic of ICFG system.
gauge and five rotometers) goes through a temperature-controlled
steam generator with the capacity of 6 kW, and then is introduced
into the gasification chamber from the bottom. Steam serves on the
one hand as a reactant to support tar conversion and gas phase
reactions and on the other hand fluidizing the bed material in the
gasification chamber. There is another steam feed for the catalyst bed
if more steam is needed for the steam reforming reaction.
In addition, the facility also has feeding pipes and devices for
oxygen and nitrogen.
4.1.4. Gas cleaning and sampling section
Cyclones are connected to the exits of those two chambers to
capture the solid particles (dust, ash and char) escaping from the bed.
The cyclones and connecting ducts also have several external heaters
to get a relatively high temperature and to avoid tar condensation. The
product gas leaves the cyclone through a stainless steel pipe of
25.4 mm diameter, passes the condenser, measured by gas meter (DC-
2C, Shinagawa Co., Ltd), and then is burnt in the afterburner, and sent
outside. The condensates and the water that have not reacted are
retained in the condenser. The gas sampling ports are located after the
gas meter, through which it is sampled by gas bags for offline analysis
or directly online analyzed.
4.1.5. Control and data acquisition section
A data acquisition system is used for online recording and processing
of temperature, pressure and gas flow rate in ICFG. This system consists
of temperature probes, pressure transducers, a personal computer and
signal conditioning module.
The reactor temperature at 9 points are measured by K-type ther-
mocouple probes, including two in bed, one in the freeboard of gas-
ification chamber and combustion chamber, two in bed material
transfer chambers, and one in the catalyst bed. Other thermocouple
probes are located at air preheater, steam generator, electric furnaces,
reactor outlet, cyclones, condensers and gas meters.
Five pressure taps are installed at different positions in the reac-
tor. The outlet opening of each tap is connected to a gauge pressure
897
transmitter (Model EJX530J, Yokogawa Electric Corporation) or a
differential pressure transmitter (Model EJA110A, Yokogawa Electric
Corporation). The first measurement PA is located above the dis-
tributor in the combustion chamber. The next second pressure taps
(PB, PC) are installed at the top of the combustion chamber and the
outlet of the gasification chamber respectively. Another measurement
point PD is positioned at the freeboard below the catalyst bed in the
gasification chamber. Tap PE is installed above the distributor in the
gasification chamber.
4.1.6. Gas offline/online analysis section
The quality of the gas samples is analyzed in terms of their
composition using gas chromatography (GC-2014, Shimadzu Corpo-
ration). The concentration of CO, CO2, CH4 and some other light
hydrocarbons C2+ (C2Hm, C3Hm and C4Hm) are determined by FID-GC
and the concentration of hydrogen is determined by TCD-GC.
The gas online analysis will be accomplished soon, after taking slip
flow from the product gas and sending it to a Multi-component Gas
Analyzer (VA-3000, Horiba, Ltd.) and Micro GC. It will be shown in
forthcoming papers.
4.2. Materials
The compost feedstock is obtained from the pig feedlot in Gunma
Prefecture, Japan. It is not a uniform material and requires to get rid of
the large size particles (>5 mm) to fit the feeder. It is carefully
prepared (collected, sieved, partially dried sometimes, etc.), whose
characteristics are given in Table 1.
Silica sand is used as inert bed material in the fluidized-bed
reactor. It is obtained from Nitchitsu Co. Ltd, Japan. Sieve analysis is
carried out on the sand to obtain the mean diameter and particle size
distribution. It has the mean diameter of 0.16 mm, bulk density of
1500 kg/m3 and particle density of 2400 kg/m3. An amount of 14 kg is
used in each experiment.
One kind of commercial catalyst Ni/Al2O3 (C13-4, Süd-Chemie
Catalysts Japan Inc., 3.2–6.4 mm, Ni loading 20 ± 2%) is used.
898 X. Xiao et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 895–902

Table 1
Characteristics of compost feedstock.

Proximate analysis
Moisture wt.%, a.r. 18.43
Volatile matter wt.%, d.b. 67.36
Fixed carbon wt.%, d.b. 12.84
Ash wt.%, d.b. 19.80

Ultimate analysis
Carbon wt.%, d.b. 40.83
Hydrogen wt.%, d.b. 5.36
Nitrogen wt.%, d.b. 4.14
Sulfur wt.%, d.b. 0.55
Oxygen (differential) wt.%, d.b. 29.32

4.3. Test operation procedure

During several test operations, the working situation of all parts in

the system was fully checked. ICFG system could operate well and
some preliminary experiments were carried out with the feedstock
feed rate of 1–2 kg/h.
Each run was started with the filling of the bed of silica sand up to the
required height. Then the electric heaters for the reactor, the air
preheater and the steam generator were turned on while the minimum
air required to fluidize the bed materials was supplied. The start-up
period was necessary to preheat the bed up to the required temperature
before fuel feeding. Both the pyrolysis temperature and catalyst
temperature were set to 600–700 °C. When the bed temperature
reached the desired level, air and steam flow rates were adjusted to
make u/umf around 5–6 (the combustion chamber having a higher
velocity to promote the steady circulation of the bed material). And the
compost feedstock was fed into the lower part of the gasification
chamber. The expanded bed height was about 400 mm during
fluidization, and the released volatile from pyrolysis had the residence
time of around 1–2 s through catalyst bed. A small amount of nitrogen
gas was introduced into the hopper to prevent steam condensation. The
pressure drops and temperatures were monitored and registered every
30 s on a central computer-based data acquisition and control system.
After a stationary reaction condition was established, gas samples were
collected for analysis at the interval of about 15 min. When all sampling
and data recording were completed, the electric heating system was
shut down, the compost, steam and air feeding were stopped and
nitrogen was supplied to cool the reactor and to prevent the continuing
reaction of the solid residues. One run usually took about 8 h form start-
up of the cold plant to shutdown, during which the period of fuel
operation was usually in the range of 3–4 h. The specialized tar sampling Fig. 3. Schematic of reactor cross section and internal circulation of bed material
section, whose design is similar to [26], has not accomplished so far, thus (I: Gasification chamber, GC; II: Combustion chamber, CC; III: Bed material transfer chamber,
condensates in the condenser were taken and analyzed by Total Organic BTC).
Carbon Analyzer (TOC-V, Shimadzu Corporation) in each experiment, to
estimate the tar level in the product gas roughly. All solid samples such
as bed material, char, catalyst, fly ash etc. were analyzed afterward. section of CC, there are outlets to BTC. During fluidization, bed material
can be elutriated over the clapboard from CC to BTC. BTC acts as a return
5. Results and discussion leg to GC, in which the inert aeration gas is fed and the bed material is
moved downward. It is also acts as an L-valve between CC and GC to seal
5.1. Cold model operation both zones. Colored and visible particles were used inside to ensure
good internal circulation.
A transparent plexiglas cold model with the same size was also set up
to determine the fluidization state and the bed material circulation. The 5.2. Internal circulation of bed material
internal circulation routines between the gasification chamber (I, GC)
and the combustion chamber (II, CC) through the bed material transfer The circulating rate of the bed material is an important operating
chamber (III, BTC) can be seen clearly in Fig. 3. GC and CC are bubbling parameter, not only for the heat supply to gasification reaction, but also
fluidized beds and BTC is a downflow moving bed. At the bottom of the for the control of gasification chamber and autothermic operation. The
wall between CC and GC, there is an interconnected port, through which circulation ratio is defined as the internal circulating mass of the bed
bed material can move from CC to GC. CC has a higher fluidization material per mass input of the feedstock.
velocity than GC, to drive the bed material circulation. The distributor in Measurements of bed material circulating rate were carried out at
CC is sloping arranged in order to promote the circulation. At the upper the planned typical operating conditions. It was an indirect measuring
 X. Xiao et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 895–902 899

method due to the difficulty at hot condition. The circulation rate was
calculated by the energy balance between the combustion chamber and
the gasification. The procedure is similar to a real test operation, just
without feedstock feeding. When all parameters reach the desired level,
the electric furnaces are regulated manually to make them in a
stationary state. Then a fixed flow rate of water (e.g. 5 g/min) is
supplied to the gasification chamber. The temperature of the gasification
chamber decreases because of the absorbed heat to turn the water into
steam. Until the stationary state is reached once again, all the
parameters are recorded and the heat balance equations are established
in the gasification chamber and the combustion chamber. After looking
up the specific heat of bed material, water and steam, and the latent heat
of water, and the temperature of supplied water, gasification chamber
and combustion chamber, the bed material circulating rate can be
calculated. At the same time, good fluidization state in the two chambers
were verified, where the temperature distribution within the bed was
almost uniform (variations of less than 2 °C).
Together with the feedstock feeding rates in the present study, the
circulation ratio is ranged from 20 to 30.

5.3. Test operation

After the measurement of bed material circulation, the feedstock

was fed into the gasifier. The test runs demonstrate that ICFG system
can operate steadily enough to carry out the continued investigations.
Currently, there is little open literature on the gasification of animal
waste-based fuels in fluidized bed [5]. Therefore, it is not easy to
compare with other research results. Fig. 4 shows the product gas
yield and composition in ICFG, compared to our own lab-scale result
using the same feedstock [25]. The gas yield is expressed as the
amount of gas produced per unit weight of fuel. Regarding gas
composition, since they are not absolutely under the same conditions,
the volume percentage expressed on the basis of dry and N2 free is
compared. The gas yield and composition are very close, justifying the
similar reaction characteristics and successful operation of ICFG.

5.4. Effect of pressure balance

Fig. 4. Product gas compared between ICFG and lab-scale fluidized bed reactor: (a) Product
gas yield (b) Product gas composition.
To ensure the separation of the flue gas from the combustion and the
product gas from the gasification, first of all, the pressure in the
rising, some little air may enter the gasification chamber. It is easily
freeboard of both chambers has to be kept at the same level [18].
understood in Fig. 6, showing the relationship of gas yield and pressure
Although BTC (in Fig. 3) has the role to seal CC and GC, it is hard to avoid
drop between two chambers.
gas mixing between those two chambers absolutely, because of the
circulating solid and pressure fluctuation of bubbling fluidized bed.
Sometimes, the pressure drop will result in some little product gas to
enter the combustion chamber. Therefore, gas mixing (including
volatile, product gas and air) together with bed material circulation
between the two chambers has some effect on the gas yield and gas
quality. If some product gas enters the combustion chamber, the
product gas yield will decrease. If some air enters the gasification
chamber, the product gas quality will degrade. If bed material circulation
is promoted to excess level, more char will be transferred rapidly from
the gasification chamber to the combustion chamber, releasing some
part of volatile. If the bed material circulation is not enough, the char
requirement for combustion to supply heat will be lower.
In this process there are three main reactants: feedstock, steam and
air. To describe the reacting system, two ratios have been selected: air/
steam ratio (l/g) and steam/feedstock ratio (g/g). Thus, different air
and steam flow rates were tried and air/steam ratio is defined as an
index to analyze the variations, shown in Fig. 5. The gas yield is
expressed as the amount of gas produced per unit weight of fuel
(somewhere using dimensionless gas yield for better comparison).
With this ratio increasing from 2.3 to 4.3, it increased first, reaching
one peak around 3.5, and then decreased gradually. It can be explained
that, when air velocity rises, the pressure in the combustion chamber
has a little increase, reaching a pressure balance. Then, as air further Fig. 5. Effect of air/steam ratio on product gas yield (dimensionless).
900 X. Xiao et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 895–902
Fig. 6. Effect of pressure balance on product gas yield (dimensionless).
In a word, pressure balance plays an important role on the successful
operation and optimization of the gasifier. Actually, it can be achieved
both by changing the feeding rates of the air and the steam, and by
adjusting the control valve for product gas and combustion gas flow
rates. These valves are controlled depending on the pressure drop over
the downstream equipments in the product gas line [19]. There is no
problem in actual operation, because the control and optimization of
pressure balance is necessary before and during feedstock feeding.
5.5. Effect of reaction temperatures
This process includes multiple main stages: drying and pyrolysis of
the feedstock in the gasification chamber, char combustion in the
combustion chamber and catalytic reforming of the pyrolysis gas and
tar in the catalyst bed. Reaction temperatures are very important in
those stages. In the present test series, both the pyrolysis temperature
and catalyst temperature ranged from 600 to 700 °C. Although the
temperature variations were not much, it could still find the effects of
the temperatures. The product gas yield is shown in Fig. 7 at different
Fig. 7. Effect of pyrolysis temperature on product gas yield.
Fig. 8. Effect of catalytic temperature on product gas composition.
pyrolysis temperatures (bed temperature) in the gasification chamber.
The increase of total gas yield with bed temperature is well understood
because when bed temperature is increased, the rate of the volatile
release from the feedstock, thermal cracking reaction of tar, and char
gasification also increase.
After the pyrolysis stage, the produced gas and tar pass through the
catalyst bed, where the tar is converted to gas, together with some
steam reforming and water shift reactions. The product gas compo-
sition is shown in Fig. 8 at different catalytic temperatures. The in-
crease of the H2 content at higher catalytic temperature is due to the
promotion of thermal cracking and steam reforming, and such crack-
ing and reforming reactions produce hydrogen [27]. Correspondingly,
CH4 and CO show the opposite trend because higher temperature
promotes the endothermic reforming reaction of CH4 and water gas
shift reaction of CO.
5.6. Effect of steam/feedstock ratio
In Fig. 5, there is another peak around 1.0 because high steam
concentration is beneficial to steam reforming reaction. Thus, the
relationship of product gas composition and steam/feedstock ratio is
shown in Fig. 9. The steam content in the raw gas is an important
Fig. 9. Effect of steam/feedstock ratio on product gas composition.
 X. Xiao et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 895–902 901

variable. For instance, when the tar present in such a gas is going to be
destroyed with a catalyst bed, the effectiveness of such tar destruction
depends on the steam content in the gas phase because it is an
important reactant for tar removal reactions [7]. In addition, the steam
also takes part in the steam reforming reaction of methane and the
water gas shift reaction of carbon monoxide [10]. That is why lower
methane and carbon monoxide concentration, higher hydrogen and
carbon dioxide are obtained at a larger steam ratio. Besides, lower
heating value (LHV) and H2/CO ratio of the product gas are also
presented in Fig. 10 because they are very important for further
possible end use. H2/CO increases with steam ratio increasing, while
LHV decreases.
On the other hand, it should be cared that not much steam should
be present in the raw gas because it would imply a loss of energetic
efficiency (external heat is given to evaporate the water and produce
such steam) [7,16]. It will influence the operating temperature and
not good for autothermic operation. Several researchers [25,27] in
lab-scale apparatus have reported that excessive steam lower the
reaction temperature and degrade fuel gas quality.

5.7. Tar content Fig. 11. Effect of catalytic temperature on Tar-C.

Products from biomass gasification are gas, condensates (water

and tars, collected as liquids but in the gas phase in the gasifier), and
char. The tar content in the product gas is a very important data which
indicates the gas quality and usefulness. Regarding biomass gasifica-
tion technology, although a great deal of research and development
work has been carried out during the past decade the commercial
breakthrough for this technology is still far away. One problem that
has not been completely solved so far is the tar content in the product
gas, which can cause plugging in the colder parts of the plant [19].
However, it has been mentioned in Section 4.3 that the specialized tar
sampling section has not accomplished so far, thus the condensates in
the condenser were analyzed by Total Organic Carbon Analyzer, as a
preliminary estimation of the tar level.
The condensate solution in the condenser was first filtered to
eliminate fine ash/char particles, diluted with distilled water and then
analyzed by a Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOC-V CPH, Shimadzu
Corporation), which was based on quantitation by a nondispersive
infrared detector (NDIR) of the amount of CO2 produced during the
catalytic combustion at high temperature of the tar in the liquid sample.
The standards of known carbon content used for the calibration of the
different ranges (100 and 1000 mg/l) were prepared by dissolving in
water fixed amounts of potassium hydrogen phthalate, KHP (C8H5O4K).
Certainly, the tar content depends a lot on the varied gasification
conditions. In the present study, tar level is evaluated by defining Tar-C
(carbon conversion to tar product) as the index. Effects of catalytic
temperature and steam ratio were investigated, shown in Figs. 11
and 12. The tar content is heavily dependent on the temperature. The
reason for this effect is that the catalyst shows an increased activity at
higher temperature [7]. It can also be clearly observed that the Tar-C is
decreased from more than 1.5% to 0.2% with the steam ratio increasing
because the steam directly takes part in the conversion of tar.
In another way, tar amount was measured by gravimetric method
[28]. On an average, the tar content in the product gas was about 0.3 g/
Nm3 at typical conditions, with about 99% tar converting to gas,
compared to the experimental results without catalyst bed. By the
way, a new specialized tar sampling section will be accomplished in
the near future, so as to measure the tar content more accurately.
5.8. Char yield
Char is another product from biomass gasification, and its yield
should be as small as possible to get a good gasification process. Char
was collected in every experiment in two points: in the gaifier bed

Fig. 10. Effect of steam/feedstock ratio on product gas LHV and H2/CO ratio. Fig. 12. Effect of steam/feedstock ratio on Tar-C.
902 X. Xiao et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 895–902
(mixed with the sand) and in the vessels located at the bottom of the
cyclones. The carbon content in them was measured, and then total
carbon balance was conducted. On an average, Char-C (carbon con-
version to char product) is only about 4% of total carbon input by
feedstock feeding, which means that the char produced by pyrolysis in
the gasification chamber can be transferred to the combustion
chamber successfully and be burnt out.
Above all, under good conditions, a time-averaged product gas of
about 1.0–1.2 m3/kg feedstock was obtained, with about 39–47 vol.% H2,
about 7–15 vol.% CO, 4–8 vol.% CH4, 20–25 vol.% CO2, and 8–10 MJ/Nm3
LHV, revealing a hopeful prospect.
6. Conclusions
ICFG design concept affords a multi-stage process for biomass and
waste treatment, with high potential and several advantages. Bed
material acts as the medium for char combustion and heat exchange by
its internal circulation.
It is feasible to produce hydrogen or syngas with medium calorific
value from the low-calorific solid fuels and will be promising for
animal waste elimination. The test series demonstrate that ICFG can
operate well and makes it possible to carry out the future research.
Pressure balance is to ensure the separation of the flue gas and the
product gas, which is optimized by adjusting the air/steam ratio and
the control valve. Temperature and steam ratio have an important role
on the gasification process.
It is also expected that system optimization, higher gas yield, better
gas quality, and lower tar content will be attained in the future research.
The next targets are: (1) to increase the fuel operation time and to
improve system reliability; (2) to vary further operating parameters in
order to extend catalyst lifetime; (3) to test different catalysts and bed
materials in order to improve gas quality.
Acknowledgement
This work is supported by Prefecture Collaboration of Regional
Entities for the Advancement of Technological Excellence, Japan Science
and Technology Agency.
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