Bioresource Technology 117 (2012) 99–106

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Bioresource Technology
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Experimental investigation on an entrained flow type biomass gasification

system using coconut coir dust as powdery biomass feedstock
P.K. Senapati ⇑, S. Behera
Design & Rural Technology Department, CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar 751 013, India

h i g h l i g h t s

" An entrained flow gasifier has been successfully tried with coconut coir dusts.
" The gasifier could attain temperatures in the range of 976–1100 °C.
" The gas yield and tar content were influenced by introduction of steam and preheat.
3
" The LHV and peak CGE of 7.86 MJ/Nm and 87.6% respectively were obtained.

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

Article history: Based on an entrained flow concept, a prototype atmospheric gasification system has been designed and
Received 10 January 2012 developed in the laboratory for gasification of powdery biomass feedstock such as rice husks, coconut coir
Received in revised form 14 April 2012 dust, saw dust etc. The reactor was developed by adopting L/D (height to diameter) ratio of 10, residence
Accepted 15 April 2012
time of about 2 s and a turn down ratio (TDR) of 1.5. The experimental investigation was carried out using
Available online 30 April 2012
coconut coir dust as biomass feedstock with a mean operating feed rate of 40 kg/h The effects of equiv-
alence ratio in the range of 0.21–0.3, steam feed at a fixed flow rate of 12 kg/h, preheat on reactor tem-
Keywords:
perature, product gas yield and tar content were investigated. The gasifier could able to attain high
Entrained flow type
Powdery biomass
temperatures in the range of 976–1100 °C with gas lower heating value (LHV) and peak cold gas effi-
Gasification ciency (CGE) of 7.86 MJ/Nm3 and 87.6% respectively.
Hydrogen yield Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Biomass is the collective form for all forms of plant materials
including forest and agro-residues. It has environmental benefits,
offer fuel flexibility and can be used as supplemental low cost fuel,
especially residues, for use in combustion systems, i.e. gas turbine,
gas engines and gas burners. Gasification of biomass is a thermo-
chemical process and has the potential to convert lignocellulosic
biomass into a gas or liquid intermediate suitable for further refin-
ing to valuable products. It is a less developed technology than bio-
mass combustion. Because of this reason, there is an increased risk
associated with the commercialization of gasification technology.
Several studies indicate that the available biomass potential in
India can be used for energetic and chemical processes very
efficiently via gasification.
Several types of biomass gasifiers have been developed over the
years including fixed bed, bubbling fluidized bed and circulating
fluid bed gasifiers for solid biomass (McKendry, 2002; Dasappa
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 674 2581635; fax: +91 674 2581637.
E-mail address: pksenapati@immt.res.in (P.K. Senapati).
et al., 2004; Corella et al., 2005; Sharma, 2008; MNRE Newsletter,
2008; Barman et al., 2012; Balu and Chung, 2012). These gasifiers
operate at pressures ranging from atmospheric to 2.4 MPa and
with typical operating temperatures in the range of 250–900 °C.
The content of impurities in terms of tar and particulate matter
in the raw product gas necessitates cleaning activity in order to
meet both utility and environmental emission limits (Lin et al.,
2011). The effect of bed temperature and steam flow rate on prod-
uct gas yield in a fixed bed biomass gasifier was studied by Yan
et al. (2010). It has also been reported in literature that introduc-
tion of steam could able to generate nitrogen free hydrogen-rich
product gas with higher heating values in fluidized and steam-
oxygen blown circulating fluidized bed gasifiers with a medium
range heating values (Peng-mei et al., 2003; Kempegowda et al.,
2010; Karmakar et al., 2011; Meng et al.,2011). A few studies on
design, developmental and modeling aspects of cyclone type
biomass gasifiers have been reported in literature (Gabra et al.,
2001; Syred et al., 2004; Guo et al., 2009; Sun et al., 2009).
Fletcher et al. (2000) carried out CFD modeling of entrained
flow gasification of biomass which may be considered useful in
designing such systems. Henrich and Weirich (2004) have

0960-8524/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.04.049
100 P.K. Senapati, S. Behera / Bioresource Technology 117 (2012) 99–106
conducted studies on a pressurized entrained flow biomass gasifier
reactor with straw as biomass feedstocks. The pyrolysis conden-
sate and pulverized pyrolysis char in the form of dense slurry were
pumped into a slagging entrained flow gasifier at high operating
temperature and pressure for production of syn-gas. Zhao et al.
(2009) have developed a kinetic model for gasification of rice husk
in an entrained flow reactor with a residence time of less than 1.5 s
and emphasized on the requirement of higher temperature in the
order of 900–1000 °C for optimal producer gas yield. Some investi-
gators have indicated that the particle size, residence time and
pyrolysis pretreatment temperatures significantly affect the per-
formance of an entrained flow gasification system (Hernandez
et al., 2010a; Xiao et al., 2010). Qin et al. (2011) have investigated
in a laboratory scale atmospheric pressure entrained flow gasifier
using wood and straw as biomass feed stock. The addition of steam
indicated an improvement in producer gas yield and at the largest
supply of steam addition (H2O/C) a molar ratio of H2/O equals to 1
was achieved. Cheng et al. (2012) have developed an allothermal
biomass gasification system using biomass micron fuel (BMF) as
external heat source. Heat was supplied to the gasifier by combus-
tion of BMF. The system energy efficiency was comparatively low
(around 44%) due to high cost of energy required for preparation
of BMF.
At present, India produces more than 200 million tons of agro-
wastes per annum in the form of powdery biomass from various
agro-processing industries such as rice mills, coir industries, saw
mills etc. The energy values of these huge wastes can be extracted
through advanced gasification technology for various thermal
applications such as in large scale agro and food processing indus-
tries, ceramic and glass industries, metallurgical industries. This
paper describes the construction of a 30 kWe biomass gasifier with
various system elements based on the entrained-flow technology
and it’s testing with coir dust as biomass feedstock. A series of gas-
ification trials were conducted to investigate the effect of equiva-
lence ratio, reactor temperature, preheat and steam feeding on
the performance of the gasifier. Reaction conditions were dis-
cussed for achieving optimum gas yield with high cold gas effi-
ciency (CGE).
2. Methods
2.1. Experimental materials and analyses
The coconut coir dusts used for the study were collected from a
local coir industry in Puri district of Orissa situated in the eastern
coastal region of India. The moisture content of the samples were
determined by using Moisture Analyzer Instrument ((Make: Den-
ver Instruments, Germany, Model: IR 60, Accuracy: 0.01%). The cal-
orific value of the samples were measured with digital bomb
calorimeter (Make: Parr, Model: 6100 Isoperibol Calorimeter, Pre-
cision classification: 0.2% Class) and was found to be 17.79 MJ/kg.
It has been cited in the literature that the coir dust has more than
97.1% combustible components (Volatiles: 70.3 wt.%, Fixed Carbon:
26.8 wt.%) and a very low ash content of around 3 wt.% on dry air
basis (Ganesh, 2006). The ultimate analysis of coir dust indicated
C, H and O wt.% of 50.3, 5.1 and 39.6% respectively (Gaur and Reed,
1998). Abad et al. (2002) determined the content of fiber constitu-
ents in some Indian coconut coir dusts and the cellulose, hemi-cel-
lulose and lignin contents were found to be 32.4 wt.%, 8.4 wt.% and
43.1 wt.% respectively. The particle size distribution was deter-
mined by rehydrating and air drying coir dust samples. After the
samples were dried, particle sizes were separated by sieving
100 g sample on a CSC Scientific (Fairfax, va) rotating shaker for
10 min using screens with pore diameter of 8, 6.3, 4.0, 2.0, 1.0,
0.5 and 0.25 mm. The weight of the material collected in each
screen was determined. The weight distribution of the coir dust
samples indicated that 68% of the particles were in the range of
0.5–2 mm in diameter and 27.6% of the particles were in the size
range of 2–8 mm in diameter. The amount of very fine (<0.5 mm)
and very coarse (>8 mm) particles were determined to be 3.6%
and 0.8% respectively.
2.2. System elements of the entrained flow reactor
A schematic diagram of the entrained flow biomass gasification
system is shown in Fig. 1. The system mainly consists of an en-
trained flow reactor, oil ignition and pre-heating unit, fuel feeding
arrangements, air and steam injection units and a gas sampler.
The reactor is made up of 5 mm thick outer mild steel shell
lined inside with high alumina (70%) refractory castables of
100 mm thick to withstand high temperatures in the range of
1000–1500 °C and to provide an adequate insulation for minimiz-
ing heat loss. A L/D (height to diameter) ratio of 10 has been
adopted in the reactor geometry to provide not only adequate res-
idence time for maximizing char gasification but also to improvise
the mixed flow and plug flow characteristics for the reactor. These
characteristics are quite essential for entrained flow gasification
systems to enhance the energy density of the end product gas as
cited in the literature (Fletcher et al., 2000). Based on simple plug
flow calculation a gas residence time of about two second has been
adopted for the gasifier.
The oil ignition and pre-heating unit comprises of an oil storage
tank of 0.3 m3 capacity, fuel oil-air injection with atomizing noz-
zles, oil pumps (one in operation and other standby), a 2.2 kW
blower with air regulating valve to supply air for atomization
and combustion. The biomass feeding arrangements consist of a
novel type air jet biomass feeder, biomass bin, feeder pipes. Due
to sticky characteristics of biomass particles and to avoid possible
chocking at the bin outlet, a vibratory mechanism has been pro-
vided to ensure continuous supply of powdery biomass to the gas-
ifier through the air jet feeder.
The vibrating mechanism attached to the feeding bin consists of
motorized pulley, an eccentric mounted over a rotating shaft, a
connecting rod and leaf springs. The rotational speed of the eccen-
tric provides gentle oscillatory to and fro motion to the bin by
means of reduction motor-pulley arrangements. The biomass flow
rates are controlled by means of a sliding gate with rack and pinion
type linear actuator provided at the outlet of the bin. The steam
injection unit consists of a steam generator having a steam output
capacity of 20 kg/h at a pressure of 3 kg/cm2. Mountings such as
main steam stop valves, air vent valve, single port spring loaded
safety valve, blow down valve, non-return valve on feed water line,
isolating needle valves for indicating instruments etc. are provided
in the steam generator. For instrument control and safety steam
pressure indicator, steam pressure switches for heat on/off, water
level controller for auto on–off of the feed pump, audiovisual alarm
for low water safety lockout and gauge glass assembly are also pro-
vided. The steam flow rates are measured by means of a steam flow
meter installed in the steam feeding pipe line of the reactor. A sec-
ondary combustor provided at the outlet of the gasifier burns the
product gas fully before leaving it to the atmosphere. The flue
gas after combustion was cooled to a temperature of 250–300 °C
in a dilution chamber and then left to atmosphere through an ex-
haust chimney.
A gas sampler fabricated in the laboratory was installed near
the top end of the gasifier reactor. A number of gas sampling ports.
The gas sampler consists of a 20 liter capacity stainless steel tank
with fiber filter, air vent valve and sample gas inlet and outlet
valves. A pulley with wire rope arrangement provides up and down
movement of the water tank for collecting the gas samples by
water displacement method. The hot product gas after passing
 P.K. Senapati, S. Behera / Bioresource Technology 117 (2012) 99–106
TEMPERATURE
INDICATORS
AIR PIPING DUCT FOR
CYCLONE COMBUSTOR
COMBUSTOR
CHIMNEY
DILUTION CHAMBER
ASH
COLLECTOR
T1 to T10
THERMO-
COUPLE
POINTS
OIL BURNER
OIL PUMPS
AND
HEATING
OIL UNIT
TANK
BLOWER-1 BLOWER-2 BLOWER-3
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of Entrained flow biomass gasification system.
through the water bed gets cooled and collected for analysis pur-
poses. An air mass flow meter (Make: Krone-Marshal, Flow rate
range: 14.1–141 kg/h) was fitted on the compressed air pipe line
to measure the total air flow into the gasifier.
The flow rate of pre-heated secondary air supplied to the gas-
ifier through a venturi mixer was measured by means of an orifice
meter calibrated with a differential manometer. By measuring the
flow-rate of preheated secondary air and adjusting the primary air
inlet valve, the exact amount of primary air entraining the pow-
dery biomass to the gasifier could be ascertained. Ten numbers
of thermocouples (PT-RH/RH-13%, 0.45 dia sheath, KER-710,
Recrystalized Alumina of 12 mm OD and 8 mm ID, 600 mm long
with standard flanges) with digital temperature indicators (Mod-
el:MC 2838–301-000, Temperature range: 0–1600 °C, PID func-
tion) were provided at different elevation of the reactor to
measure the temperatures inside the gasifier reactor. Portable dig-
ital temperature indicators (Model: TM 903C, Temperature range:
0–999 °C) with K-type thermocouples were used to measure the
temperatures locally at various points. The product gas composi-
tion was measured by a gas analysis apparatus ORSAT with
5-pipettes. These pipettes are of Fisher ‘D’ type with 4-absorption
and 1-combustion pipettes. This apparatus is preferred over other
conventional types as it can measure CO2, O2, CO, CH4 and H2. The
tar collected through a fiber filter near the gas sampling port was
determined by weighing method.
2.3. Experimental procedure
The experimental studies with the prototype gasifier were con-
ducted at a fuel feed rate of 40 kg/h and the equivalence ratios
were in the range of 0.21–0.3. Equivalence ratio is defined as the
ratio of the actual amount air used for partial combustion to the
stoichiometric air required for full combustion. The gasifier was
preheated to a temperature of 500–600 °C through an oil-ignition
101
GAS SAMPLER
ORIFICE METER
VENTURI
MIXER
PREHEATED AIR FEEDER
BIOMASS
STORAGE
HOPPER
GASIFIER
BIOMASS
FEEDER
Air-Jet Feeder
STEAM
GENERATOR
system prior to injecting the biomass into it. The injection of
primary air through the air-jet feeder sucked the biomass from
the bin and was supplied to the gasifier at a mass flow rate of
16–25 kg/h. For maintaining aerodynamic stability, the biomass
fuel with primary air was injected at a velocity of around 30 m/s.
The secondary preheated air was supplied at a mass flow rate of
33–50 kg/h through a venturi mixer. Turn down ratio (TDR) is
the range in which the gasifier can be operated without any
problem in the production of gas. For the system, a TDR of 1.5
i.e. operating between 30–45 kg/h was maintained. Experiments
were carried out at atmospheric pressure. The system could
achieve stable conditions in two hours and the recorded tempera-
tures varied within ±5 °C.
3. Results and discussion
The performance of the gasifier was evaluated with respect to
major variables such as equivalence ratio, reactor temperature,
preheat temperature and steam injection affecting the product
gas composition, tar content, low gas heating value (LHV) and cold
gas efficiency (CGE). The data obtained through experimental trials
are thoroughly analyzed and discussed in the following section.
3.1. Effect of equivalence ratio on the temperature of the gasifier
Fig. 2 shows the effect of equivalence ratio on the gas tempera-
ture, when the powdery biomass feed stock along with primary air
was injected into the gasifier. It is observed that the temperature
between T1 and T2 increases slowly, but thereafter increases rap-
idly. The rapid increase in temperature inside the reactor beyond
T2 can be explained as follows. The initial heating of the gasifier
shell with oil-ignition system increases the wall temperature to
around 470–590 °C. In addition to this, the biomass particles get
dried and pyrolized immediately due to their entrainment into
102 P.K. Senapati, S. Behera / Bioresource Technology 117 (2012) 99–106

1200 C 6 :H10 O5 þ 1:5O2 ¼ 4CO þ 2CO2 þ 5H2 DH ¼ 464kJ=mole

ðThermal gasificationÞ
1000
Gasifier temperature [OC]

ð1Þ
800
C 6 H10 O5 þ 3H2 O ¼ 4CO þ 2CO2 þ 8H2 DH ¼ þ704:65kJ=mole
600 ðSteam gasificationÞ
ð2Þ
400

200 T1 T2 T3 T4
C þ H2 O ¼ CO þ H2 DH ¼ þ130kJ=mole
ð3Þ
T5 T6 T7 Char oxidationðwater  gas reactionÞ
0
0.2 0.23 0.26 0.29 0.32 CO þ H2 O ¼ CO2 þ H2 DH ¼ 40kJ=mole
ð4Þ
Equivalence Ratio [ER] ðShift reactionÞ

Fig. 2. Effect of equivalence ratio on the temperature of the gasifier.
the reactor with higher order velocity (30 m/s) which increases
the temperature of the gas in the early stage of gasification. Beyond
a temperature of 650 °C the carbon–oxygen heterogeneous reac-
tions predominates and temperature increases very rapidly. The
peak temperature of around 976–1100 °C occurs between T6 and
T7 after which there is a decline in temperature. The decrease in
temperature after T7 occurs as the reduction reactions play a dom-
inant role.
Initially, the gas temperature decreases with increase in
equivalence ratio, due to cooling effect of incoming primary air.
Gasification is the thermo-chemical conversion of biomass under
deficient-oxygen conditions. The peak temperature T6 of the
gasifier increases from 976 °C to 1100 °C when the equivalence
ratio increases from 0.21 to 0.27, which may be attributed to the
fact that at higher equivalence ratio, the excess air is available
for exothermic carbon combustion. Beyond an equivalence ratio
of 0.29, the peak gas temperature further decreases which may
The measured concentrations of CO, H2, CO2 and CH4 are shown
in Fig. 3. The nitrogen (N2) in the producer gas mainly comes from
the gasifying agent. Nitrogen (N2) content may be calculated by
summing the other components and subtracting this from 100%.
Its content varied between 40.7% and 59.2% over the gas tempera-
tures investigated. The rising temperature leads to increase in H2
content of the product gas and decrease in CH4 content. The con-
centration of H2 increases from 7.6% to 13.6% vol. between temper-
atures of 736–916 °C. Contrary to that the concentration of CH4
decreases from 5.4% to 3% vol. in the same range of temperature
and reaches zero beyond a temperature of 1004 °C. The concentra-
tion of CO2 decreases from 28.5% to 15% vol. with increase in tem-
perature from 736 °C to 1088 °C. The concentration of CO increases
from 10.8% to 16.2% vol. between temperatures of 490–794 °C and
then decreases slowly. These trends may be explained as follows:
The devolatization temperature of coconut coir dusts is in the
range of 330–600 °C (Ganesh, 2006). CO2 in the producer gas
(a) 30
CO
Composition of the producer gas

be attributed to the cooling effect produced by excess amount of 25 CO2

incoming air to the reactor. H2
It is also seen from Fig. 2 that higher reactor temperatures in the 20 CH4
range of 976–1100 °C could be achieved for coir dust biomass feed-
[vol.%]

stock in the investigated range of equivalence ratio of 0.21–0.3. 15

This temperature is relatively higher than that of fluidized bed gas-
ifier as reported by Li et al. (2004). This may be due to the charac- 10
teristics of entrained flow type gasifier, where each biomass
particle is carried under full suspension in the flow of the gasifying 5
medium with high turbulence and intimate mixing and gets pyrol-
0
ysed and gasified individually with high heating rates.
400 600 800 1000 1200
Gasifier operating temperature [ OC]
3.2. Product gas composition and tar content in the gasifier reactor
(b)
The composition of biomass needs to be evaluated precisely for 1.2
determining the behavior of chemical reaction of biomass species,
Product gas ratios [mol/mol]

1
so as to accommodate all types of powdery biomass while design-
ing the gasifier. The relative proportion of cellulose, hemicelluloses 0.8
and lignin vary considerably in biomass species which may affect
the gasification process. The process requires heat and an oxidant 0.6 CO/CO2
such as air or steam. The heat addition occurs by partial oxidation
of the biomass. In this case exothermic gasification occurs by sup- 0.4 H2/CO2

plying sub-stoichiometric blast to the process. Steam addition also 0.2 H2/CO
serves to shift gas composition with high energy density of pro- CH4/H2
ducer gas and reduces tar formation through endothermic reac- 0
tions. Since it is difficult to evaluate the exact governing 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200
reactions for the gasification process, therefore for simplicity, the
Gasifier operating temperature [ OC]
following reactions are proposed for the powdery biomass feed-
stock using cellulose as a representative feedstock composition Fig. 3. Effect of temperature on composition of producer gas and gas ratios (N2
(Klass, 1998). content: 40.7–59.2 vol.%, ER = 0.27, Moisture content = 15%, Wet. Basis).
 P.K. Senapati, S. Behera / Bioresource Technology 117 (2012) 99–106 103

mainly comes from pyrolysis below 650 °C and oxidation reactions Table 1
including char oxidation (Reaction-1). Therefore around this tem- Product gas composition with steam feeding rate of 12 kg/h.

perature, the concentration of CO2 is very high. The decrease in Temperature, °C Gas composition, volume%
CO2 content at elevated temperatures is due to its consumption CO CO2 H2 CH4 N2
via Boudouard reaction. With increase in gas temperature inside
726 18.6 19.1 7 9 46.3
the reactor, the amount of CO2 reacted with char to produce CO. 784 19 20.6 9.8 8.7 41.9
Below a temperature of 860 °C sufficient char is available for the 838 19.7 21.9 14.1 8.4 35.9
reaction to occur but not for higher temperatures and as a result 886 20.4 22.3 17.2 7.1 33.0
the concentration of CO decreases. The inherent moisture content 941 20.3 21.3 21.4 6.1 30.9
976 18.6 20 21.2 5.3 34.9
of the powdery biomass particles at higher temperature through
endothermic reactions helps in producing more H2 and CO (Reac-
tions-2 and 4). At very high temperature (>900 °C) hydrogen pro-
duction decreases due to exothermic and reversible behavior of been presented. Table 1 presents the product gas composition with
water gas shift reactions. The CH4 content suffers a decrease in a steam feeding rate of 12 kg/h.
concentration with rising temperature which might be due to It is indicated from Table 1 that the addition of steam has a po-
higher extend of cracking reaction. sitive effect on the quality of the product gas as the concentration
The effect of temperature on gas ratios are indicated in Fig. 3(b). of H2 and CH4 increases significantly. The concentration of H2 in-
The computed values of CO/CO2 ratio in the temperature range of creases with temperature and attains a peak value of 21.4% vol.
736–1088 °C were found to increase from 0.54 to 0.88. Similarly, at a temperature of 941 °C and thereafter declines. The decline
the calculated value of H2/CO ratios increases from 0.49 to 0.95 trend of H2 above a temperature of 940 °C may be due to compet-
in the same range of temperatures. This is confirmed from the ing rates of molecular dissociation and radical formation of H2
Fig. 3(b) as both the CO/CO2 and H2/CO ratios increase non-linearly. (Jangsawang et al., 2007). The introduction of steam improves
The decrease in CO2 content and increase in H2 content indicated the concentration of CH4 in the product gas which may be attrib-
superior values H2/CO2 ratios at elevated temperatures. It is also uted to the following hydrogenation methanation reactions (Reac-
observed from Fig. 3(b) that the CH4/H2 decreases nonlinearly in tion-5, 6 and 7).
the temperature range of 736–1088 °C which may be due to
C þ 2H2 ¼ CH4 ; DH ¼ 74:4kJ=mol ð5Þ
limited methane formation during pyrolysis stage and methane
consuming and cracking reactions at higher temperatures. Thus,
2CO þ 2H2 ¼ CH4 þ CO2 ; DH ¼ 246:9kJ=mol ð6Þ
the superior H2/CO, H2/CO2 and CO/CO2 ratios observed at elevate
temperatures (736–1088 °C) confirm the favorable influence of
CO þ 3H2 ¼ CH4 þ H2 O; DH ¼ 206kJ=mol ð7Þ
temperature on the Boudouard, steam reforming and water–gas
shift reactions and limited contribution of methanation reaction It is also further anticipated that the radical reactions in which
(Hernandez et al., 2010b). the CH3 and OCH3 fragments are cleaved off the phenolic structure
The tar content during gasification process varies depending partially help to improve the concentration of CH4 as the H2 and CO
upon the feedstock composition, heating rate, pyrolysis tempera- levels begin to rise following pyrolysis. The average percentage in-
ture and residence time in the reactor (Klass, 1998). Also the type crease in the concentration of H2 and CH4 were computed to be
of biomass influences the production of tar during gasification pro- 19% and 49% respectively for the coir dust biomass feedstock sam-
cess. It is generally stated that tar is mainly formed from pyrolysis ples with a steam feeding rate of 12 kg/h. It is also observed from
of solid fuels in air gasification. Increasing temperature promotes Table 1 that the concentration of CO increases from 18.6% to
the pyrolysis of tar. The tar content weighed at different equiva- 20.4% vol. at higher temperatures (726–886 °C) with the addition
lence ratio indicated that there is a drastic reduction in tar content of steam. The increase in CO concentration with temperature
from 23.6 g/Nm3 to 4.8 g/Nm3 with the increase of equivalence ra- may be explained as follows:
tio from 0.21 to 0.27. This decrease of tar content may be due to According to Le Chatelier’s principle higher temperatures favor
cracking into lower molecular weight compounds through reduc- the endothermic reactions. Thus at T > 700 °C the endothermic
tion reactions in the presence of hot char above a temperature of Boudouard reaction as depicted below dominates the process and
900 °C. The attainment of higher temperature in the range of becomes a driving force for increase in concentration of CO.
976–1088 °C for coir dust biomass feedstock in the investigated
C þ CO2 ¼ 2CO; DH ¼ þ172:5kJ=mol ð8Þ
range of equivalence ratio of 0.21–0.3 are quite favorable for de-
crease in tar content of the product gas. Beside, the following endothermic hydrogenation-methanation
reaction partly helps in increasing the concentration of CO at high-
3.3. Effect of steam addition on product gas composition er temperature.
CH4 þ H2 O ¼ CO þ 3H2 ; DH ¼ þ206kJ=mol ð9Þ
The parameter S/B (steam to biomass) ratio plays a significant
role in maximizing the product gas yield and improving the gas The decline trend of CO beyond a temperature of 886 °C may be
quality. The production of H2 is more sensitive to changes in S/B ra- attributed to exothermic water gas shift reaction (Reaction-4). The
tio when air is present in the gasifying atmosphere. Most of the addition of steam to the process has a very little effect on the con-
theoretical and experimental studies in this aspect have been centration of CO2 beyond a temperature of 900 °C.
investigated using both fixed and fluidized-bed gasification sys- A comparative evaluation of gas ratios with and without steam
tems. Therefore there is a relatively lack on information about at various gasifier operating temperatures are illustrated in Fig. 4.
the effect of steam to biomass ratio in entrained flow gasification It is observed from the figure that the H2/CO2, H2/CO and CH4/H2
of biomass (Kumar et al., 2009). In the present study the S/B ratio show similar trend with increase in temperature. The increase of
has been fixed at 0.3 and the air supply in the range of 45–55 kg/h the H2/CO2 and CH4/H2 ratios confirms the promotion of the steam
was supplied. The effect of steam addition on product gas reforming reactions at elevated temperatures. Although hydro-
composition in the temperature range of 726–976 °C has been gasification and methanation reactions (methane producing
investigated. Also a comparative evaluation of gas ratios with reactions) do not favor at high temperatures, yet, the CH4 content
and without steam at higher gasifier operating temperatures has increases due to higher volatilization rates of steam reforming
104 P.K. Senapati, S. Behera / Bioresource Technology 117 (2012) 99–106

reaction (Hernandez et al., 2012). The addition of steam improves
the value of H2/CO2 ratio from 0.36 to 1.07 as the temperature in-
creases from 726 to 976 °C. It is also indicated from Fig. 4 that H2/
CO ratio increases linearly with temperature from 0.37 at 726 °C to
1.15 at 976 °C and crosses the H2/CO curve (without steam) at a
lower value of H2/CO = 0.88 for temperature of around 900 °C. This
may be attributed to the predominance of Boudouard, water gas
shift and endothermic steam reforming reactions in the gasifica-
tion process with and without steam at elevated temperatures.
Beyond a temperature of 750 °C water–gas shift reaction consider-
ably influences the adjustment of gas composition in the product
gas (Lv et al., 2007). The CO/CO2 ratio curves with and without
steam indicate opposite behavior with temperature. The computed
value of CO/CO2 ratios with steam decreases from 0.97 at 726 °C to
0.93 at 976 °C where as this ratio increases from 0.54 to 0.88 with-
out steam in the temperature range of 736–1088 °C. Similar trends
were observed by Hernandez et al. (2012) while investigating the
effect of steam content in the air–steam entrained flow biomass
gasification system.
3.4. Effect of preheat on LHV and CGE
The oil ignition and preheating unit installed in the gasification
system supplemented by introduction of secondary preheated air
through a venturi mixer causes a rise in reactor temperature. This
is quite essential as it improves the conversion efficiency of the
gasification process. The rise in reactor temperature with preheat
influences the gas composition, the gas lower heating value
(LHV) and cold gas efficiency (CGE).
The influence of preheat temperature (Tp) on product gas com-
position is shown in Fig. 5(a)–(c). The gas composition for ER = 0.27
is plotted against Tp. The rising temperature promotes the
products of endothermic reactions during steam reformations
and char oxidation. This also helps in maintaining a residence time
of less than 2 s in the reactor for efficiently gasifying the biomass.
At an ER = 0.27, the concentration of CO and H2 increases by 13.2%
and 17.5% respectively. The concentration of both CO and H2 is not
very much affected at low preheating temperatures (52–254 °C).
There is a significant increase in concentration of both CO and H2
occur at high preheating temperatures in the range of 254–
496 °C. H2 concentration does not change considerably beyond a
preheating temperature of 496 °C. The decrease in H2 production
at very high temperature may be attributed to the increased disso-
ciation of H2 with increase in temperatures so that the H atom pro-
duced is attached by O atom to form OH radicals in the post
reaction zone (Jangsawang et al., 2007). The concentration of CO
gives a decreasing trend at preheating temperatures of >404 °C. Be-
cause at very high reactor temperatures, CO reacts with water to
produce H2 and CO2 by taking the advantages of water shift
reaction favoring in forward positive direction. It is also cited in
the literature that the preheat temperature (Tp) has a significant
influence on composition of the product gas only up to a certain
level, after which additional preheating has little effect. A critical
Tp of 530 °C has been reported in literature to maximize the yield
of product gases (Yang et al., 2006).
The effect of preheating with steam feeding on gas low heating
value (LHV) and cold gas efficiency (CGE) was evaluated. The LHV
of the producer gas at the standard state of pressure and tempera-
ture was computed from the gas composition using the following
formula:
X
LHV ¼ HV g :C v g % ð10Þ
where, Cv-g denotes the concentration of the product gas yield
components in vol.% and HVg denotes the heating value of

(a) (c)
1.2 1.2

1
0.9
0.8
CO/CO 2

H2 /CO 2

0.6
0.6
without steam
without steam 0.3 with steam
0.4
with steam
0.2 0
700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200
Gasifier operating temperature [ OC] Gasifier operating temperature [ OC]

(b) 1.5 (d)

1.5
1.2
1.2 without steam
0.9 with steam
H 2 /CO

0.9
CH4 /H2

0.6
without steam 0.6

0.3 with steam 0.3

0 0
700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 700 800 900 1000 1100
Gasifier operating temperature [ OC] Gasifier operating temperature[ O C]

Fig. 4. Comparative evaluation of gas ratios with and without steam at various gasifier operating temperatures, ER = 0.27.
 P.K. Senapati, S. Behera / Bioresource Technology 117 (2012) 99–106 105

(a) 30 (c)

Concentration of CH 4 [vol. %, dry basis]

15
Concentration of CO [vol. %, dry basis]

25 CH 4 without preheat
12 CH 4 with preheat
20

15 9

10 CO yield without preheat

6
CO yield with preheat
5

0 3
40 140 240 340 440 540 640 40 140 240 340 440 540 640
Preheat temperature, Tp, [ OC]
Preheat temperature, Tp, [ OC]

(b) 30 (d)
Concentration of H 2 [vol. %, dry basis]

100
H2 without preheat

Cold Gas Efficiency [CGE, %]

25
H2 with preheat 80
20
60
15
40
10
CGE without steam & preheat
5 20 CGE with steam & preheat

0 0
40 140 240 340 440 540 640 40 140 240 340 440 540 640
Preheat temperature, Tp, [ OC] Preheat temperature, Tp, [ OC]

Fig. 5. Effect of addition of steam and preheat temperature on gas composition and Cold Gas Efficiency (CGE) of Gasifier.

combustible in MJ/Nm3. Cold gas efficiency (CGE) is defined as the g ¼ Egas =Einput ð12Þ
percentage of the fuel heating value converted into the heating va-
where, Egas is the rate of product gas energy output, MJ/h; Einput
lue of the producer gas and by using the following equation the
is the rate of energy input, MJ/h. Under steady state and optimum
CGE of the gasifier was computed.
conditions, the energy balance of the prototype gasification system
½LHVg V g is presented in Table 2.
CGE ¼ 100% ð11Þ It is observed from Table 2 that only 4.47% electrical energy was
½LHVf
consumed for operation of various equipments such as oil pump,
where [LHV]g and [LHV]f are denoted as the lower heating value blower, steam generator and air compressor employed in the
of the producer gas and biomass fuel respectively in MJ/Nm3. Vg system. The input energy supplied in the form of diesel oil for
denotes the specific dry gas volume, in Nm3/kg fuel. The heating preheating the system was 182.8 MJ/h. which was 19.45% of the
value of the producer gas was found to markedly increase at high
preheat temperatures range of 254–946 °C and reaches peak value Table 2
of 7.86 MJ/Nm3 and thereafter declines. Energy balance of the prototype gasification system.
The effects of preheat temperature on cold gas efficiency are Energy flow rate
shown in Fig. 5(d). It is observed from the plot that the low values
MJ/h (%)
of CGE were obtained below a preheat temperature of 254 °C and
CGE indicated substantially higher values at preheat temperatures Input energy
Biomass feedstock 715.2 76.08
>298 °C. The high value of cold gas efficiency in the range of 80– Electrical (for oil pump, blower, steam 42.048 4.47
87.6% substantiates the conversion efficiency of the entrained flow generator and air compressor)
gasification of powdery biomass. The introduction of steam and Diesel oil 182.8 19.45
preheat improves the CGE of the gasifier by more than 39% at high- Total: 940.048 100
Output energy
er reactor temperatures.
Product gas 596.8 63.5
Tar 28.13 3.0
3.5. Energy Balance of the gasification system Sensible heat of product gas 33.4 3.55
Sensible heat of tar 8.3 0.88
It is essential to conduct the energy balance of the prototype Sensible heat of flue gas due to 2.03 0.22
preheating through diesel oil
gasification system to explore the potential viability for industrial Other heat losses 271.388 28.9
applications. In this context, the parameter energy efficiency (g) of Total: 940.048 100
the system was evaluated by using the following expression: CGE – 87.6
System energy efficiency – 63.5
106 P.K. Senapati, S. Behera / Bioresource Technology 117 (2012) 99–106
total input energy. The various energy losses that incurred during
chemical conversion of coir dust biomass feed stock are; cooling
the product gas to room temperature, system heat losses and
chemical energy losses in the residue tar. The maximum amount
of residual tar content measured in the equivalence ratio range
of 0.21–0.27 was found to be 23.6 g/Nm3 and therefore, the minor
chemical energy losses due to residual tar was 3.88%. Besides, the
sensible heat losses of flue gases during combustion of diesel oil for
preheating the system and sensible heat loss of product gas was
only 3.77%. Considering the other system heat losses as 28.9%,
the total heat losses were found to be 36.55%. Therefore, the energy
efficiency of the whole system was evaluated to be 63.5%.
4. Conclusions
i. The gasifier could able to produce high temperature
(976–1100 °C) producer gas in the investigated range of
equivalence ratio of 0.21–0.3. The heating value of the pro-
ducer gas was found to be 5.01 MJ/Nm3 without preheating
and steam.
ii. The introduction of steam and preheat improves the CGE of
the gasification system by more than 39% at high reactor tem-
peratures. The heating value and CGE of the producer gas
attains a maximum of 7.86 MJ/Nm3 and 87.6% respectively.
iii. The effect of steam content in the gasifying agent (air–
steam) and S/B ratio are proposed for further studies.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Prof. B.K. Mishra, Director, Institute
of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar for giving
permission to publish the paper and to MNES, New Delhi for
supporting the investigation.
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