Down Draft Gasification Modelling and Experimentation of Some Indigenous Biomass for Thermal Applications

Five locally available biomassesnamely Bamboo (Banbusea Tulda), Gulmohar (Delonix regia), Neem (Melia Azedarach L), Dimaru (Ficus lepidosa wall), and Shisham (Delbergia sissoo) had been characterized with CHN analysis. The elemental characterization results were used to model a downdraft gasification (10 kWthermal) process in terms of producer gas composition. A thermodynamic equilibrium modelling had been presentedfor a throated downdraft gasifier, based on equilibrium constants with appropriate assumptions. The gas compositions of the above bio-fuels had been studied with varying moisture content from (0-30) percentage at a gasification temperature of 850 °C. Highest calorific value (18.40 MJ kg-1) was obtained for bamboo chip with fixed carbon 48.69 percentages. Gulmohar yielded maximum value of Hydrogen (24.50%) in downdraft gasification among all fuels for same moisture. Bamboo gasification gave overall best quality of producer gas for same moisture. The compositions of producer gas thus generated from these five woody biomasses had been determined by gas chromatography analysis. The results obtained from equilibrium modelling study were fairly in good agreement with experimental results.

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