Biomass gasification
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Biomass gasification is a century old technology where wood, charcoal and other biomass is treated in presence of some air or oxygen, insufficient to combust it, and the gas formation is maximized. The temperature within the reactor rises on account of oxygen consuming reactions. The resulting gas tends to be higher in CO2 content than in case of pyrolysis. A major advantage of using an oxidative process with air or oxygen is that the char is removed, thus maximizing final output of the gas in the process. A crucial parameter in determining product composition and operating temperature in air or oxygen gasification is the equivalence ratio, i.e. the ratio between the amount of air or oxygen admitted to the reaction chamber and the amount that would be required to completely oxidize the feedstock. The so-called "producer gas" that is produced is usually used for power or electricity generation. Gasification systems consist of a gasifier unit, a purification system and some energy converter such as a burner or an engine, like a car or farming truck.
The basic gassification reaction is as follows:
The energy needed for the reaction of coal/biomass and steam is usually provided by adding air or oxygen, which supplies the following (exothermic) reaction:
The resulting mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen is called synthesis gas or syngas.Syngas may be burned directly in internal combustion engines, used to produce methanol and hydrogen, or converted via the Fischer-Tropsch process into synthetic fuel. Regardless of the form of the final fuel, biomass gassifaction is one of the most technically and economically convincing energy possibilities for a carbon-neutral economy, according to the paper Carbon cycle management with increased photo-synthesis and long-term sinks, from a recent climate change conference sponsored by the Royal Society Of New Zealand.
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