BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

UNIT – 2

Physical & Agrochemical Conversion

Briquetting.
 Briquetting is the process of compacting loose organic materials into a higher density and
uniform solid fuel.

 The process improves the physical, chemical and combustion properties over those of the
raw material and is also easier to handle.

 The densification of the biomass can be achieved by any one of the following methods:
(i) Pyrolysed densification using a binder, (ii) Direct densification of biomass using
binders and (iii) Binder-less briquetting.

 Depending upon the type of biomass, three processes are generally required involving
the following steps:

• 2.1 Sieving - Drying - Preheating - Densification - Cooling – Packing

• 2.2 Sieving - Crushing - Preheating - Densification - Cooling – Packing

• 2.3 Drying - Crushing - Preheating - Densification - Cooling – Packing

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 1

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

Biomass briquetting technologies

 Biomass densification represents a set of technologies for the conversion of biomass
residues into a convenient fuel. The technology is also known as briquetting or
agglomeration. Depending on the types of equipment used, it could be categorized into
five main types:

 Piston press densification –

 Screw press densification –

 Roll press densification –

 Low pressure or manual presses

Advantages of biomass briquetting

 This is one of the alternative methods to save the consumption and dependency on fuel
wood.

 Densities fuels are easy to handle, transport and store.

 They are uniform in size and quality.

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 2

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

 The process helps to solve the residual disposal problem.

 The process assists the reduction of fuel wood and deforestation.

 It provides additional income to farmers and creates jobs.

 Briquettes are cheaper than coal, oil or lignite once used cannot be replaced.

 There is no sulphur in briquettes.

 There is no fly ash when burning briquettes.

 Briquettes have a consistent quality, have high burning efficiency, and are ideally sized
for complete combustion.

Disadvantages of biomass briquetting

 High investment cost and energy consumption input to the process

 Undesirable combustion characteristics often observed e.g., poor ignitability, smoking,

etc.

 Tendency of briquettes to loosen when exposed to water or even high humidity weather

Pelletization:
 Pelletization is a process in which waste wood is pulverized, dried and forced under
pressure through an extrusion device.

 Pelleting increases the specific density (gravity) of biomass to more than 1000 kg/m3.
Pelleted biomass is low and uniform in moisture content. It can be handled and stored
cheaply and safely using well developed handling systems for grain.

 Forest and sawmill residues, agricultural crop residues, and energy crops can be densified
into pellets.

 The standard shape of a fuel pellet is cylindrical, with a diameter of 6 to 8 millimeters

and a length of no more than 38 millimeters.

 A high-quality pellet is dry, hard, and durable, with low amounts of ash remaining after
combustion.

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 3

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

 The process of manufacturing fuel pellets involves placing ground biomass under high
pressure and forcing it through a round opening called a “die.”

 When exposed to the appropriate conditions, the biomass “fuses” together, forming a
solid mass. This process is known as “extrusion.”

 Some biomass (primarily wood) naturally forms high-quality fuel pellets, while other
types of biomass may need additives to serve as a “binder” that holds the pellet together.

 However, the creation of the pellets is only a small step in the overall process of
manufacturing fuel pellets. These steps involve feedstock grinding, moisture control,
extrusion, cooling, and packaging.

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 4

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

Advantages of Pelletization
 Uniform in size, density and moisture content

 Easy to transport, convey and feed using the existing systems

 High heating value

 Domestic heating, animal bedding, power generation, biofuels production

Agrochemical fuel Extraction

Occasionally, liquid or solid fuels may be obtained directly from living or freshly cut
plants. The materials are called exudates and are obtained by cutting into (tapping) the
stems or trunks of the living plants or by crushing freshly harvested material.

A well known similar process is the production of natural rubber latex. Related plants
to the rubber plant Herea, such as species of Euphorbia, produce hydrocarbons of less
molecular weight than rubber, which may be used as petroleum substitutes and
turpentine.

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 5

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

Biodiesel and esterification

Concentrated vegetable oils from plants may be used directly as fuel in diesel engines;
indeed Rudolph Diesel designed his original 1892 engine to run on a variety of fuels,
including natural plant oils.
However, difficulties arise with direct use of plant oil due to the high viscosity and
combustion deposits as compared with standard diesel-fuel mineral oil, especially at low
ambient temperature ≤∼5C.
Both difficulties are overcome by converting the vegetable oil to the corresponding ester,
which is arguably a fuel better suited to diesel engines than conventional (petroleum-
based) diesel oil.

BIOMASS PRODUCTION:
An outstanding and established example of energy farming is the sugarcane industry
The process depends upon the combustion of the crushed cane residue (biogases) for
powering the mill and factory operations. With efficientmachinery there should be excess
energy for the production and sale of by-products, e.g. molasses, chemicals, animal feed,
ethanol, fiber board and electricity.
Commonly the ethanol becomes a component of transport fuel and the excess electricity is
sold to the local grid.

Thermo chemical Conversion

The Bioenergy Technologies Office works with industry and other partners to develop
economical pathways that use heat, pressure, and catalysis to convert domestic, non-food
biomass into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other products. Advanced biofuels are part of
America’s “all-of-the-above” energy strategy to develop domestic energy resources and
win the global race for clean energy technology. Developing a sustainable, commercial-
scale U.S. bioindustry will stimulate the economy, create new jobs, and substantially
decrease net greenhouse gas emissions on a life-cycle basis.1The Bioenergy Technologies
Office (BETO) supports research and development (R&D) of technologies to efficiently
convert algae and diverse types of cellulosic biomass (fibrous, inedible portion of plants)
into renewable fuels that are compatible with today’s vehicles and infrastructure. Thermo
chemical conversion processes apply heat, pressure, and catalysts to convert a broad range
of biomass into renewable gasoline, diesel, jet fuels, chemicals, and heat and power.

Direct combustion for heat

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 6

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

The combustion process may be defined as an interaction between fuel, energy, and the
environment rather than merely a chemical reaction of fuel with oxygen to release energy, or a
physical reaction of the fuel with the environment involving heat and mass transfer. The process
is enormously complex even with relatively simple or homogenous fuels. A quantitative
description of this process requires the combined capabilities of a physical chemist specializing
in chemical kinetics, a physicist specializing in heat and mass transfer, and an engineer
specializing in fluid dynamic and unit operations communicating with the skills of an applied
mathematician.

Domestic cooking & heating.

For domestic use, electricity was tending to push aside gas and coal. Electric ranges for cooking
were gaining in popularity at the expense of gas ranges; electric heaters were taking over from
gas heaters and open fires. Nevertheless, gas production increased by a quarter between 1939 and
1945.

Use of coal in gasworks increased from 226,000 tons in 1939 to 300,000 tons in 1945. Gasworks
were the main users of imported coal; they took 78,000 tons in 1939, but had to be content with
smaller quantities in the later war years as coal imports declined. In 1944 they used 41,000 tons
of imported coal and in 1945 only 800 tons

Inadequacy of stocks held by gasworks, and irregularity in supplies of suitable coal from the
West Coast, led to shortages and interruptions in gas supplies in 1945.

The increase of 25 per cent in gas production over the war years seems quite fast until it is
compared with the 67 per cent increase in electricity generation.1 The slower rate of increase in
production of gas was due partly to inadequacy of coal supplies and partly to the continuing
tendency for electricity to take over from gas for domestic cooking and other purposes.

The heating uniformity of a domestic cooker is decisive for good results of the food elaboration.
In this work we present the use of the inverse thermal modelling for the calculation of the power
distribution transferred from a domestic cooker to the pan. The most common cooking stoves
(induction, electric resistance and gas), have been used. The proposed method, using a
rectangular thin metallic piece and an infrared camera, improves the accuracy and reduces the
computational cost with respect to previous works. Moreover, it can help to improve the design
process of cookers, providing more reliable results than current methods based in experimental
tests with real food.

Biomass Gasification

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 7

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

The word gasification implies converting a solid or liquid in to a gaseous fuel without leaving
any solid carbonaceous residue.
A most promising conversion technology from biomass to bio fuels is pyrolysis-gasification.
The process of gasification to produce combustible from organic feeds was used in blast
furnaces over 180 years ago.
The possibility of using this gas for heating and power generation was soon realized and there
emerged in Europe producer gas systems, which used charcoal and peat as feed material.
At the turn of the century petroleum gained wider use as a fuel, but during both world wars
and particularly World War II, shortage in petroleum supplies led to widespread re-
introduction of gasification.
By 1945 the gas was being used to power trucks, buses and agricultural and industrial
machines. It is estimated that there were close to 9,000,000 Vehicles running on producer gas
all over the world.
After World War II the lack of strategic impetus and the availability of cheap fossil fuels led
to general decline in the producer gas industry.

Chemical reaction in gasification

Gasification is a two-stage process during the first stage the biomass undergoes partial
combustion, otherwise termed as flaming pyrolysis; and in the second the product gases are
reduced by charcoal to form more carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
Air is used as a gasifying agent in biomass gasifiers.
Depending upon the temperature range in the reactor, biomass gasifiers are divided into 4
distinct zones, these zones are explained below,

Drying Zone
In drying zone the moisture content in the biomass is removed. The temperature range of
drying zone is around 120 – 200 0C.
Pyrolysis Zone

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 8

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

As the dried biomass moves down it is subjected to strong heating by the radiation heat
from the oxidation zone.
At temperature above 200 0C biomass starts losing its volatiles. Liberation of volatile
continues until it reaches oxidation zone.
Once the temperature reaches 400 0C a self sustained exothermic reaction starts, where in
the natural structure of wood and other organic solids brakes down and tar is evolved.
In case of wood 70 % or more of the original weight is given off as volatiles and tar.
By the time the biomass reaches oxidation zone what remains is only char (i.e. fixed
carbon) this zone in which biomass loses all its volatiles and gets converted to char is the
Pyrolysis zone.
The temperature range in this zone is around 200 – 600 0C.
Reduction zone
Reduction zone is a packed bed of charcoal.
The reaction that takes place in reduction zone are highly temperature sensitive, therefore
it is necessary that this zone must be maintained well within close temperature limits of
600 – 900 0C.
Most of the reduction reactions are endothermic in nature.
The reactions, which take place in the reduction zone, are as follows:
Boudouard Reaction:
CO2 + C ↔ 2CO – DH

Water gas Reaction:

C + H2O ↔ CO+ H2 – DH
C+ 2H2O ↔ CO2 + 2H2 – DH
Water Shift Reaction:
CO + H2O ↔ CO2 + H2 + DH
Methanation Reaction:
C + 2H2 ↔ CH4 + DH

Producer gas& the constituents

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 9

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

Producer gas a gas mixture containing carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), carbon dioxide
(CO2) and nitrogen (N2). In the USA, producer gas is a generic term referring to wood gas,
town gas, synthesis gas, syngas or raw gas.

Types of gasifiers
 Based on the direction of the gas flow
a) Up draft/ draught gasifiers
b) Down draft gasifiers
c) Cross draft gasifiers
 Based on output power/capacity of the gasifier
a) Small size gasifiers
b) Medium size gasifiers
c) Large size gasifiers
 Based on the type of bed
a) Fixed bed gasifiers
b) Fluidized bed gasifiers
Fixed bed gasifiers
The three main designs of fixed bed gasifiers are
i) Up draught gasifiers
ii) Down draft gasifier
iii) Cross draft gasifier

UPDRAFT GASIFIER.
In up draught gasifier, air is introduced into the chamber at the grate or bed and the producer gas
leaves near the top of the gasifier. This type of gasifier is easy to build and operate. The gas
produced has practically no ash but contains tar and water vapor because of passing of gas

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 10

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

through the unburnt fuel. Hence up draught gasifiers are suitable for tar free fuels like char-coal
especially in stationary engines.
Combustion gases travel up through the bed and existing at the top. A combustion
zone is established at approximately 25000F and the existing gas is relatively cool about 2000F.

DOWN DRAFT GASIFIER.

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 11

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

In this type, air is introduced into downward flowing packed bed or solid fuels and gas is drawn
off at the bottom. A lower overall efficiency and difficulties in handling higher moisture is the
limitations in downdraft gas producers. The time (5-10 minutes) needed to ignite and bring plant
to working temperature with good gas quality is shorter than updraft gas producer.

This gasifier is suitable for internal combustion engines after appropriate cleaning.

These gasifiers are best suited for applications where clean fuel gas is required and where
temperature control is critical. This gasifier can be used in applications requiring moderate
temperatures up to 600 Deg C. Typical applications where the Down draft gasifiers have been
successfully used are:

 Continuous Baking ovens (Bread, Biscuits, Paint)

 Batch type baking oven – rotary oven for bread
 Dryers & Curing – tea, coffee, mosquito coil, paper drying
 Boilers
 Thermic fluid heaters
 Annealing furnaces
 Direct fired rotary kilns
 Internal combustion Engine.

CROSS DRAFT GASIFIER:

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 12

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

This type of gasifier is suitable for low ash fuels. Unlike downdraft and updraft types, it releases
the product from its sides. Air at high velocity enters the gasifier through a nozzle at a certain
height above the grate creating a very high temperature zone. The product gas exits from the
opposite sides of the gasifier. Start-up time is much faster (5-10 min) compared to other moving
bed gasifiers, which improves the response to load changes. Due to relatively high temperature
zones on a cross-draft gasifier, the product gas is low in tar, high in carbon monoxide, and low in
hydrogen and methane.
A cross-draft gasifier is adapted for the use of charcoal.
The advantage of using charcoal instead of wood in gasification is that charcoal gives virtually
no tars.
Very few steps of cleaning equipment are thus needed; only particulates need to be removed.
      The cross draft gasifier operates in small scale; installations are typically of less than 10 kW
electricity.
    The technology is mainly used in developing countries.
      The gasifier system is simple, cheap and easy to operate.

      The drawback of using charcoal is that high combustion temperature is reached (1500°C),
which can lead to local material problems.
      Also, manufacturing charcoal from wood represents a large loss of energy potential and the
manufacturing process itself is in many developing countries done without regards to the health
of the workers.

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 13

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

Fluidized bed gasifiers.

Fluidized-bed gasifiers suspend feedstock particles in an oxygen-rich gas so the resulting bed
within the gasifier acts as a fluid. These gasifiers employ back-mixing, and efficiently mix feed
coal particles with coal particles already undergoing gasification. To sustain fluidization, or
suspension of coal particles within the gasifier, coal of small particles sizes (<6 mm) is normally
used. Coal enters at the side of the reactor, while steam and oxidant enter near the bottom with
enough velocity to fully suspend or fluidize the reactor bed. Due to the thorough mixing within
the gasifier, a constant temperature is sustained in the reactor bed. The gasifiers normally operate
at moderately high temperature to achieve an acceptable carbon conversion rate (e.g., 90-95%)
and to decompose most of the tar, oils, phenols, and other liquid byproducts. However, the
operating temperatures are usually less than the ash fusion temperature so as to avoid clinker
formation and the possibility of de-fluidization of the bed. This, in turn means that fluidized-bed
gasifiers are best suited to relatively reactive coals, low rank coals, and other fuels such as
biomass.
Some char particles are entrained in the raw syngas as its leaves the top of the gasifier, but are
recovered and recycled back to the reactor via a cyclone. Ash particles, removed below the bed,
give up heat to the incoming steam and recycle gas. At startup, the bed is heated externally
before the feedstock is introduced.

Characteristics
Fluidized-bed gasifiers may differ in ash conditions (dry or agglomerated/slagging) and in design
configurations for improving char use. Also, depending on the degree of fluidization and bed
height, these types of reactors sometimes are also named as circulating fluidized bed reactors,
and/or transport reactors.
Fluidized-bed gasifiers display these characteristics:
Load flexibility and high heat transfer rates
Fuel flexibility, can gasify a wide range of feed stocks
Moderate oxidant and steam requirements
Uniform, moderately high temperature throughout the gasifier

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 14

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

Higher cold gas efficiency than entrained-bed gasifiers, but lower carbon conversion
Extensive char recycling is required

Liquefaction
 Liquid yields are maximized by rapid heating of the feed stock to comparatively low
temperatures.
 In this method, the feed stock heated rapidly and the vapors are condensed from the
gas stream. The products will be in two phase.
a) The aqueous phase (pyroligneous acid) contains a solution of water-soluble organic
materials like acetic acid, acetone and methanol.
b) The non-aqueous phase containing oils and tars. These crude products can be burnt
directly, but it is usually more profitable to up-grade them to premium fuels by
conventional refining process.

Liquefaction through pyrolysis

 Pyrolysis is a destructive distillation process, by which high calorific value fuels can
be produced.
 A wide range of energy rich fuels can be produced by roasting dry woody matter like
straw and wood chips.
 The material is fed into reactor vessel or retort in a pulverized or shredded form and
heated in the absence of air.
 As the temperature rises the cellulose and lignin break down to simpler substances.
 The end products of the reaction depends critically on the conditions employed at
lower temperature around 5000C organic liquid predominate, while at temperature
nearer 10000C a combustible mixture of gases results.

Methanol synthesis

 Methanol is a clear, colourless; a toxic liquid is made from the catalytic reaction of H2
and CO at 3300C and at 150 atm pressure.

2 H2 + CO CH3OH

 The gases are the components of synthesis gas and may be obtained from the gasification
of biomass.

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 15

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

 Methanol that freezes at -730C and boils at 650C may be used as liquid fuel in petroleum
engines with an energy density of 23 mJ/kg.
 Methanol is excellent antifreeze, as it is completely miscible with water. Its octane rating
is high and it burns cleaner than gasoline in an IC engine.
 Current process for producing methanol, use synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide
and hydrogen usually derived from natural gas.

Methanol production
 Methanol production from wood involves 2stages of thermo-chemical transformation.

 Involves gasification of the wood to produce synthesis gas.

 Is the actual synthesis step which converts synthesis gas to methanol.

1st stage

 Wood is charged at the top of the reactor and ash is discharged from the bottom.
 Air and steam are charged near the base of the reactor.
 Generally used gasification equipment are

A. Oxygen gasifier-updraft reactor, down draft gasifier, fluidized bed reactor

B. Pyrolytic gasifier

• The sequence of reactions occurring in wood gasification is-

1. Drying- moisture + Heat Dry wood + water vapor

2. Pyrolysis – Dry wood + Heat Char + CO +CO2 +H2 + tar
3. gasification- Char + CO + CO2 +H2 CO + H2 + CO2

Gas Purification and Shift Conversion

 The mixture is reacted with water so that the final product contains a 2:1 ratio of H2 and
CO.
 In this conversion, CO2 is formed and must remove before methanol synthesis.
 The raw gas from the reactor then passes through a scrubber, cooling the gas to about
320C and removing tars and acids.
 The gas is then compressed to about 700kpa and treated in further stages to remove CO2.

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 16

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

 The gas then passes through a cryogenic system, which removes the residual CO2 and
water vapor, methane and other hydrocarbons and finally N2.
 The purified gas is a mixture of hydrogen (approximately 44%) and carbon monoxide
(approximately 56%).
 Further processing is required to produce 2:1 ratio of H2 to CO needed to produce
methanol.

2nd stage

 The synthesis gas is then compressed to 14000-28000 kpa and passed into the methanol
synthesis reactor.
 In the reactor nearly 95% of the gas is converted to methanol over a zinc-chromium
catalyst.
 The un reacted gases are separated and recycled and the methanol purified by distillation.
 The drawback to any biomass to methanol scheme is the size of the plant required and the
amount of raw material needed.
 The minimum practical plant size (about 200 ton/day of methanol) required about 500
ton/day of oven dry wood or equivalent biomass.
 Such volumes of biomass are not usually available at a given site without extensive
gathering and transportation costs.

Application of Producer Gas in I C Engines.

Ethanol as an alternative fuel for IC engine

 Ethanol has less HC emissions than gasoline but more than methanol.
 Gasoline is a mixture of 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol.
 Two mixture combinations that are important are E85 (85% ethanol) and E10 (gashol).
 E85 is basically an alcohol fuel with 15% gasoline added to eliminate some of the
problems of pure alcohol (i.e. cold starting, tank flammability etc).
 E10 reduces the use of gasoline with no modification needed to the automobile engine.
 Flexible-fuel engine are being tested which can operate on any ratio of ethanol-gasoline.
 It is high octane fuel with anti-knock index number (octane number of fuel pump) of over
100.
 Engine using high octane fuel can run more efficiently by using higher compression
ratios.
 The disadvantage of this kind of alcohol is much more corrosion on copper, brass,
aluminum…etc.
 This puts some restriction on design and manufacturing of engines to be used with this
fuel, and also the ignition characteristic are poor.

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 17

BIOMASS ENERGY SYSTEMS

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGG, REVA UNIVERSITY Page 18