Energy 26 (2001) 101–110

www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Fuel characteristics of gasified coconut shell in a fluidized

and a spouted bed reactor
a,* b
M.M. Hoque , S.C. Bhattacharya
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, BIT Chittagong, Post Code 4349, Bangladesh
b
Energy Technology Program, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

In this study, an attempt has been made to gasify coconut shell in a fluidized and a spouted bed reactor.
The effects of the gasification temperature on individual gas components, their yields and heating values
for both types of beds have also been studied. The fluidized bed appears slightly superior to the spouted
bed both in respect to heating value and gas yield over the temperature range studied.  2001 Elsevier
Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

There are currently serious concerns about the environmental pollutants emerging from various
conventional sources of energy. Biomass, including its residues, represents a renewable, low sulfur
energy resource which is also available in significant amounts in many different countries through-
out the world. In many situations residues either have to be disposed of at great cost or are simply
dumped, resulting in environmental pollution. Present energy shortages and the environmental
impact of conventional energy sources compel our attention toward the utilization of alternative,
indigenous energy sources. In many countries, an important and realistic alternative fuel appears
to be biomass converted to a convenient intermediate fuel by means of gasification.
Biomass presently provides approximately 14% [1] of global energy needs. It is the most
important energy source in developing countries, providing 35% of their energy, particularly in
rural areas where it is the only accessible and affordable source of energy [1–3]. In the late 1970s
and early 1980s, as a part of an overall effort to reduce dependence on imported oil and conserve
domestic petroleum reserves, many countries initiated active research, development and demon-
stration projects to revive the old biomass gasification technology for commercial use. As a result

* Corresponding author. Fax: +81-426-77-2701.

E-mail address: hoque@ecomp.metro-u.ac.jp (M.M. Hoque).

0360-5442/01/$ - see front matter  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 6 0 - 5 4 4 2 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 4 7 - 5
102 M.M. Hoque, S.C. Bhattacharya / Energy 26 (2001) 101–110

of these efforts, biomass gasifiers have found limited commercial applications in developing coun-
tries such as Brazil, India, China, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia [4].

2. Fluidized and spouted bed reactors

2.1. Fluidized bed

Fluidization is the operation by which fine solids are transformed into a fluid-like state through
suspension in a gas or liquid. The fluidized bed is a simply a volume of inert particles which are
supported by a grate-like air distributor (Fig. 1). When air is blown through the bed mass, the solid
particles are lifted and suspended by the air. Expansion of the bed then occurs, permitting an increase
in the flow rate of the air. At this point, the particles can move freely and the bed behaves like a
fluid. The total drag force equals the total particulate weight. Further increase of the fluid velocity is
compensated for by the formation of bubbles of air moving upwards in the relatively dense phase of
the fluidized bed. These bubbles account for rapid and even mixing of materials added to the bed,
and heat is transferred quickly from one part of the bed to another and to cooler surfaces within it.
Good mixing for solid fuels is one of the main characteristics of fluidized bed reactors. The
axial mixing of two types of materials depends on mainly (i) particle size, (ii) particle density
and (iii) the ratio of actual to minimum fluidization velocity. The more the various materials differ
in particle size and density, the greater the likelihood of segregation [5]. In this case, biomass
will float to the top of the sand bed. If this occurs, the possibility exists that not all the oxygen

Fig. 1. (a) Fluidized bed, (b) Tuyere type distributor, (c) spouted bed.
 M.M. Hoque, S.C. Bhattacharya / Energy 26 (2001) 101–110 103

is consumed in the sand bed so that it will react with the fuel on top of the bed, causing locally
high temperatures and, eventually, sintering of the sand.
Low-grade fuel such as low-grade coal, urban refuse, biomass fuel and even wet sludge, which
could not be burned in any conventional firebox, can be burned in a fluidized bed. It reduces the
formation of nitrogen oxides and avoids the problems caused by molten ash. Excellent mass and
heat transfer [6] subsequently yield uniform temperatures, better fuel-moisture utilization, and
faster reactions. These benefits allow higher overall capabilities which, in turn, can reduce the
size and capital cost of the gasifier. A fluidized bed offers an elegant approach to reducing the
sulfur content by up to 90%. But in the fluidized bed, the deviation of gas flow from plug flow
and the bypassing of solids by bubbles represent an inefficient contacting system. The rapid mixing
of solids in the bed leads to non-uniform residence times of solids in the reactor. The erosion of
pipes and vessels from abrasion by particles can also be serious.

2.2. Spouted bed

The bed is filled with relatively coarse particulate solids. Fluid is injected vertically through a
centrally located small opening at the base of the vessel. If the fluid injection rate is high enough,
the resulting high velocity jet causes a stream of particles to rise rapidly in a hollowed central
core within the bed of solids. These particles, after reaching somewhat above the peripheral bed
level, rain back onto the annular region between the hollowed core and the column wall, where
they slowly travel downward and, to some extent, inward as a loosely packed bed. As the fluid
travels upward, it flares out into the annulus. The overall bed thereby becomes a composite of a
dilute phase central core with upward moving solids entrained by a concurrent flow of fluid and
a dense phase annular region with counter region with counter-current percolation of the fluid.
The central core is called a spout and the peripheral annular region is referred to as the annulus.
The term fountain denotes the mushroom-shaped zone above the level of the annulus. To enhance
motions of the solids and eliminate dead spaces at the bottom of the vessel, it is common to use
a diverging conical base [7] with fluid injection at the truncated apex of the cone.
The applications of the spouted bed are drying of granular materials, granulation, drying of
suspensions and solutions, reaction granulation, tablet coating, coating of nuclear fuel particles,
gas cleaning, preheating of coal, cooling of fertilizers, low temperature coal carbonization, shale
pyrolysis, charcoal activation, and thermal cracking of petroleum.

3. Gasification mechanism

Fuel fed into a gasifier undergoes a number of physical and chemical changes, which cannot
be entirely dissociated from each other. The main factors of influence are pyrolysis temperature,
rate of heating, structure, composition and size of the cellulose particle, presence of extraneous
catalytic matter, e.g. ash components or carbonizing catalysts. Gasification can be regarded as
consisting of four different zones, e.g. drying, pyrolysis, reduction and combustion. Various
chemical and physical processes occur in these zones. The processes taking place in the drying,
pyrolysis and reduction zones are driven by heat transferred from the combustion zone. In the
drying zone the moisture content of biomass evaporates. This moisture leaves along with gas at
104 M.M. Hoque, S.C. Bhattacharya / Energy 26 (2001) 101–110

the top. Pyrolysis converts the dried biomass into char, tar vapor, water vapor and non-condensable
gases. The vapors and non-condensable gases leave the gasifier at the top. In the oxidation zone,
carbonized biomass comes into contact with the oxygen. In the reduction zone, the products of
complete oxidation, e.g. CO2, H2O etc. undergo reduction by the carbonized biomass.
In fluidized or spouted bed gasifiers, because of good mixing, separate reaction zones do not
exist. All the processes of drying, pyrolysis, reduction and combustion can be regarded as taking
place simultaneously throughout the reactor volume although the intensity of any particular pro-
cess may vary depending on the location, e.g. combustion is more intensive near the distributor
and drying is more intensive near the fuel inlet.
Complete gasification of biomass involves several sequential and parallel reactions. Most of these
reactions are endothermic and must be balanced by partial combustion of gas or an external heat source
[4]. As the biomass particle is heated, it initially pyrolyses to form charcoal plus gases and vapors.
Biomass⫹heat⫽charcoal⫹volatile⫹gases
After pyrolysis is completed, the charcoal can react with oxygen and steam or the products of
pyrolysis according to
Charcoal⫹gases⫽reduced gases
In addition, the vapors formed initially from the solid may undergo cracking to form secondary
products [4], either gases or other condensable species.
(a) Heterogeneous (gas–solid) reactions [8]
Oxidation of carbon:
C⫹12O2⫽CO (1)

C⫹O2⫽CO2 (2)

Boudouard reaction:
C⫹CO2⫽2CO (3)

Water gas reaction:

C⫹H2O⫽CO⫹H2 (4)

Methane formation:
C⫹2H2⫽CH4 (5)

(b) Homogeneous (gas phase) reactions [8]

CO⫹H2O⫽CO2⫹H2 (6)

CH4⫹H2O⫽CO⫹3H2 (7)
 M.M. Hoque, S.C. Bhattacharya / Energy 26 (2001) 101–110 105

Fig. 2. Experimental set up for the gasification of coconut shell in a fluidized and a spouted bed.

4. Experimental set-up

The experimental set-up is shown in Fig. 2. The gasifier used in the experiment consists of a
stainless steel pipe 9.2 cm in diameter, 5 mm thick and 210 cm in height. The body of the gasifier
is insulated externally using 3-cm-thick rock wool insulation. A 15 hp rotary blower supplies air
into the gasifier, and is heated by two electric heaters. A wheel arrangement feeds raw materials
into the gasifier continuously. An external cyclone at the top of the gasifier separates entrained
charcoal and sand particles from the product gas. Solid particles recycle back to the gasifier
through an inclined downcomer. The distributor (fluidized bed) is made from 5-mm-thick stainless
steel with uniformly distributed perforations of 2 mm diameter throughout the plate. The spouted
bed is also a steel plate of the same thickness, with only one perforation, 10 mm in diameter, at
its center. There are six temperature-sensing locations provided on the gasifier column at 4, 13,
30, 75, 120, and 165 cm above the distributor. The pressure drop over the bed is monitored by
means of a U-tube manometer.

Table 1
Proximate analysis of coconut shell

Element Percentage

Moisture 10.46
Volatile matter 67.67
Fixed carbon 18.29
Ash 3.58
106 M.M. Hoque, S.C. Bhattacharya / Energy 26 (2001) 101–110

5. Experimental studies

5.1. Starting materials and its preparation

The usability of carbonaceous material depends on low ash content [9] and their availability
in uniform and non-changing quality. In this study, coconut shell reducing to the size of about
2–3.5 mm had the proximate analysis shown in Table 1. The gross calorific value of coconut
shell was 4378.16 kcal/kg.

5.2. Experimental procedures

Experiments are initiated by heating the reactor with preheated air. When the reactor tempera-
ture reaches about 350°C charcoal is burnt in the reactor to further raise the temperature to the
desired level. Air supplied should be 1.2–1.5 times the minimum fluidization or spouting velo-
cities. The feeding of residues into the bed is started when it reaches the desired start-up tempera-
ture of about 500°C. The off-gas is sampled for analysis in the gas chromatograph after reaching
a steady state. A gas chromatograph measures the volumetric percentage of carbon dioxide, hydro-
gen, methane, carbon monooxide, nitrogen and oxygen in the gas samples collecting from the top
of the gasifier.
Changing the air inlet conditions at the same air/fuel ratio allowed several maximum stable
temperatures to be attained. The procedures were repeated for the spouted bed. Superficial gas
velocity, solid feed rate and particle sizes were kept constant for the spouted bed to eliminate
any influence of these parameters on the results.

6. Results and discussion

6.1. Operating conditions

Temperature range 900–1115 K (for fluidized bed reactor)

880–1046 K (for spouted bed reactor)
The fuel feed rate 4.2 kg/h
The air flow rate 5.02 N m3/h
Superficial velocity 21 cm/s
Minimum fluidization velocity of the sand 14 cm/s

6.2. Produced gas composition

Since the heat transfer rate is very high in a fluidized bed reactor, the feed material is rapidly
heated from the ambient temperature to the operating temperature of the reactor. Thus, the
decomposition step proceeds very quickly. As a consequence, the composition and yield of the
produced gas are likely to depend heavily on the secondary reactions [10]. Since cracking and
steam reforming reactions are endothermic [4], a higher operating temperature of the reactor
 M.M. Hoque, S.C. Bhattacharya / Energy 26 (2001) 101–110 107

would promote these reactions. Hence, the composition and yield of the gas produced would be
strongly influenced by the gasification temperature. This is evidenced by the strong temperature
dependence observed in the gas composition.
At higher temperatures the concentration of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the produced
gas is found to be higher. This is expected from the equilibrium considerations of gasification
reaction [10]. The H2 concentration varies from 6.9 to 13.5% (v/v) while the CO concentration
increases from 11.20 to 19.64% (v/v). The CH4 concentration decreases slightly from 1.88 to
1.10% (v/v) while the CO2 concentration decreases from 15.10 to 9.30% (v/v). Experimental H2
concentration may be described as a linear function of temperature. The other three are approxi-
mated by second order polynomials over the temperature range. The concentration variations of
the produced gas components H2, CO, CO2 and CH4 with temperatures are shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3 also shows similar relationships for H2, CO, CH4, and CO2 over the temperature range
880–1046 K for the spouted bed. The H2 concentration varies from 5.84 to 12.4% (v/v) and the
CO from 10.7 to 18.4% (v/v). The CH4 and CO2 concentrations decrease from 1.95 to 1.20%
(v/v) and from 15.40 to 8.90% (v/v), respectively.

6.3. Gas yield and heating value

The heating value of the produced gas in the fluidized bed increases from 2863 to 4362 kJ/N
m3 over the temperature range. This is due to the fact that the higher the operating temperature,
the greater the amounts of hydrogen and carbon monoxide produced from the coconut shell due
to the secondary reactions. As a consequence of the increasing trend of H2 and CO (though slight
decrease in hydrocarbon) in the produced gas, the heating value of the gas increases with the
increase in temperature. For the same reason, the gas yield in the fluidized bed also increases
from 2.06 to 2.71 N m3/kg fuel. The gas yield may be described as a linear function of temperature
and the heating value is approximated by a second order polynomial (Fig. 4).
In the spouted bed, the heating value and gas yield play similar roles but the difference is that

Fig. 3. Variations of gas composition with temperature in the case of gasification of coconut shell in a fluidized
(FBR) and a spouted bed reactor (SBR).
108 M.M. Hoque, S.C. Bhattacharya / Energy 26 (2001) 101–110

Fig. 4. Variations of gas composition with temperature in the case of gasification of coconut shell in a fluidized
(FBR) and a spouted bed reactor (SBR).

the values obtained are lower than that obtained in the fluidized bed at the same operating tempera-
ture. The heating value and gas yield vary from 2702 to 4121 kJ/N m3 and 1.85 to 2.57 N m3/kg
fuel, respectively, over the temperature range under consideration.
Regression analyses of the gas compositions, gas yields and heating values of both types of
beds are shown in Tables 2 and 3. Statistical analyses have also been done with the various gas
compositions obtained at different temperatures both for the fluidized and spouted bed. The result-
ant means, standard deviations and standard errors are given in Tables 4 and 5.

Table 2
Regression analysis of the produced gas quality for the gasification of coconut shell in a fluidized bed

Dependent variable Y Regression model Coefficient of

Y=A0+A1T+A2T2 determinant R2

A0 A1 A2

Gas yield (m3/kg) 3.7388 ⫺0.0056289 – 0.9040

Heating value (kJ/m3) ⫺25643 51.1968611 ⫺0.0217449 0.8960
Gas composition (%)
H2 ⫺18.75 0.0270235 – 0.9634
CO ⫺125.1 0.2403585 ⫺0.000099 0.9312
CO2 155.94 ⫺0.2625995 0.0001177 0.9244
CH4 ⫺22.91 0.0520461 ⫺0.0000273 0.8915
 M.M. Hoque, S.C. Bhattacharya / Energy 26 (2001) 101–110 109

Table 3
Regression analysis of the produced gas quality for the gasification of coconut shell in spouted bed

Dependent variable Y Regression model Coefficient of

Y=A0+A1T+A2T2 determinant R2

A0 A1 A2

Gas yield (m3/kg) 2.9333 ⫺0.0048781 – 0.9606

Heating value (kJ/m3) ⫺13248 27.1361801 ⫺0.0102819 0.9409
Gas composition (%)
H2 ⫺22.89 0.0360734 – 0.9316
CO ⫺36.54 0.0652497 ⫺0.0000135 0.9816
CO2 126.06 ⫺0.2016582 0.0000864 0.9543
CH4 ⫺16.37 0.0400074 ⫺0.0000219 0.9400

Table 4
Statistical analysis of the composition of the gases produced in a fluidized bed a

Temp. H2 CO CO2 CH4

(K) Mean SDb SEc Mean SD SE Mean SD SE Mean SD SE

900 6.90 0.417 0.187 11.20 0.733 0.328 15.10 0.864 0.386 1.88 0.122 0.055
940 8.30 0.365 0.163 12.80 0.713 0.319 12.89 0.578 0.258 1.82 0.158 0.070
990 9.80 0.541 0.242 16.10 0.578 0.258 10.97 0.599 0.268 1.75 0.173 0.077
1030 10.60 0.576 0.258 17.20 0.621 0.278 10.70 0.546 0.244 1.80 0.145 0.065
1070 12.35 0.631 0.282 18.85 0.546 0.244 9.80 0.539 0.241 1.64 0.137 0.061
1115 13.50 0.732 0.327 19.64 0.648 0.290 9.30 0.426 0.191 1.10 0.109 0.049
a
Number of observations were 5 for each temperature of a gas.
b
Standard deviation.
c
Standard error.

7. Conclusions

This study assesses the effects of the operating temperature on the individual gas components,
their yields and the heating values of the produced gases. It also compares these results in a
fluidized and a spouted bed reactor. Experimental runs show that the produced gas quality (i.e.
heating value and yield) behaves differently with an increase in bed temperature for the two types
of bed. Heating value is approximated to increase by a second order polynomial, while the gas
yield increased linearly with the increase in temperature. Among the produced gas components,
H2 concentration is described as a linear function of temperature, whereas CO, CO2, and CH4 are
approximated by second order polynomial over the temperature range under consideration. In
comparison with the spouted bed, the fluidized bed appears superior considering both heating
value and gas yield.
110 M.M. Hoque, S.C. Bhattacharya / Energy 26 (2001) 101–110

Table 5
Statistical analysis of the composition of the gases produced in spouted bed a

Temp. H2 CO CO2 CH4

(K) Mean SDb SEc Mean SD SE Mean SD SE Mean SD SE

880 5.84 0.373 0.167 10.70 0.757 0.339 15.40 0.867 0.388 1.95 0.183 0.082
930 7.75 0.450 0.201 11.90 0.706 0.316 13.60 0.799 0.357 1.86 0.114 0.051
976 8.90 0.642 0.287 13.95 0.924 0.413 11.50 0.747 0.334 1.80 0.107 0.048
1012 9.70 0.822 0.368 16.10 1.004 0.449 10.30 0.714 0.319 1.85 0.119 0.053
1054 10.80 0.713 0.319 17.50 1.146 0.512 9.60 0.676 0.302 1.50 0.104 0.047
1096 12.40 0.836 0.374 18.40 1.073 0.480 8.90 0.545 0.244 1.20 0.085 0.038
a
Number of observations were 5 for each temperature of a gas.
b
Standard deviation.
c
Standard error.

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