Size and Selection of Gasifiers

Energy Market Evolution

Biomass Fuels for Gasification
• Charcoal.
• Wood and wood waste (branches, twigs, roots, bark, wood
shavings and sawdust).
• Multitude of agricultural residues (maize cobs, coconut shells,
coconut husks, cereal straws, rice husks, etc.).
• Peat.
Need for selection of the Right Gasifier for
each fuel
• Differ Properties

Comparison of Gasifier Fuel Types:-

Entrained Flow Fluidised Bed Moving Bed

Fuel Types Solid - Liquid Solid Solid

Fuel Residence time 1-10s 5-50s 15-30min

Gas outlet temperature 900-1400 700-900 400-500

Comparison of Characteristics of Commercial
Gasifiers
Parameter Fixed/ Fluidized Bed Entrained Bed
Moving Bed

Feedstock tolerance Low-rank coal Low-rank coal and excellent Any coal including
for biomass caking but unsuitable
for biomass

Oxidant requirements Low Moderate High

Nature of ash produced Dry Dry Slagging

Application Small capacities Medium-size units Large capacities

Problem areas Tar production Carbon Raw-gas cooling

and utilization conversion
of fines
Selection Items and Option for Gasifier
• Reactor type (Entrained, Fluidized, Fixed(Moving-bed))
• Coal feeding (Dry, Wet)
• Feeding location (Top, Side)
• Ash treatment (Slagging, Non-slagging)
• Gasifier pressure (High, Medium, Atmospheric)
• Oxidizing agent (Oxygen, Enriched oxygen, Air)
• Gasifier stages (One, Two)
• Burner number (One, Multi)
Gasifier Fuel Characteristics

 Energy Content
 Moisture Content
 Volatile Matter
 Ash Content and Ash Chemical Composition
 Size and Size Distribution
 Bulk Density
Cont..
 Energy content
The choice of a fuel for gasification will in part be decided by its heating value.
The method of measurement of the fuel energy content will influence the estimate of
efficiency of a given gasification system.
• HHV (heat of condensation of the water that is produced during combustion)
• LHV (On a moisture free basis)

Average lower heating values

Fuel Moisture content (%)  Lower heating value (kJ/kg)

Wood 20 - 25 13 - 15000
Charcoal 2-7 29 - 30000

 Moisture Content
o Heating value of the gas depend on the moisture content.

source: FAO corporate Document Repository

Cont..
 Ash Content and ash chemical composition
Table: Slagging of agricultural residues in a small laboratory down draught gasifier

Slagging fuels Ash content percent

Barley straw mix 10.3

Bean straw 10.2
Corn stalks 6.4
Cotton gin trash 17.6
Cubed cotton stalks 17.2

RDF pellets 1/ 10.4

Pelleted rice hulls 14.9
Sanflower straw 6.0
Pelleted walnut shell mix 5.8

Wheat straw and corn stalks 7.4

source: FAO corporate Document Repository

Cont..
 Particle size and size distribution
o Large sizes particles reduced reactivity of the fuel
o Startup problems and poor gas quality
 Bulk density of the fuel
o Fuels with high density are advantageous because they represent a high
energy for volume value.
Selection of Gasification Technologies
• Properties of Available Feed stock
• Final application of producer gas
• Environment and Economic Factors

Thermal Input
Cont..
Selection of Gasifier
The technical issues that influence the choice of gasifier include the
characteristics of the material to be gasified and the scale of the project.

• Coal: All three main types of gasifier (i.e. entrained flow, fluidized

bed and moving bed) can be used to gasify coal. Characteristics of
the coal that can influence gasifier selection include ash content
and melting point and coal reactivity. High ash content and
viscosity of coal are lowered using limestone. As fluidized bed
gasifier doesn’t depend on ash melting so for low ash content coal
entrained bed gasifier is used while for high ash content coal
fluidized bed gasifier is used.
• Reactivity: Lower gasification temperature of fluidized bed
gasifier makes them very attractive for reactive lignites but on the
other hand, less reactive coal has very less conversion efficiency in
fluidized bed gasifier.
 Plant size: Entrained bed gasifier plant size can go upto 300 MW. In
comparison, Moving bed and fluidized bed gasifier plants tend to be
smaller and hence for a large capacity plant multiple gasifiers are
required. In this way we can loose some economy of scale.

Oxidant : For the use of oxidant we have option of 'air' and 'oxygen'. In
fluidized bed gasifier, both oxidants can be used while mostly oxygen is
used in entrained and moving bed gasifier. The use of Air helps us to get
rid of ASU (Air Separation Unit) which is a very expensive item in a plant
but as a flipside, Nitrogen present in the air makes downstream
processing equipment larger.

Gasifier Parameters
• Reaction time
• Fuel
• Pyrolysis velocity
Selection of Gasifier
 Energy Content
 Moisture Content
 Volatile Matter
 Ash Content and Ash Chemical Composition
 Reactivity
 Size And Size Distribution
 Bulk Density
 Charring Properties
Sizing of Gasifier
• Diameter of gasifier
• Heat transfer
• Fuel feed rate
• Specific feed rate