A comparison of prairie cordgrass and switchgrass as a biomass for syngas production

A computational simulation of the gasification of prairie cordgrass (PCG) and switchgrass is conducted to assess their suitability as gasifying fuels in the production of syngas. An Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) bubbling fluidized gasifier is modeled using a commercial code that previously has been documented to simulate this particular reactor exceptionally well. Despite the similarities in the ultimate analyses of the PCG and switchgrass with regards to the amounts of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, the composition of the syngas is found to differ notably between the two grasses. The gasification of switchgrass results in significantly higher H-2 than that of PCG. The syngas produced from switchgrass also has greater amounts of CO than PCG, but results in very small amounts of methane when compared to PCG. The H-2/CO molar ratio of the syngas produced, which is a very important design parameter in the Fischer-Tropsch process, is greater for switchgrass than prairie cordgrass. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.