Gasifier performance and energy analysis for fluidized bed gasification of sugarcane bagasse

Experiments are carried out to determine the effects of different system parameters viz, gasification temperature, equivalence ratio, steam to biomass ratio and bed materials acting as catalyst for the production of hydrogen from sugarcane bagasse. Energy audit report is proposed for the gasification process where net energy output is calculated to be 5.296 kW h for 1.0 kg of feed. A mathematical expression is developed for the yield of hydrogen by correlating above mentioned system parameters. Calculated values of hydrogen yield thus obtained are compared against the experimentally observed values. Energy balance gives 56 gms of the hydrogen production per kg of dry sugarcane bagasse. Carbon conversion efficiency and the cold gas efficiency are calculated to be 89.34% and 80.65% respectively. The optimum hydrogen yield is observed to be 37.98% on N-2 and S free basis. This is achieved at a temperature of 700 degrees C, equivalence ratio of 0.25 and steam to biomass ratio of 0.5 with the bed material of 1:1 red mud - sand mixture. Heating value of hydrogen obtained from the product gas is found to match with the calculated net energy output implying the satisfactory performance of the gasifier with respect to hydrogen yield. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.