Quality assessment of gas produced from different types of biomass pellets in gasification process

Abstract

Gas from the gasification of pellets made from renewable sources of energy or from lower-quality fuels often contains a number of pollutants. This may cause technical difficulties during the gas use in internal combustion gas engines used for energy and heat cogeneration. Therefore, an adequate system of gas cleaning must be selected. In line with such requirements, this paper focuses on the characterization and comparison of gases produced from different types of biomass during gasification. The biomass tested was wood, straw, and hay pellets. The paper gives a detailed description and evaluation of the measurements from a fix-bed gasifier for the properties of the produced gases, raw fuels, tar composition, and its particle content before and after the cleaning process. The results of elemental composition, net calorific value, moisture, and ash content show that the cleaned gases are suitable for internal combustion engine-based cogeneration systems, but unsuitable for gas turbines, where a different cleaning technology would be needed.