STEAM GASIFICATION OF LIGNOCELLULOSIC RESIDUES IN A FLUIDIZED-BED AT A SMALL PILOT SCALE - EFFECT OF THE TYPE OF FEEDSTOCK

Different biomass materials such as pine sawdust, pine wood chips, cereal straw, and thistles (Cynara cardunculus) from energetic crops have been gasified with steam in a 15-cm-i.d. fluidized bed reactor. The gas, tar, and char yields, the composition and heating value of the gas produced, and the conversion of carbon have been determined at temperatures between 650 and 780-degrees-C (923-1053 K) for each material. The product distribution varies with the biomass used and the gasification temperature. The differences are very marked for the H-2, CO, and CO2 contents in the gas product at low gasification temperatures. These differences decrease when the temperature increases to 780-degrees-C at which point a gas composition similar for all types of biomass tested is obtained by the achievement of equilibrium in the water-gas shift reaction.