Drying technologies for an integrated gasification bio-energy plant

Forced drying of the biomass feedstock is nearly always necessary in an Integrated Gasification Bio-energy Plant (IGBP), and a dryer can represent the highest capital cost item in the pre-treatment section of such a plant. Despite this, there has been relatively little attention paid to the selection and performance of such processes. This review first considers the general requirement for feedstock drying in an IGBP. Brief discussion follows of the theory of evaporative drying, and of the classification of dryer types. The characteristics of biomass feedstocks and IGBP's of relevance to the drying process are then discussed. Suitable dryer types for an IGBP are then identified and described in detail, with performance data for the drying of biomass feedbacks provided where available. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.