GASIFICATION OF AGRICULTURAL RESIDUES (BIOMASS) - INFLUENCE OF INORGANIC CONSTITUENTS

Four different biomass samples are included in this study, viz., sphagnum peat, wheat straw, sugar beet pulp, and potato pulp. They were chosen to represent a wide range of plant origin and inorganic content. This paper represents a preliminary investigation of an approach based on pyrolysis of biomass to produce volatile products and chars, followed by gasification of the chars. The particular interest lies in the investigation of the influence of the indigenous metal ions on the rate of gasification. Carbon dioxide has been used for the gasification, and the biomass was analyzed for nine metals, uronic acids (which are implicated in the binding of inorganic counterions), protein, and Klason lignin. The highest individual metal ion content was 13 964 ppm of potassium in potato pulp, and the gasification rates, under constant conditions, covered up to a 20-fold range, with char from potato pulp being the most readily gasified and char from peat the most resistant. The correlation of gasification rates with content of the major metal ions (alkali metals and alkaline earths) was poor. However, a high level of correlation was observed when wheat straw was omitted. It is speculated that the latter biomass may be anomalous with respect to the other three because of its high silica content. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.