INTRODUCTION

Thermochemical conversion processes of pyrolysis and gasification will produce biomass

energy. Gasification of fossil fuels is currently widely used on industrial scales to generate
electricity. Carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H 2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) is gases that
produced from organic material based carbonaceous material in a process known gasification.
The organic substances are reacted at high temperature (>700C) without combustion but by
control the amount of oxygen or steam. Synthesis gas will result in mixture of gas which is called
as syngas and a fuel.
The advantage using syngas it is more efficient than direct combustion of fuel because
the syngas can be combusted at high temperatures. The gasified compounds obtained from
biomass is considered as renewable sources. Other than that, syngas also can be burned directly
in the engines and produces methanol and hydrogen. The energy can be utilized through
thermochemical conversion processes of pyrolysis and gasification. The biomass is devolatilized
by heat to char and volatiles in the process. However, the devolatilization is depending on the
feedstock and the low levels of unsaturated hydrocarbons (Basu,2008). After the pyrolysis, char
produced is a higher carbon concentration than the dry feedstock. Therefore, the char is
converted into gases by using gasification agents.
The reactors used for gasification process are entrained bed reactor, fluidized bed reactor
and moving bed reactor. However, the most common used reactor is fluidized bed reactors
because it produces high rate of heat and mass transfer thus will result in high rate of gas
produced.
Steam gasification of wood using a dual fluidized bed reactor is one of the promising
technologies for biomass conversion (Wilk, 2010; Hofbauer et al, 2002; Thapa,2014). There are
two parts of the reactor which are combustion zone and gasification zone. The combustion zone
is a part where the fluidized bed reactor is circulated and air is the fluidized gas. Inert bed
materials such as olivine particles or quartz sand are heated by burning of char in the combustion
zone. Then, the heated materials are circulated to the gasification reactor. The recirculation of
bed materials is important as to supply necessary heat for the endothermic gasification reaction

in the gasification zone. The process use the principle of dual fluidized bed gasification
technology (Thapa, 2014).

Gasification of biomass happen in the bubbling fluidized bed also known as gasification
zone. The fluidizing gas is high temperature steam. In the gasification reactor, the biomass is
feed and mixed with hot bed materials. Then, the biomass is dried and devolatilized to produce
volatile gases and solid char particles. After that, the char particles will react with steam to
produce a mixture of combustible gases in addition to some CO2 and water vapor. The
technology used is developed by researchers at Vienna University of Technology.
The thermochemical process in the gasification reactor is believed as one of the major
factors that can increase the performance of the gasification process significantly. The number of
operating parameters as well as the design of the reactor affecting the thermochemical process in
the reactor. Experimental study of the thermochemical behavior has been difficult due to high
operating temperature in addition to time consumption and material costs related to the
requirements of constructing hot models and pilot plants (Thapa, 2014).
For a better understanding of the gasification process, it is possible to study the
performance of the reactor by using simulation tools like Aspen. A validated computational
model could give an approximate answer to many factors effecting the efficiency of the plant. In
literature, the stimulation model of gasification for biomass are performed in a Gibbs reactor
where no kinetics reaction is applied (Doherty et al, 2013; Nikoo, 2008; Mavukwana et al,
2013). The Gibbs reactor uses Gibbs free energy minimization with phase splitting to calculate
equilibrium.

TYPES OF GASIFICATION PROCESS

There are three categories of gasification processes which are entrained bed, fluidized bed and
moving bed. The types of gasification processes are different from types of gasifier equipment.
Gasifier equipment generally classified as upward draft, downward draft and cross draft gasifiers
which are based on the direction of air or oxygen flow in the equipment. When selecting a
specific gasification process for syngas generation, different factors such as fuel type (coal or
biomass etc.), plant size, reactivity of fuel and composition of air-oxygen oxidant mixture has to
be taken into consideration. Some general guidelines for selection of a gasification process are
available.
i)

Entrained bed gasification

The oxygen and feed enter the entrained bed process in co-current flow. To promote mass
transfer and allow transport of solids, the feed is grounded to a size of 100 m or less. The
characteristics of entrained flow gasification is very high and uniform temperatures (usually
more than1000C) and the very short residence time of the fuel within the gasifier. Therefore,
high conversion is possible since the temperature is high. Thus, high oxygen demand for these
types of processes is needed. Schematic of the operation of an entrained flow gasifier and
variation of the temperature of coal and gas along the gasifier are shown in figure-1. In this type
of gasification, ash is withdrawn in the molten form. It must be noted that the solids fed into the
gasifier must be very finely ground and homogeneous because the gasification are not suitable
for feed stocks such as biomass or wastes because it cannot be readily pulverized.

Figure 1 - Entrained flow gasifier and variation of the temperature of coal and gas along passage
through gasifier

ii)

Fluidized bed gasification

The schematic of a fluidized bed gasifier and variation of the temperatures of coal and gas along
the gasifier is shown in the figure-2. The fluidized bed gasification promotes heat and mass
transfer because it offers good mixing of coal, air or oxygen and steam mixture. This ensures an
even distribution of material in the bed and hence, a certain amount of partially reacted fuel is
inevitably removed with the ash. This places limitation on overall carbon conversion in fluidized
bed processes. Fluidized bed gasifiers generally operate below the ash softening temperature,
because ash slagging can disturb the fluidization of the bed. Size of the particles is critical;
material that is too fine will tend to entrained in the syngas and leaves the bed overhead. This is
partially captured in cyclones and returned to bed. This type of gasifier is suitable for reactive
feed stocks such as low rank coals and biomass.

Figure 2 - Fluidized bed gasifier and variation of the temperature of coal and gas along the
gasifier

iii)

Moving bed gasification

The schematic of a moving bed gasifier with various processes at different levels and variation of
the coal and gas temperatures along the gasifier is shown in figure-3. Coal which enters at top
and moves downward through gravity is gasified by the upcoming countercurrent air/oxygen and
steam mixture. In this gasifier, the hot synthesis gas from gasification zone is used to preheat and
pyrolyze the downward flowing coal. With this process the oxygen consumption is very low, but
pyrolysis products are present in the product syngas. This gasifier operates on lump coal and
outlet temperature of syngas is generally low.

Figure-3 - Moving bed gasifier with various processes at different levels and variation of the coal
and gas temperatures along the gasifier