Performance studies on a downdraft biomass gasifier with blends of coconut shell and rubber seed shell as feedstock

Published Date
25 March 2016, Vol.97:22–27, doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.09.099

Author 

V. Christus Jeya Singh

S. Joseph Sekhar ^,

Department of Mechanical Engineering, St. Xavier's Catholic College of Engineering, Nagercoil, Kanyakumari, Tamilnadu, India

Received 24 April 2015. Accepted 25 September 2015. Available online 3 October 2015. 

Highlights

• Analytical and experimental investigation on the performance of biomass gasifier.
• •
  Blends of coconut shell and rubber seed shell as feedstock in gasifier instead of wood.
• •
  Two-zone kinetic model to predict the performance of biomass blends in gasifier.
• •
  Impact of equivalent ratio on the performance of gasifier with blends of biomasses.
  
  
  Abstract
  
  
  The use of biomass gasification system for the generation of combined heat and power has gained importance because it is considered to be one of the most promising renewable energy technologies. Widespread research has been already carried out on downdraft gasifier with single biomass as feedstock. However limited work is available to ascertain the feasibility of utilising blends of biomasses. In this paper, theoretical and experimental studies have been carried out on a 50 kW_thdowndraft gasifier with the blends of coconut shell and rubber seed shell, which are available abundantly in the rural villages of South India. Two-Zone kinetic modelling is followed for the theoretical studies. Experimental study has been carried out to prove the validity of the modelling approach. The results show that the mixing of rubber seed shell and coconut shell with various compositions yields the performance which is on par with the woody biomasses. Besides, the maximum values of the performance parameters are obtained when the equivalence ratio is maintained between 0.2 and 0.3.
  
  
  Keywords
• 
  
Coconut shell
• Rubber seed shell
• Downdraft gasifier
• Equivalence ratio
• Conversion efficiency

Nomenclature

ф

Equivalence Ratio

DAF

Dry Air Free

HHV

Higher Heating Value (MJ/kg)

D0, D1, D2, D3

Blends of Coconut Shell and Rubber Seed Shell

MC

Moisture Content of Biomass

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• * 
  Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 4652 232560; Fax: +91 4652 259664.

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