An overview of biomass gasification

Abstract

The emission of greenhouse gases in the environment in order to satisfy the demand for electricity and fuel has raised severe climate change issues in various parts of the world. Thus, switching from conventional to renewable power sources has become necessary. Biomass a renewable energy source has the potential of becoming an alternative to the conventional energy sources. Gasification is a thermochemical process that converts waste biomass into a gaseous product known as a syngas and provides environment-friendly waste disposal. Synthesis gas produced through biomass gasification process can be further utilized for power generation or various thermal applications. This chapter discusses various conventional gasification systems existing for biomass gasification along with new technological development. It also delivers an assessment of the impacts of fundamental and interrelating process parameters such as reactor temperature, equivalence ratio, biomass particle size, bed material, etc. on gasification process. Further, a section on various producer gas cleaning technologies to make syngas suitable for power generation applications is also included in this chapter.