Renewable Energy Derived from Water Hyacinth Through Hydrothermal Gasification

Abstract

Renewable energy is one of alternative energy instead of fossil energy such as coal, oil and natural gas which is limited energy, and it is also environmentally friendly. This research is to develop an available biomass and utilize it for commercial benefit, for example, use as fuel for the gasification especially high humidity fuel, such as water hyacinth. The advantage of using water hyacinth is growing very fast and easy to find at water source. Water hyacinth is a plant with very high percentage of moisture which is not suitable for use as fuel in combustion technology. Therefore, hydrothermal gasification is an appropriate technology to produce high-quality gas from wet biomass. Hydrothermal gasification experiments will be carried out in a batch type at temperature ranging from 240 to 320 °C without catalyst. Different biomass to water ratio and reaction time will be used as experimental condition to achieve the best conditions for hydrogen-rich gas production. The composition of producer gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4) and hydrogen (H2) will be analyzed by gas chromatograph (GC). The hydrogen-rich producer gas can be used directly as fuel for electricity or heat production or can be used for other fuels production in the future.