Modeling of gasification of refuse derived fuel: Optimizations and experimental investigations

Abstract

Nowadays, renewable energy technologies for decentralized electrification are promising in addressing electrification issues. In this study, gasification of Refuse Derived Fuel is investigated for its potential to generate good quality producer gas for use in internal combustion engines for electricity generation. Representative Municipal Solid Waste is separated, screened, prepared and characterized. Lower heating value of the RDF is 16.63 MJ/kg which is an acceptable yield. The gasification was modeled using non-stoichiometric thermodynamic equilibrium model and implemented on MATLAB for optimization. Optimal values of temperature and equivalent ratios were determined to be 850 °C and 0.2, respectively, at a moisture content of 6%. A downdraft gasifier with the gas cleaning and conditioning system has been designed, manufactured and tested experimentally to validate the model. Based on the result, the producer gas heating value was 8.164 MJ/m3, which is acceptable for utilization in ICEs. The capacity of the gasifier is 147 kW at feed rate of 46 kg/h and product gas flow rate of 65.14 m3/h to meet engine requirements. The cold gas efficiency of the gasifier is 70%. In conclusion, a good agreement was observed between experimental and simulation results for gas characterization. Catalytic gasification gives promising results for future investigations on the use of Dolomite as a primary cleaning along with advanced secondary gas cleaning system.