Design, Construction and Experiment on Imbert Downdraft Gasifier Using South Sumatera Biomass and Low Rank Coal as Fuel

Abstract

The solid fuel must be converted to gas fuel or liquid fuel for application to internal combustion engine or gas turbine. Gasification is a technology to convert solid fuel into combustible gas. Gasification system generally consists of a gasifier, cyclone, spray tower and filter. This study is purposed to design, construction, and experiment of gasification system. The imbert downdraft gasifier was designed with 42 kg/h for the maximum capacity of fuel consumption, 90 cm for height, 26.8 cm for main diameter and 12 cm for throat diameter. The gasifier was constructed from stainless steel material of SUS 304. Biomass and low rank coal from South Sumatera, Indonesia was used as fuel. The result of the experiment showed that combustible gas was produced after 15 minutes operation in average. The air fuel ratio of low rank coal was 1.7 which was higher than biomass (1.1). Combustible gas stopped producing when the fuel went down below the throat of gasifier.