Researchers plan to turn wood into gas fuel
Researchers at Georgia Tech are starting a three-year program to make a gaseous fuel from wood in a continuous process. The federal Department of Energy has granted $1.5 million to Tech's Engineering Experiment Station to build and design an ''entrained'' system which will convert ground-up wood into a combustible gas by blowing the wood through a furnace. The process is pyrolysis/gasification. The wood will be dried, then blown into the hot pyrolyzer, where it will char. It will produce oil, gases, and vapors - including the desired syngas. Syngas is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen which can be used directly as a fuel. Natural gas, synthetic gasoline, and methyl alcohol can also be made from syngas. The hydrogen in syngas can be converted to ammonia to make fertilizers. In the entrained conversion system, drying, pyrolysis, and gasification are each performed in separate units which can be accurately and separately controlled. Energy required to dry and pyrolyze the wood comes from pyrolysis fuel products. Pure oxygen is used in the final gasification step. The system will be designed to convert wood at the rate of 125 tons/hour. Typical pyrolysis yields are expected to be 30% char, 16% oils, 22% water, and 32% gases. The wood feed will have a heating value of 8500 Btu/lb; oil, 11,000 Btu; and gas, 5,500 Btu. The gas is expected to have a heat value of nearly 300 Btu/cu.ft.
- OSTI ID:
- 6925644
- Journal Information:
- For. Ind.; (United States), Journal Name: For. Ind.; (United States) Vol. 108:4; ISSN FOINB
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
090122* -- Hydrocarbon Fuels-- Preparation from Wastes or Biomass-- (1976-1989)
140504 -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Biomass Production & Conversion-- (-1989)
BIOMASS CONVERSION PLANTS
CALORIFIC VALUE
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHARS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
DECOMPOSITION
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
DRYING
ELEMENTS
FERTILIZERS
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
FINANCING
FLUIDS
FUEL GAS
FUEL OILS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
GASIFICATION
HYDROGEN
LIQUID FUELS
MANAGEMENT
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
OILS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PROCESSING
PRODUCTION
PYROLYSIS
PYROLYSIS PRODUCTS
SYNGAS PROCESS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
USA
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WOOD