Advances in biomass gasification power plants

Conference · Mon Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1999

OSTI ID:696705

Wen, H; Lausten, C; Pietruszkiewicz, J ^[1]; DeLaquil, P ^[2]; Jain, B C ^[3]

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1. Bechtel Corp., Frederick, MD (United States)
2. BG Technologies, Washington, DC (United States)
3. Ankur Scientific Energy Technologies, Vadodara (India)

This paper describes a new commercial application of the down draft type biomass gasifier for power generation with internal combustion (IC) engine generators. The advantages of the Ankur down draft gasifier, designed by Ankur Scientific Energy Technologies (ASCENT) over earlier down draft, updraft and fluidized bed gasifiers are discussed. A major achievement of the Ankur gasifier is the very low level of tars and oils in the product gas, an important feature if the gas is to be used for power generation via an internal combustion engine. The new gasifier has higher conversion efficiency, larger throughput, and better economics compared to earlier gasifier designs. A comparison of technology risks, fuel flexibility and costs is also made between the Ankur downdraft gasifier and other biomass gasification technologies. Bechtel conducted gas quality tests, under contract to EnergyWorks, LLC, to confirm that the product gas from the gasifier is largely free of tars and other impurities, and the test results are presented in this paper. The ASCENT biomass gasification system is commercially proven in India for both thermal applications and electric power generating plants up to the 500 kW size.

• Research Organization: Illinois Inst. of Tech., Chicago, IL (United States)
• OSTI ID: 696705
• Report Number(s): CONF-990410--PROC.-Vol.1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
BIOMASS
ELECTRIC GENERATORS
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
GASIFICATION
SPARK IGNITION ENGINES
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT