Experimental Analysis of Brewers’ Spent Grains Steam Gasification in an Allothermal Batch Reactor
Sérgio Ferreira,
Eliseu Monteiro,
Paulo Brito,
Carlos Castro,
Luís Calado and
Cândida Vilarinho
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Sérgio Ferreira: CT2M—Centre for Mechanical and Materials Technologies, Mechanical Engineering Department of Minho University, 4804-533 Guimarães, Portugal
Eliseu Monteiro: VALORIZA-Research Center for Endogenous Resource Valorisation, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, 7300-555 Portalegre, Portugal
Paulo Brito: VALORIZA-Research Center for Endogenous Resource Valorisation, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, 7300-555 Portalegre, Portugal
Carlos Castro: CT2M—Centre for Mechanical and Materials Technologies, Mechanical Engineering Department of Minho University, 4804-533 Guimarães, Portugal
Luís Calado: VALORIZA-Research Center for Endogenous Resource Valorisation, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, 7300-555 Portalegre, Portugal
Cândida Vilarinho: CT2M—Centre for Mechanical and Materials Technologies, Mechanical Engineering Department of Minho University, 4804-533 Guimarães, Portugal
Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 5, 1-14
Abstract:
In this work, brewers’ spent grains (BSG) were evaluated and studied in order to obtain a combustible gas by means of allothermal steam gasification. BSG were preprocessed in a rotary dryer and a pelletizer prior to gasification in an indirectly heated batch reactor. BSG characterization was conducted by means of proximate, ultimate, and thermogravimetric analysis, allowing us to conclude that BSG have characteristics comparable to those of regular lignocellulosic biomasses. Gasification tests were performed in an allothermal bench-scale batch reactor in order to determine the effect of temperature and steam-to-biomass ratio (S/B) in the produced gas. The produced gas was mainly composed of 22.8–30.2% H 2 , 15.1–22.3% CO, and 7.2–11.1% CH 4 , contributing to a heating value of 8.11–9.0 MJ/Nm 3 with the higher values found for a low S/B ratio and for high temperatures. The performance of the process was assessed by evaluating the cold gas and carbon conversion efficiencies. These indicators were found to be in the ranges 47.0%–52.1% and 57.0%–62.7%, respectively. The main conclusion of this work is that the produced gas obtained from BSG steam gasification has sufficient quality to open other options to beer producers to use their own brewing wastes to satisfy their energy needs, allowing them to progress toward the circular economy concept.
Keywords: brewers’ spent grains; allothermal gasification; batch reactor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:5:p:912-:d:212374
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