Plasma-Assisted Biomass Gasification with Focus on Carbon Conversion and Reaction Kinetics Compared to Thermal Gasification

Yin Pang, Leo Bahr, Peter Fendt, Lars Zigan, Stefan Will, Thomas Hammer, Manfred Baldauf, Robert Fleck, Dominik Müller and Jürgen Karl
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Yin Pang: Lehrstuhl für Energieverfahrenstechnik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Fürther Str. 244f, 90429 Nürnberg, Germany
Leo Bahr: Lehrstuhl für Technische Thermodynamik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, am Weichselgarten 8, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Peter Fendt: Lehrstuhl für Technische Thermodynamik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, am Weichselgarten 8, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Lars Zigan: Lehrstuhl für Technische Thermodynamik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, am Weichselgarten 8, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Stefan Will: Lehrstuhl für Technische Thermodynamik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, am Weichselgarten 8, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Thomas Hammer: Siemens AG, Corporate Technology, Research on Energy and Electronics, Günther-Scharowsky-Str. 1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Manfred Baldauf: Siemens AG, Corporate Technology, Research on Energy and Electronics, Günther-Scharowsky-Str. 1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Robert Fleck: Siemens AG, Corporate Technology, Research on Energy and Electronics, Günther-Scharowsky-Str. 1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Dominik Müller: Lehrstuhl für Energieverfahrenstechnik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Fürther Str. 244f, 90429 Nürnberg, Germany
Jürgen Karl: Lehrstuhl für Energieverfahrenstechnik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Fürther Str. 244f, 90429 Nürnberg, Germany

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-24

Abstract: Compared to conventional allothermal gasification of solid fuels (e.g., biomass, charcoal, lignite, etc.), plasma-assisted gasification offers an efficient method for applying energy to the gasification process to increase the flexibility of operation conditions and to increase the reaction kinetics. In particular, non-thermal plasmas (NTP) are promising, in which thermal equilibrium is not reached and electrons have a substantially higher mean energy than gas molecules. Thus, it is generally assumed that in NTP the supplied energy is utilized more efficiently for generating free radicals initiating gasification reactions than thermal plasma processes. In order to investigate this hypothesis, we compared purely thermal to non-thermal plasma-assisted gasification of biomass in steam in a drop tube reactor at atmospheric pressure. The NTP was provided by means of gliding arcs between two electrodes aligned in the inlet steam flow with an electric power of about 1 kW. Reaction yields and rates were evaluated using measured gas temperatures by the optical technique. The first experimental results show that the non-thermal plasma not only promotes the carbon conversion of the fuel particles, but also accelerates the reaction kinetics. The carbon conversion is increased by nearly 10% using wood powder as the fuel. With charcoal powder, more than 3% are converted into syngas.

Keywords: non-thermal plasma; wood gasification; charcoal gasification; water steam gasification; plasma stability; optical temperature measurement; carbon conversion; reaction kinetics; Arrhenius diagram (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: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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