Effect of Bed Material on Bed Agglomeration for Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) Gasification in a Bubbling Fluidised Bed System

Tanakorn Kittivech and Suneerat Fukuda
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Tanakorn Kittivech: The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, Center of Excellence on Energy Technology and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
Suneerat Fukuda: The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, Center of Excellence on Energy Technology and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: The high level of potassium compounds in Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) induces ash-related problems, such as bed agglomeration, which is caused by the formation of a low-melting-point sticky compound: K 2 On·SiO 2 , especially in fluidised bed gasification using silica sand as bed material. Dolomite was found to be an effective alternative bed material for preventing bed agglomeration by the release of CaO via calcination processes during gasification. CaO acts as a catalyst to inhibit bed agglomeration by possibly enhancing the formation of K 2 CO 3 instead of K 2 O·nSiO 2 . Alumina sand was also found to be a suitable alternative bed material to prevent bed agglomeration; however, due to the relatively high density of alumina sand, high gas velocity was needed to ensure good mixing and fluidisation. Using both dolomite and alumina sand as bed materials yielded a product gas having similar higher heating value (HHV) to that when using silica sand (i.e., 3.8–3.9 MJ/Nm 3 ).

Keywords: bed agglomeration; fluidised bed; dolomite; alumina sand; gasification; EFB; biomass (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
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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