Air gasification characteristics of coir pith in a circulating fluidized bed gasifier

The gasification characteristics of coir pith are studied in a circulating fluidized bed gasifier using air as the gasifying medium. The effect of various parameters such as temperature, Equivalence Ratio (ER), and Oxygen/Carbon ratio (O/C) on gas yield, gas composition, gas heating value, carbon conversion, cold gas and overall thermal efficiency is studied. The ERs employed in the study are 0.18, 0.21, 0.24 and 0.31. It has been found that temperature has an influence on the cracking reactions, as indicated by the increased yield of hydrogen. The maximum yield of hydrogen is obtained at a temperature of 1028.6 degrees C, and as the Equivalence Ratio (ER) increased, hydrogen yield decreased. The gas yield also increased with increase in temperature and ER. Also it has been observed that the gas heating value increases with increase in temperature and decrease in ER. Carbon conversion is found to increase with increase in temperature and increase in ER. It is found that the increase in temperature favours both the cold gas thermal and overall thermal efficiencies. Also the cold gas and overall thermal gasification efficiencies decrease with increase in Equivalence Ratio. (C) 2009 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.