Research Article Open Access

PERFORMANCE STUDIES ON DOWNDRAFT GASIFIER WITH BIOMASS ENERGY SOURCES AVAILABLE IN REMOTE VILLAGES

V. ChristusJeya Singh1, S. Joseph Sekhar1 and K. Thyagarajan2
  • 1 St.Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering, Chunkankadai, Kanyakumari, Tamilnadu, India
  • 2 Hindustan College of Engineering, Kerala, India

Abstract

Increasing global concern over the environmental issues and depletion of fossil fuels, significant interest has been shown by the researchers to develop alternate energy technologies like biomass, biogas, solar to meet the future energy demand. The prediction of the performance of different biomass energy sources in gasifiers is needed for the implementation of this technology to fulfil the need of decentralized heat and power applications, relevant to remote villages. This study presents the theoretical and experimental studies conducted on a 50 kW downdraft biomass gasifier with various biomass materials such as wood, coconut shell, rubber seed kernel and coir pith which are generally available in villages. Two-zone kinetic equilibrium model approach is used to predict the composition and temperature of the producer gas. The influence of equivalence ratio on the reaction temperature, quality of producer gas and gasifier conversion efficiency are discussed. The experimental and theoretical studies show that the rubber seed kernel can be effectively used as a feedstock of the biomass gasifier to meet the rural energy demand.

American Journal of Applied Sciences
Volume 11 No. 4, 2014, 611-622

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3844/ajassp.2014.611.622

Submitted On: 1 January 2014 Published On: 4 February 2014

How to Cite: Singh, V. C., Sekhar, S. J. & Thyagarajan, K. (2014). PERFORMANCE STUDIES ON DOWNDRAFT GASIFIER WITH BIOMASS ENERGY SOURCES AVAILABLE IN REMOTE VILLAGES. American Journal of Applied Sciences, 11(4), 611-622. https://doi.org/10.3844/ajassp.2014.611.622

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Keywords

  • Kinetic Model
  • Equivalence Ratio
  • Gasifier
  • Biomass
  • Conversion Efficiency