Feasibility Study on Utilization of Biomass Briquette in a Conventional Downdraft Gasifier

Abstract

Use of loose biomass in the conventional downdraft gasifier, designed to operate with wood chips, is a challenging task due to the clogging of the biomass at the throat of the gasifier. Present work involves the use of loose biomass in the form of briquettes for the gasification in a 5 kW downdraft gasifier designed to run with wood chips. The biomass briquettes of spherical shape with average diameter 25 mm are made from saw dust mixed with the old news paper as the binder. Thermal behavior along with the gas quality and tar produced in the gasification with saw dust briquettes as feed material are evaluated. Results obtained are compared with wood chips gasification for an equivalent ratio of 0.32. It is observed that gasification process with saw dust briquettes is comparable to the wood chips in terms of yield of gas, tar content and the gas quality. This study reveals that feedstock design can help in utilizing various biomasses in a conventional downdraft gasifier without any modification of the same.