(67b) Development and Testing of a Proposed Protocol for Tar Sampling for a Biomass Gasification System

Biomass gasification produces tars as a byproduct. These tars consist of a variety of hydrocarbons but are predominated by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Typically these tars proved to be quite troublesome, fouling equipment and downstream catalysts. Many studies have reported the results of tars generation from gasification operations but tar analysis (and subsequent quantitation) is highly dependent on the sampling technique. As a result comparison and analysis of different studies discussing tar generation are very difficult if not impossible.

This is a pressing need to develop a standardized method for tar sample collection and analysis. The European community has develop and accepted a standard tar sampling protocol and this method is being considered for standardization in the United States. This method is loosely based off of the US Environmental Protection Agency method 5 sampling protocol.

This study presents the details of the sampling protocol and the results of using this protocol to sample a pilot downdraft gasification unit at Mississippi State University. The reproducibility of the method as well as it eases of use, and pitfalls will be presented.