(183e) Optimization of Catalytic Biomass Gasification Parameters for Cold Flow in a Bubbling Fluidized Bed

This DOE funded project seeks to develop and demonstrate a process intensified two-stage bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) gasifier integrated with a hydrogen separation membrane for the production of exclusively clean hydrogen from biomass. Reactor innovation and process optimization are extremely critical for advancing the biomass gasification technology to produce cleaner syngas with a specific focus on clean hydrogen production. In this work, we designed and build a biomass gasification system (Figure 1) and improved it by optimizing the parameters such as flow to solids ratio, bed length to diameter (L/D) ratio, minimum fluidization velocity, and others. We also evaluated their effects on the performance of gasifier. We studied the impact of gas distributor and catalyst material on the performance of our customized biomass gasifier using a cold flow. The results showed that physical properties, such as size, shape of the gas distributor and size, shape and weight of catalyst material significantly affected the fluidized bed performance. The gas distributor design influenced the flow distribution and residence time, while the catalyst material regulated the reaction kinetics and the quality of the produced gas. The study has provided great insights into the gasification process and reactor design improvements to enhance the efficiency of the gasifier. A study was conducted to investigate the hydrodynamic properties of locally available pinewood as biomass. The study involved both theoretical and experimental methods to determine properties such as particle size diameter, bulk density, and fluidizing velocity. Geldart's distribution diagram was used to categorize the particle size of the biomass residue. The results indicated that the optimal particle size range for good fluidization of pinewood is in between 150-250 micrometers, which corresponds to Geldart's particle size (B). The tests were conducted using a cold flow fluidization bed chamber with varying internal diameters of 19.6 mm, 10 mm, and 8.42 mm, with air serving as the fluidizing medium. The corresponding minimum fluidization velocities were found to be 6.2 litre per minute (LPM), 3.8 LPM, and 2.9 LPM, respectively. The cold flow model will be evaluated in a hot gasifier. In a nutshell, the study showed valuable insights into the reactor design and operation parameters for future research in biomass gasification.