An Analysis of the Woody Biomass Gasification Power

1. AN ANALYSIS OF THE WOODY BIOMASS GASIFICATION
POWER GENERATION
By:
M NAVEEN SAI ASHISH
191914089L

2. INTRODUCTION
The Current State Of Asia’s Woody Biomass
▪ Concerns about the rise in energy usage, air pollution, and depleti
on of natural resources as a result of the increasing world populati
on and its reliance on fossil fuels have intensified in recent years.
▪ Regarding its usage in power production projects, woody biomass,
which is plentiful in Asia, has been gaining interest.
▪ Woody biomass power generation is promoted as a carbon-neutral
source of power production since it uses otherwise unused wood
products as fuel.

3. The Current State Of Asia’s Woody Biomass
▪ Since woody biomass uses otherwise discarded wood products as
fuel, it is marketed as a carbon-neutral method of electricity
generation.
▪ However, many studies on gasification power production in Asia
concentrate on moisture content ratios and enhancing the efficacy of
exhaust heat recovery.
▪ By altering the moisture content ratio of the raw materials for a
downdraft-type gasifier and analysing the temperature within the
gasifier as well as the tar concentration of the gas, Endo et al.
demonstrated that the moisture content ratio must be under 15%.

4. The Creation Of Asia’s Woody Biomass Power
Generation Projects Database And Trend Analysis
▪ The trends in power-generating projects by scale are presented using
a database of instances of woody biomass power production plants
throughout Asia.
▪ We specifically gathered data by concentrating on the power-
generating techniques of small to medium-sized power-generation
projects to comprehend their patterns.
▪ From 1 January 2003 to 31 May 2020, 236 woody biomass power
production projects that were announced are summarised in the
database.

5. Number of woody biomass power generation
projects by scale

6. Details of woody biomass power generation
projects of less than 2 MW
▪ It provides information on the size of
woody biomass power production
installations under 2 MW.
▪ The graph shows that more than ten
medium-scale 1-2 MW power
production projects using either
direct combustion or gasification
were constructed following the
adjustment in the FIT sales price.

7. Materials and Methods
Gasification and Bio-Oil Coproduction System of a 2 MW
Updraft Reactor
▪ With the Ministry of the Environment's assistance, this project was
carried out from 2011 to 2013.
▪ When researching the early start of the operation, we chose an
enhancement strategy using an updraft reactor, which has
demonstrated good performance.
▪ The capacity of this system is to accept wood chips, which have a
high moisture content of between 50% and 60%, is its primary
distinguishing feature.
▪ It was initially created as a method for gasifying woody biomass to
produce electricity with the intention of reducing the production of tar
in already-existing facilities.

8. Summary of a gasification and bio-oil co-production
process using an updraft reactor

9. The Measurement Evaluation of 0.36 MW Small-Scale
Gasification Power Generation Plant
▪ The experiment’s target facility is a downdraft gasification power
generation system with 0.18 MW output 2 lines (0.36 MW) and 11 t/D
chip usage.
▪ At this facility, the entire process, up to feeding the wood chips into
the gasifier,starts with delivering the wood chips to the chip yard from
the chip center.
▪ Wood chips that have been accumulated and kept for about a week
are then dried at approximately 230 C in a hot-air dryer.
▪ Next, the chips are fed into the gasifier through the storage hopper at
a temperature of 80 C.

10. Gasification process flow in a power plant

11. Results and Discussion
Gasification and Bio-Oil Coproduction System of a 2 MW
Updraft Reactor
▪ There are currently several regions that are considering the effective
utilization of woody biomass.
▪ Unfortunately, not many are considering the introduction of this
system as a prerequisite.
▪ One of the reasons for this is that there are now fewer regions that
can supply the required raw materials , which is greatly affected by
the attention that is being received by gasification power generation at
a smaller scale.

12. Gasification and Bio-Oil Coproduction System of a 2 MW
Updraft Reactor
▪ However, one major advantage of this system is its ability to accept
wood chips with high moisture content.
▪ In light of this, we expect there to be more studies on gas-generated
heat used outside of the power generation business, the enhanced
value of making bio-oil a raw material for chemical products, etc.

13. The Measurement Evaluation of 0.36 MW Small-Scale
Gasification Power Generation Plant
▪ We discovered that it was not
running steadily since, although
being activated for 18–24 ha/day for
536 days (from 18 October 2016 to
13 July 2017), it was only active for
13.25% of the time.
▪ In addition, we found that it was not
operational for over half of the
survey period, due to repairs,
maintenance, diculty in procuring
raw materials, etc.

14. Pyrolysis Characteristics of Asia’s Tree Species
▪ We assumed the presence of pyrolysis layers in the gasifier and
experimented with a nitrogen atmosphere.
▪ We then calculated the slope of the major pyrolysis section of the
obtained thermogravimetric (TG) curves.
▪ Given the tendency for the gasification rate to be faster as the slope of
the TG curve becomes steeper, it can be confirmed that the
gasification ratio varies depending on the tree species.
▪ However, when compared to bark, which generates clinker when
burned because of the large amount of ash , the difference between
tree species is not so significant.

15. Results of thermal analysis

16. CONCLUSION
▪ Based on technological advancements and experimental evaluation
projects we were involved in, we have discussed the introduction of
woody biomass power generation in Asia and its status after FIT
enforcement in this paper.
▪ We have also presented issues surrounding the diffusion of woody
biomass power generation.
▪ In spite of the demand for small-scale gasification power generation of
up to 2 MW, we consolidated the number of woody biomass power
generation projects in Asia and discovered that the number of
proposed projects is decreasing because of the high level of technical
difficulties.