Assessment Of Syngas Produced By Gasification With Air Of Vine Prunings Through A Downdraft Reactor

Vine is one of the most widespread crops of Italian agricultural sector, with an annual production of prunings ranging between 2 t/ha and 5 t/ha depending on the vine varieties. Gasification is a widely used process for the management of agricultural residues that allows to reduce the environmental impacts of agricultural sector and to obtain products such as syngas and biochar. The aim of this work is to assess the characteristics of syngas obtained from gasification, with air, of vine prunings by means of a downdraft gasifier. Results show that the composition of syngas is strongly influenced by the air flow rate. The hydrogen content reached a value slightly less than 15% v/v while carbon monoxide reached a value of 12% v/v. The methane content was less than 3% v/v while nitrogen content was more than 50% v/v, resulting in a lower heating value of syngas of 4 MJ/Nm3. The carbon content of the biochar, obtained during the gasification process, was 71% w/w. This experimentation showed that vine prunings can be used as feedstock for gasification in downdraft reactor, thus obtaining syngas for thermal energy production and biochar for soil improvement.