Gasification Of Biomass In A Plasma Gasifier

This paper presents the thermodynamic analysis and experimental results on the plasma gasification of biomass using the example of wood waste. Thermodynamic computations revealed that synthesis gas can be produced from wood waste for utilization in the heat-and-power engineering, metallurgy and chemical industries. The air gasification of wood waste produces a synthesis gas yield of 71.6% (CO-41.9% and H-2-29.7%). Experiments on the plasma gasification of wood waste were conducted in an experimental setup composed of a plasma gasifier with 50 kg/h nominal productivity and a DC plasmatron with 70 kW nominal power. Based on gas analysis, the exit gas of the plasma setup exhibited the following composition, vol.%: CO-42.0, H-2-25.1, and N-2-32.9. The measured temperature in the bottom of the plasma gasifier was 1,560 K. The discrepancy between the experimental and calculated yield of synthesis gas was not more than 7%. Harmful impurities were not observed in the gases or the condensed products generated from the plasma gasification of wood waste.