Optimization of a laboratory scale biomass plasma gasification reactor

Summary form only given. Waste generation is increasing significantly due to an increase in population, urban and industrial development worldwide. Due to this increase in waste, there is an increased demand of waste services in terms of collection, transportation, storage, handling and treatment. Moreover this increase in population resulted in high demand of energy. The fossil fuels such as coal are primarily used for the production of energy worldwide but their availability is fading at an alarming rate due to this high energy demand. As an alternative to fossil fuel, biomass is becoming an attractive source of energy due to its renewability and its high heating value (HHV). Plasma gasification is a newly developed biomass utilization method for synthesis gas (syngas) production, which could be used directly as fuel for electricity generation or as a feed to a Fischer Tropsch process for the production of synthesis crude oil. Compared to other biomass utilization methods, plasma gasification gives a solution to most problems encountered during gasification processes such as tar formation, low gas yield, ash, etc. In order to achieve this solution, the existing laboratory scale plasma gasification reactor was optimised. A series of experiments were conducted in the laboratory whereby the optimum parameters such as gasification temperatures, feeding rate, equivalent ratio, gasification reagent, which has direct influence on tar reduction and high gas yield were investigated.