INVESTIGATION OF MICROALGAE GASIFICATION UNDER STEAM ATMOSPHERE IN DOWNDRAFT GASIFIER BY USING ASPEN PLUS®

Year 2022, Volume: 23 Issue: 2, 149 - 160, 28.06.2022

Berna Kekik , Uğur Özveren

https://doi.org/10.18038/estubtda.873981

Abstract

Energy production is facing the environmental and economic issues due to growing population and uncertainties about the fossil fuels. These concerns prompt the researchers to find widely available and renewable alternative such as biomass instead of the fossil fuels. Microalgae is one of the promising biofuels owing to its rapid growth speed and higher calorific value. Steam gasification is an alternative way converting biomass to syngas with higher H2 and lower CO2 content compared with the other thermochemical conversion processes. In the present work, the downdraft gasifier model was developed by using Aspen Plus® program that has the capability to investigate the performance of microalgae gasification. Before the performance evaluation of the gasification, validation of the model successfully completed and exit gas compositions of H2, CO2, CO and CH4 were found very close for experimental study and the developed model. Effects of the main parameters of the process such as steam/biomass ratio and gasification temperature were assessed on the syngas composition and higher heating value (HHV) of syngas. The obtained results were stated that the increment in the temperature showed great effect on the H2 and CO compositions of syngas, they increased from 50.72% to 56.47% and 28.11% to 28.84% respectively. The simulation results also illustrated that the rising of the S/B ratio was favored the steam related reactions and increased the H2 content in syngas. However decreasing trend of the CH4 caused reducing of the HHV of syngas as a function of temperature and steam as well.

Keywords

gasification, aspen plus, biomass, microalgae, downdraft gasifier

INVESTIGATION OF MICROALGAE GASIFICATION UNDER STEAM ATMOSPHERE IN DOWNDRAFT GASIFIER BY USING ASPEN PLUS®

Abstract

Energy production faces environmental and economic problems due to growing population and fossil fuel uncertainty. These concerns have led researchers to find a widely available and renewable alternative such as biomass instead of fossil fuels. Microalgae is one of the most promising biofuels because it grows quickly and has a higher calorific value. Steam gasification is an alternative method to convert biomass into syngas with higher H2 content and lower CO2 content compared to other thermochemical conversion processes. In the present work, the downdraft gasifier model was developed using Aspen Plus® simulation software, which is capable of investigating the performance of microalgae gasification. Prior to the gasification performance evaluation, the validity of the model was tested with the results of an experimental study conducted with a different feedstock. The validation of the model was successfully completed, and it was found that the initial gas compositions of H2, CO2, CO and CH4 were very similar between the experimental study and the developed model. The effects of the main process parameters, such as the steam/biomass ratio and the gasification temperature, on the syngas composition and the higher heating value (HHV) of the syngas were evaluated. The results obtained with Aspen Plus® showed that increasing the temperature had a great effect on the H2 and CO composition of the syngas. They increased from 50.72% to 56.47% and from 28.11% to 28.84%, respectively. The simulation results also showed that the increasing S/B ratio favored the steam-related reactions and increased the H2 content in the syngas. However, a decreasing trend in CH4 content also decreased the HHV of the syngas as a function of temperature and steam.

Keywords

Gasification, Biomass, Microalgae, Downdraft Gasifier, Aspen Plus®

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