Bioresource Technology 102 (2011) 19071913

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Bioresource Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech

Generation of hydrogen rich gas through uidized bed gasication of biomass

M.K. Karmakar *, A.B. Datta
Thermal Engineering Group, Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CSIR), Durgapur 713209, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 30 April 2010
Received in revised form 2 August 2010
Accepted 4 August 2010
Available online 6 August 2010
Keywords:
Fluidized bed
Biomass
Steam gasication
Equilibrium modeling
Hydrogen

a b s t r a c t
The objective of this study was to investigate the process of generating hydrogen rich syngas through
thermo chemical uidized bed gasication of biomass. The experiments were performed in a laboratory
scale externally heated biomass gasier. Rice husk had been taken as a representative biomass and, steam
had been used as the uidizing and gasifying media. A thermodynamic equilibrium model was used to
predict the gasication process. The work included the parametric study of process parameters such as
reactor temperature and steam biomass ratio which generally inuence the percentage of hydrogen content in the product gas. Steam had been used here to generate nitrogen free product gas and also to
increase the hydrogen concentration in syngas with a medium range heating value of around 12 MJ/Nm3.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Energy is an essential factor in both livelihoods and industrial
activities and, hydrogen has been identied as a clean energy
source and a potential alternative fuel. When hydrogen is combusted, it does not add any adverse effect to the environment.
However, to make the sustainable energy security based on hydrogen, renewable resource such as biomass instead of fossil fuels has
to be utilized.
Biomass gasication produces fuel gas or synthesis gas through
the thermo chemical conversion of biomass, usually involving partial oxidation of feedstock in a reducing atmosphere in presence of
air, oxygen and/or steam (Li et al., 2004). The biomass materials
differ greatly in chemical, physical and morphological properties
and, therefore, this necessitates developing different methods of
gasication and consequently requires different reactor designs
or even gasication technologies. There is an excellent overview
concerning the characteristics of the various gasiers, i.e. of updraft and downdraft xed bed gasiers and bubbling, circulating
uidized and entrained beds (Bridgwater, 1995). Moving-bed gasiers suffer from high tar yields in the product gas (Beenackers,
1999). The inability to maintain uniform radial temperature proles and to avoid local slagging problems makes the moving bed
unsuitable for large installations (Babu, 1995). Fluidized beds
now nd wide application in biomass gasication (Corella et al.,
1998). Air-blown processes produce low caloric value gases with
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 343 6452157; fax: +91 343 2546745.
E-mail
addresses:
malay@cmeri.res.in,
malay_karmakar@yahoo.com
(M.K. Karmakar).
0960-8524/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2010.08.015

a typical Higher Heating Value (HHV) of 47 MJ/Nm3, while oxygen

and steam blown processes result in gases with a HHV of 10
18 MJ/Nm3 (Schuster et al., 2001).
Biomass gasication models are predominantly separated in
two groups: equilibrium approach and kinetic approach (Li et al.,
2001). Kinetic models take into account the chemical kinetics of
the main reactions and the transfer phenomena among phases,
estimating the composition of each species on any point of space
and time of a system. These models are specic in general for each
process, providing important considerations related to chemical
mechanisms and ways to increase reaction rates and process performance. On the other hand, equilibrium models provide the
greatest possible conversion of each species regardless the system
size and the time needed to reach equilibrium. These models do
not require details of system geometry neither estimate the necessary time to reach that equilibrium (Rodrigues et al., 2009).
Bilodeau et al. (1993) developed a mathematical model of biomass gasication in a uidized bed reactor considering axial variations of concentrations and temperature in bubble and emulsion
phases. The mass balance involved instantaneous oxidation and
equilibrium devolatilization of biomass, kinetics of solidgas gasication reactions as well as gaseous phase reactions with interphase mass transfer and gas convection. Constantineau et al.
(2007) proposed to predict the performance of uidized bed reactors operated wholly or partially in the slug ow regime. This model simulated the transition from bubbling to slugging within a
given reactor with operating variables such as supercial gas
velocity, bed inventory and change of height. Corella and Sanz
(2005) developed a one-dimensional model for an atmospheric
circulating uidized bed biomass gasier under stationary state.

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M.K. Karmakar, A.B. Datta / Bioresource Technology 102 (2011) 19071913

The model was based on kinetic equations for the reaction network
solved together with mass and heat balances and, with several
hydrodynamic considerations. The reaction network used in the
model involved twelve different reactions. Schuster et al. (2001)
also developed a model for steam gasication of biomass applying
thermodynamic equilibrium calculations. With this model, the
simulation of a decentralized combined heat and power station
based on a dual uidized bed steam gasier was carried out. Fuel
composition, temperature and amount of gasication agent were
varied over a wide range and it was shown that the accuracy of
an equilibrium model for the gas composition was sufcient for
thermodynamic considerations.
Kinetic models predict the progress and product composition at
different positions along a reactor, where as equilibrium model
predicts the maximum achievable yield of a desired product from
a reacting system (Li et al., 2004). Kinetic models always contain
parameters which make them hardly applicable to different plants
(Schuster et al., 2001). An accurate description of the chemical kinetic rate expression is a key issue. The choice of chemical kinetic
laws is difcult because there are as many kinetic laws as kinetic
studies. A large discrepancy can be observed between them and
it is highly hazardous to extrapolate literature results obtained under different operating conditions (reactor, heating rate, temperature, biomass type) (Dupont et al., 2007). Although kinetic
models provide essential information on mechanisms and rates,
equilibrium models are valuable because they can predict thermodynamic limits as a guide to process design, evaluation and
improvement. Equilibrium model also provides a useful design
aid in evaluating the limiting possible behavior of a complex reacting system which is difcult or unsafe to reproduce experimentally
or in commercial operation (Li et al., 2004).
The present work aimed to develop a uidized bed biomass gasier using steam as the gasifying agent. A laboratory scale uidized
bed gasier had been developed for this purpose. The effect of
steam biomass ratio and gasifying temperature on the product
gas composition had been carried out. A thermodynamic equilibrium model had been used to predict the gas composition with
the assumptions that the principal reactions were at thermodynamic equilibrium conditions. The model considered three mass
balance equations of elements C, H, O and two equilibrium constants relations, which were solved for predicting the gas
compositions.
2. Methods
2.1. Materials
In this study, rice husk was taken as the raw material since it is
one of the important biomass resources in India. The proximate
and ultimate analyses of rice husk are presented in Table 1. The
steam, the gasication agent, had been used as the uidizing media
as it prevented the dilution of product gases with nitrogen and also
increased the hydrogen content in the product gas.

Table 1
Ultimate and proximate analysis of rice husk.
Ultimate analysis

Proximate analysis

Components

Percent

Components

Percent

Carbon
Hydrogen
Sulfur
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Ash
HHV = 15.68 MJ/kg

38.43
2.97
0.07
0.49
36.36
21.68

Volatile matter
Fixed carbon
Moisture
Ash

55.54
14.99
9.95
19.52

The superheated steam was supplied to the gasication chamber at the bottom in order to enable better uidization and thereby
attaining better gasication.
As per Geldarts classication of particle distribution, the silica
sands are classied as the group B particles (Geldart, 1973). These
silica sand particles were used as bed materials in the present
investigation. The sand samples were prepared using various mesh
sieves and the mean diameter was found as 0.334 mm. The sand
particles ensured proper uidization in the gasier bed and maintained the uniform temperature throughout the gasication zone.
During the experiment, the gasier temperature was varied in
the range of 650800 C. The experiments showed that rice husk
was difcult to be uidized due to its non-granular and aky nature. However, this uidization behavior of rice husk was improved
due to presence of silica sand as bed materials.
2.2. Experimental set up
A laboratory scale uidized bed biomass gasier had been set
up in the laboratory shed. The schematic diagram is shown in
Fig. 1. The gasier vessel was made of stainless steel with inside
diameter of 50 mm and a height of 1200 mm. The distributor plate
was tted with at the bottom and the product gas outlet pipe came
out from the top of gasier. This gasier was placed inside an electric furnace, which provided the heat for gasication reaction and
the temperature inside the gasier was controlled using a thermocouple with a control panel system. There was an under-bed feeding arrangement of biomass fuels into the reactor and a lock
hopper had been kept to dispose off the ash from the gasier
periodically.
The under-bed feeding system of biomass was comprised of two
screw feeders tted with a hopper. The upper feeder connected to a
variable speed drive system that controlled the fuel feed rate and
the lower high-speed screw feeder was used to feed the fuel inside
the gasier vessel instantaneously. The lower screw feeder also
prevented the pyrolysis of biomass outside the gasier.
Steam for gasication, obtained from a small boiler, was further
superheated in an electric furnace to the temperature range of
200250 C. The quantity of steam is very important for maintaining uidization conditions in the biomass gasiers.
The gasier had been operated at different process conditions to
evaluate the performance. The product gas was generated at varying reactor temperatures between 650 and 770 C at a xed steam
biomass ratio of 1.32. In another set of tests, the steam biomass ratios were varied in the range of 0.61.7 to produce the syngas
maintaining the gasier temperature at 750 C.
The product gas from the gasier was made dust-free and
cleaned before the sampling was done for analysis in a Gas Chromatograph. The hot product gas from the gasier was passed
through a cyclone to remove the larger particles. After the cyclone,
the gas still contained dust particles and tar and hence, it was further de-dusted by passing it through a bag lter. A water cooler
and an ice trap were used in series for cooling of fuel gas and tar
capture. Finally, the product gas was passed through a silica gel
unit to remove the remaining moisture in the gas before taking
up the sampling process.
The sampling system was composed of gas sampling probes tted with septum. The stainless steel gas sampling probes were
12.5 mm in diameter and 50 mm in length and they were located
at the downstream of suction blower. A syringe of volume of
10 ml was used to collect the gas sample through the gas sampling
probe.
The analysis was done in a Gas Chromatograph (MakeChemito,
model GC 1000). Two detectors had been used one was Thermal Conductivity Detector (TCD) and another was Flame Ionization
Detector (FID). The standard gas mixtures had been used for cali-

M.K. Karmakar, A.B. Datta / Bioresource Technology 102 (2011) 19071913

1909

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of bubbling uidized bed gasier system.

brating the equipment. The GC showed the different picks for different constituents of product gas mixture.
An orice meter was positioned on the pipe between the box
containing silica gel and the suction blower to measure the gas
yield. The pressure drop across this orice plate was measured
using a micro manometer and this pressure drop was then used
to estimate the gas yield rate.
2.3. Mathematical modeling
At chemical equilibrium, a reacting system achieves its most
stable composition when the entropy of the system is maximized
and its Gibbs free energy is minimized. Two approaches are described for equilibrium modeling: stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric (Smith and Missen, 1982). The stoichiometric approach
requires a clearly dened reaction mechanism incorporating all
chemical reactions and species involved. In a non-stoichiometric
formulation, on the other hand, no particular reaction mechanism
or species are involved in the numerical solution. The only input
required to specify is the feed elemental composition, which can
be readily obtained from ultimate analysis data. This method is
particularly suitable for problems with unclear reaction mechanisms and feed streams like biomass whose precise chemical compositions are unknown.
The laboratory scale gasier described above was operated under near-steady-state conditions. In the current equilibrium model
the reactor was implicitly considered to be zero-dimensional, i.e.
neither any spatial distribution of parameters is considered nor
were there any changes with time, because all forward and reverse
reactions had reached the chemical equilibrium state. Thus, the
molar inow for any individual element involved in the chemical
reactions was written as the sum of moles of that element in the
various feed streams. In this study, tars had not been included in
the product stream.
To develop the model, the chemical formula of feedstock was
dened as CHxOY. The global gasication reaction could be written
as follows:

CHX OY wH2 O mH2 O x1 H2 x2 CO x3 CO2 x4 H2 O x5 CH4

1

where x and y were the number of atoms of hydrogen and oxygen

for each atom of carbon in the feedstock, respectively, w was the
amount of moisture per kmol of feedstock and m was the amount
of steam supplied per kmol of feedstock. On the right-hand side,
xis were the molar concentrations of species i that were also unknown. The global steam gasication reaction in Eq. (1) represented
an overall reaction, but a number of competing intermediate reactions took place during the process, of which the following were
predominant.
Steam gasication

C H2 O CO H2

131:4 kJ=mol

Boudouard reaction

C CO2 2CO 172:6 kJ=mol

Methanation reaction

C 2H2 CH4

74:9 kJ=mol

Steam reforming reaction

CH4 H2 O CO 3H2

206:2 kJ=mol

Water gas shift reaction

CO H2 O CO2 H2

41:2 kJ=mol

According to Von Fredersdorff and Elliot (1963), the three reactions namely, Boudouard, steam gasication and methanation
were in equilibrium and the water gas shift reaction was a combination of the Boudouard and steam gasication reactions.
To nd the ve unknown species i.e. x1, x2, x3, x4 and x5 of the
producer gas, ve equations were required. Those equations were
generated using mass balance equations and equilibrium constants
relationships. Considering the global gasication reaction in Eq.
(1), the rst three equations were formulated by balancing each
chemical element.
Carbon balance:

x2 x3 x5  1 0

Hydrogen balance:

2x1 2x4 4x5  x  2w  2m 0

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M.K. Karmakar, A.B. Datta / Bioresource Technology 102 (2011) 19071913

Oxygen balance:

x2 2x3 x4  w  m  Y 0:

Ultimate analysis of rice husk (dry and ash free basis) yielded a
typical mass composition of 49% carbon, 46.4% oxygen, and 3.8%
hydrogen with the balance comprised of traces of nitrogen and sulfur. Considering the major elements, the fuel was represented on a
molar basis as CH0.93O0.71.
Chemical equilibrium is usually explained either by minimization of Gibbs free energy or by using an equilibrium constant. To
minimize the Gibbs free energy, constrained optimization methods
are generally used which requires an understanding of complex
mathematical theories. The present thermodynamic equilibrium
model, a more simplistic one, was developed based on the equilibrium constant method and not on the Gibbs free energy principle.
In this study, the other two equations were obtained from the
equilibrium constants of the reactions described in Eqs. (4) and (6).
For the present model study, the thermodynamic equilibrium
was assumed for all chemical reactions in the gasication zone.
All gases were assumed to be ideal and all reactions form at 1
atmospheric pressure. Therefore, the equilibrium constants, which
were the functions of temperature for the methanation reaction
and the water gas shift reaction, are given below:
The equilibrium constant k1 for methanation reaction

k1

x5

10

x1 2

where I is a constant of integration.

DH0 were also calculated as given by Perry and Green (1997)

DH 0 J
DB:T 2 DC:T 3 DD
DA:T


R
T
R
2
3

17

where DA, DB, DC, DD are the coefcients for determining specic
heats of gases and J is a constant.
Substituting Eq. (17) into Eq. (16), one gets

ln k 

J
DB:T DC:T 2 DD
DA: ln T

2I
RT
2
6
2T

18

The dependence of DG0 on temperature was analyzed as

DG0 J  RTDA: ln T

DB:T DC:T 2 DD

2 I
2
6
2T

19

The values of standard Gibbs function of formation for various

gas compositions were obtained from Perry and Green (1997).
Both J and I were calculated, respectively, from Eqs. (17) and
(19) at temperature 298 K. Two equilibrium equations were required to determine the equilibrium constants k1 and k2. Equilibrium constant k1 for the reaction in Eq. (4) was solved as follows:

D CH4  C  2H2

20

DA, DB, DC and DD were obtained from the data on heat capacity. The equations to determine the values of DA, DB, DC and DD
are expressed as

DA ACH4  AC  2AH2

21

11

DB BCH4  BC  2BH2

22

Heat balancing of the reactants and products of the global reaction in Eq. (1) results in the equation shown below:

DC C CH4  C C  2C H2

23

DD DCH4  DC  2DH2

24

The equilibrium constant k2 for watergas shift reaction

k2

x 3  x1
x 2  x4

H0fRH wH0fH2 O Hvap mHvap Q IN

x1 H0fH2 x2 H0fCO x3 H0fCO2 x4 H0fH2 O x5 H0fCH4
DTx1 C pH2 x2 C pCO x3 CpCO2 x4 CpH2 O x5 CpCH4

12

where Cp is the specic heat of gas species. The heating value of

biomass, H0fRH , was determined experimentally. The heat balance
Eq. (12) contained a term QIN which stands for the external heat
addition required for endothermic reactions to occur. The heat of
formation, DH, of various gases could be sourced from the JANAF
Thermochemical Tables (Stull and Prophet, 1971). The dependence
of specic heat on temperature was given by various empirical
equations and according to Perry and Green (1997), the most simplied version of specic heat, Cpam, at arithmetic mean temperature is expressed as

Cpam RA BT am C4T 2am  T 1 T 2 =3 D=T 1 T 2 

14

where DG0 is the standard Gibbs function of formation.

0

dln k DH

dT
RT 2

15

Integrating Eq. (15) the heat of formation can be calculated as

ln k

DH
dT I
RT 2

3. Results and discussion

The experimental tests were carried out to determine the effect
of steam biomass ratio and reactor temperature on gas composition and yield. The experimental values were compared with the
equilibrium model predictions.

13

where Tam = (T1 + T2)/2, T1 and T2 are the reference temperature and
the reactor temperature, respectively. The values of the heat capacity constants A, B, C and D are given by Perry and Green (1997) and R
is the universal gas constant in J/mol-K.
Following Zainal et al. (2001), the equilibrium constant k can be
written as

RT ln k DG0

Application of these equations revealed the equilibrium constant k1.

Similarly, the equilibrium constant k2 for the water gas shift
reaction in Eq. (6) could be solved by adopting the same procedure.
The molar concentrations x1, x2, x3, x4 and x5 were obtained by
solving Eqs. (7)(11) simultaneously using Newton Raphson
method.

16

3.1. Model validation

The equilibrium model, described in Section 2.3, was needed for
validation by comparing the model results and the experimental
data. In the following, the present experimental data and data reported by Rapanga et al. (2000) were compared with the calculations from the currently developed model. The comparison is
shown in Table 2a. The error had been estimated using the statistical parameter of root mean square (RMS) error, where

s
P
X e  X p 2
RMS
N
where, Xe and Xp were the experimental data and the predicted value of product gas species from present model, respectively, and N
was the number of observations. The RMS error for the present
experimental runs had been presented in Table 2b. It was observed

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M.K. Karmakar, A.B. Datta / Bioresource Technology 102 (2011) 19071913

Table 2a
Comparison of present model result with the experimental data.
Gas composition % mol dry basis

Temperature = 750 C,
steam biomass ratio = 1.0

H2
CO
CO2
CH4

Temperature = 770 C,
steam biomass ratio = 1.0

Present Model

Present exp. data

RMS error

Present model

Literature exp. data (Rapanga et al., 2000)

RMS error

50.76
19.78
25.52
3.96

48.88
22.7
22.2
6.22

2.66

55.0
22.3
18.5
4.2

52.2
23.0
16.9
7.9

2.517

3.3. Effect of steam biomass ratio

Table 2b
RMS error for different experimental runs of the present work.
Expt. run No.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Operating parameters

The product gas composition varying with steam biomass ratio

is presented in Fig. 3. It is seen from the graphs that, with the increase of steam biomass ratio, the experimental values of H2 and
CO2 concentrations showed a gradual increased trend, while those
of CO and CH4 decreased. The predicted results of H2 agreed fairly
well with the experimental data, but those of CO2 and CO had some
differences with the experimental values although the changes
showed similar trends. Also, the model values of CH4 concentration, which increased with rise in steam ow rate, contradicted
the experimental trend. The possible explanation to this observation was that the equilibrium state might not have reached for
not having enough bed temperature in gasier. The devolatilization of biomass might have contributed higher content of methane
in product gas which did not react completely with the concentrations of CO, CO2 and H2. Furthermore, the tar, actually produced in
the gasication process, was not considered in the present equilibrium model. Some of these facts might have caused the model values for CO and CO2 concentrations to differ from experimental
data. The gasication process involving thermal pyrolysis, homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions were complicated to determine the kinetics of the chemical reactions. A simple but
adequate kinetically-modied equilibrium model might have resulted in better prediction of the gas composition.
The experimental data of bubbling uidized bed gasier against
various steam biomass (S/B) ratios at xed temperature of 750 C
are shown in Table 3. Steam being the major source of hydrogen
during steam gasication, an increase in steam biomass ratio resulted in higher production of H2. Due to higher production of
hydrogen, the product gas volume was also increased as indicated

RMS error

Gasier temperature (C)

Steam biomass ratio

650
690
730
770
Const at 750

Const. at 1.32

1.44
1.80
2.04
1.91
1.90
2.65
3.27
3.62

0.6
1.0
1.32
1.70

from these tables that the predicted results generally agreed well
with the experimental data.
3.2. Effect of reactor temperature
Fig. 2 shows both theoretical and experimental composition of
the product gas at different reactor temperatures. It was observed
that H2 and CO concentrations increased with rise in temperature
and the concentrations of CH4 and CO2 showed an opposite trend.
According to Le Chateliers principle, higher temperatures favour
the reactants in exothermic reactions and the products in endothermic reactions. Therefore, the endothermic reaction in Eq. (5)
was strengthened with increasing temperature, which resulted in
an increase of H2 concentration and a decrease of CH4 concentration. It could be seen that a good agreement existed between the
predicted values and the experimental data, indicating that the
equilibrium model predicted reasonably well about the gas compositions for the uidized bed gasier.

Gas composition (% by mole)

60

H2-Model value
H2-Exp value
CO-Model value
CO-Exp value
CO2-Model value
CO2-Exp value
CH4-Model value
CH4-Exp value

50

40

30

20

10

0
640

660

680

700

720

740

760

780

Temperature, deg C
Fig. 2. Gas composition vs. gasication temperature with steam biomass ratio of 1.32.

1912

M.K. Karmakar, A.B. Datta / Bioresource Technology 102 (2011) 19071913

60

Gas composition (% by mole)

50

H2-Model value
H2-Exp value
CO-Model value
CO-Exp value
CO2-Model value
CO2-Exp value
CH4-Model value
CH4-Exp value

40

30

20

10

0
0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

Steam Biomass ratio

Fig. 3. Gas composition vs. steam biomass ratio at reactor temperature of 750 C.

Table 3
Carbon balance and gasication efciency of experimental results of uidized bed gasier.
Exp. run no.

Steam biomass ratio

Gasier temp. (C)

Constant at 1.32
650
690

Gas Composition (% of mole)

H2
CO
CO2
CH4
HHV of prod. gas (MJ/Nm3)
Gas yield (Nm3/kg of raw biomass)
Carbon conversion (%)
Cold gas efciency (%)

47.25
11.25
31.9
9.6
11.28
1.03
84.10
62.99

50.5
12.83
28.51
8.16
11.23
1.12
85.82
64.78

1.32

1.70

730

770

0.60
1.00
Constant at 750

52.2
15.9
25.65
6.25
11.16
1.16
85.83
65.58

53.08
17.85
23.9
5.17
11.09
1.21
87.88
66.06

47.81
27.48
18.09
6.62
12.21
1.05
84.83
65.75

51.17
19.65
23.15
6.03
11.42
1.16
87.68
66.10

51.89
17.38
24.81
5.92
11.18
1.21
90.11
66.15

Gas yield Nm3 kg

48.88
22.70
22.20
6.22
11.59
1.09
86.25
65.96

1

fuel  HHV of productgas MJNm3

in Table 3. The proportion of CO in the product gas became low

when it was produced by steam reforming of CH4. With the increase in steam biomass ratio, the steam reforming of methane became signicant and as a result, the proportion of CO was
decreased. The higher heating value (HHV) of product gas decreased with rise in steam biomass ratio from 12.21 MJ/Nm3 for
S/B ratio of 0.611.18 MJ/Nm3 for S/B ratio of 1.7 at temperature
of 750 C.

Calculated gasication efciencies for different experimental

runs are given in Table 3. Experimental cold gas efciencies for
the present runs were in the range of 6366%. The cold gas efciency, taking account of the external heat supply, measured the
gasication performance.

3.4. Carbon conversion and gasication efciency

4. Conclusion

The carbon conversion is dened as the fraction of carbon in the

feed converted to gaseous products. The results of carbon conversion and gasication efciency are presented in Table 3. Higher
temperature and higher steam biomass ratio favoured more carbon
conversion. For all the runs in the present study, the overall carbon
conversion was within 8490% closure. Analysis of tar and the fraction of unconverted solid carbon had not been included in the
study and, these components might account for the rest.
Cold gas efciency (CGE) was used to evaluate the gasication
performance. The cold gas efciency is dened as the percentage
of the heating value of biomass converted into the heating value
of the product gas. The system ran on steam only and no oxygen
was supplied. Thus the endothermic heat was required to be supplied externally for gasication reactions to happen. This heat was
considered to be added to the denominator to calculate gasication
efciency.

During the study of steam gasication of rice husk in a uidized

bed gasier, it was seen that hydrogen content in product gas increased with rise in temperature and increased in steam biomass
ratio. Hydrogen content in product gas had reached as high as
53.08%. Carbon monoxide content increased with rise in temperature, but decreased with steam biomass ratio. The percentage of
methane decreased with rise in temperature and steam biomass
ratio. Increase in steam biomass ratio generally gave rise to higher
gas yields. Higher temperature also yielded the higher quantity of
gas. The proposed mathematical model closely predicted the
experimental results.

CGE

1

1

HHV of fuel MJkg Heat addition for endothermic reaction MJkg

Acknowledgements
The authors thankfully acknowledge Prof. Gautam Biswas,
Director, Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute

M.K. Karmakar, A.B. Datta / Bioresource Technology 102 (2011) 19071913

(CMERI), Durgapur, India and Dr. P.K. Chatterjee, Scientist G and

Head, Thermal Engineering Group, CMERI for their continuous support, enthusiasm and encouragement.
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