Kinetics and Performance of Raw and Torrefied Biomass in a Continuous Bubbling Fluidized Bed Gasifier

This paper is an experimental study of the kinetics of gasification of olive kernel by using a thermogravimetric fluidized bed reactor technique. Gasification of 'as received' and torrefied olive kernels were investigated in a lab-scale bubbling fluidized bed gasifier, operating at up to 3.2 kg/h. The effect of bed temperature between 550 and 750 °C in 50 °C increments on the gasification product gas at mass-based equivalence ratios of 0.15 and 0.2 was studied. To explore the potential of torrefied biomass, the gasification results were compared to that of the 'as received' biomass. The product gas from torrefied biomass produced higher H2, CO and CH4 concentrations at identical oxidant flow rates in addition to higher cold gas efficiency and higher product gas heating value. The influence of equivalence ratio in gasification was also investigated at reactor temperatures of 750 °C and five equivalence ratios (0.15, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, and 0.35). The results revealed that the torrefied biomass has the highest HHV at an equivalence ratio of 0.2 with a value of 6.09 MJ/Nm3, while 'as received' biomass 4.72 MJ/Nm3. Kinetic experiments under isothermal conditions were performed for the gasification of the materials in continuous mode. A mass balance model was successfully used to provide the capability of separately determining the rate constant of the reactions taking place. The kinetic parameters were calculated by a first order reaction model giving activation energies for 'as received' olive kernels of 84 kJ/mol and for torrefied olive kernels of 106 kJ/mol.