Title : Harnessing invasive biomass for clean energy: Cogasification pathway to cleaner syngas and sustainable systems
Abstract:
Rapid growth in population and industrialization has intensified energy demand and waste generation, posing a significant challenge globally. Co-gasification of biomass offers a promising approach to reduce reliance on fossil fuels while enhancing efficient biomass resource utilization. This study investigated the gasification of Parthenium hysterophorus (PHP). and its blends with forestry residues at different blending ratios using a fixed-bed downdraft gasifier. The performance characteristics evaluated consist of bioenergy metrics, syngas composition, calorific value (CV), gas yield, and emission profiles. The results show that the energy density of PHP is 0.153 GJ/m³, which improved after blending with the forestry residues. Blending PHP with polar residue in a ratio of 70:30, the energy density rose to 6.698 GJ/m³ and with eucalyptus it reached 6.560 GJ/m³ for the same ratio. Other indices, such as fossil fuel equivalent (FFE), fuel ratio, and thermal stability, also showed improved performance. The syngas composition of PHP comprises 5.58% CH4, 6.72% H2 and 13.55% CO. In comparison, the blend of poplar in a 70:30 ratio recorded 6.45% CH4, 5.84% H2 and 14.97% CO and eucalyptus (70:30) measured 6.45% CH4, 7.97% H2 and 15.23% CO. Similarly, the CV of PHP is 4.40 MJ/m3. In contrast, for the PHP blend with polar (70:30) is 4.84 MJ/m3, and the PHP blend with eucalyptus (70:30) is 5.12 MJ/m3, indicating a remarkable enhancement. Moreover, emissions of CO, CO2, SOx and NOx were significantly lowered in the blends. The results reveal that co-gasification of invasive biomass promotes efficient resource utilization, significantly boosting producer gas quality, energy yield, and overall gasification efficiency.
Keywords: Gasification, cold gas efficiency, syngas composition, emission analysis, bioenergy
