PRODUCTION OF SYNTHETIC GAS FROM AGRICULTURE AND FOREST WASTES USING FIXED BED GASIFIER

Abstract

Gasification is a process that converts organic/agricultural wastes (carbonaceous materials) into synthetic gas. Particularly field crop residues being generated in the country on large scale can be gasified and converted into the synthetic gas (SYNGAS) by the gasification process. This research paper reports the results of gas generated from three different types of agriculture and forest wastes i.e. cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) crop waste, neem (Azadirachta indica) tree barks and leaves through gasification process.The results obtained from the study indicated that the SYNGAS generated from cotton crop waste was almost similar to that of generated from neem tree barks. However, the SYNGAS obtained from neem tree barks and leaves was higher in fixed carbon. There was a slight difference in the composition of gases obtained from different wastes. The gas obtained from cotton crop waste had 27.52% CO and 32.17% H2; the gas obtained from neem tree barks had 28.72% CO and 31.88% H2. Similarly, the gases obtained from neem tree leaves had 26.07% CO and 28.12% H2. It can be concluded from these results that the gasfication process of generating SYNGAS from agricultural and forest wastes available in the country can be used as an alternate of natural gas LPG, Dimethyl ether, etc. to run the power houses and mechanical vehicles.

Keywords

• dimethyl ether
• gasification
• solid waste
• synthetic gas
• gasifier