Jerod Smeenk and Robert C. Brown
Iowa State University, Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies, 286 Metals Development Building, Ames, IA 50011, USA
Proceedings of the
BioEnergy ‘98 Conference, Madison, Wisconsin, October 4-8, 1998
ABSTRACT
The Chariton Valley Biomass Power Project, sponsored by the U.S. DOE Biomass Power Program, has the goal of converting switchgrass grown on marginal farmland in southern Iowa into electric power. Two energy conversion options are under evaluation: co-firing switchgrass with coal in an existing utility boiler and gasification of switchgrass for use in a carbonate fuel cell. This paper describes the gasification part of the project. The gasifier is an air blown, fluidized bed reactor operating at atmospheric pressure. This pilot-scale gasifier is designed to convert up to 5 tons per day of switchgrass. A description of handling, preparation, and feeding of switchgrass into the pilot-scale gasifier will be given. The gasifier has been instrumented to obtain information needed to support integration of a carbonate fuel cell with the gasifier. This information includes composition and heating value of the gas, quantification of gas stream contaminants, and particulate and tar loadings. Operational parameters to be tested in the gasifier include: equivalence ratio, feedstock moisture, limestone content of the gasifier bed material, switchgrass feed rate, and steam injection.
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