The development of biomass gasification technology towards market penetration in China

Biomass is the second most frequently used fuel, after coal, in China, which accounts for 20% of primary energy consumption. Though the main usage of biomass is for household cooking, the newly developed biomass gasification technology, especially the circulating fluidized bed gasification (CFBG) technology, has laid the foundations for allowing biomass gasification industry penetration into the commercial energy market. The thermal application of CFBG in wood processing factories, utilizing processing wastes to produce gaseous fuel, has been developed successfully and economically in China. The use of CFBG for generating electricity in rice mills, utilizing rice hulls with an output of 1 MW, is also underway. The status and development history of CFBG application in China is introduced in the paper. The aspects of large scale industrial application, utilization of self-produced feed material to reduce the cost of raw material, transportation problems, energy utilization combined with environmental protection etc., is discussed. The economic benefit of using CFBG for biomass and wastes towards market penetration is also presented. (author)