Design improvements and performance testing of a biomass gasifier based electric power generation system

The objective of the research work, reported in this paper is, to design and develop a down draft gasifier based power generation system of 75 KWe. A heat exchanger was designed and installed which recycles the waste heat of the hot gas, to improve the efficiency of the system. An improved ash removal system was introduced to minimize the charcoal removal rate from the reactor, to increase the gas production efficiency. A detailed analysis of the mass, energy and elemental balance is presented in the paper. The cold gas efficiency of the system is increased from 75.0% to 88.4%, due to the improvements made in the ash removal method. The Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC) rate of the system is 1.18 kg kWh−1. The energy conversion efficiency of the system, from fuel wood to electric power was found to be 18%. Significant increase in calorific value of the producer gas was achieved by supplying hot air for gasification. -- Highlights: •Design improvement of the system resulted 21.4% increase in cold gas efficiency (88.4%). •Mass, energy and elemental balance of a biomass gasifier system for power generation is analysed. •A heat exchanger is introduced in the system to recalculate the waste heat from the hot gas. •An innovative vibrating grate mechanism is designed and integrated with the gasifier system. •Specific Fuel Consumption is worked out to be 1.2 kg/kWh, which accounts for reduction of SFC to 20%