Steady and transient state behavior of a gasification process under fixed-bed downdraft configuration

Gasification is a thermochemical process that has gained significant interest in the field of biomass energy conversion. Despite the level of technological maturity of the process, the dynamic variation of the process as a result of changes in both the properties of the gasifying agent and biomass has not been analysed in sufficient depth. Therefore, the present study characterizes the process dynamically as a function of step-type changes in rice husk biomass moisture content and gasifying airflow. To identify stability conditions and the range for inducing disturbances, steady-state tests were carried out using a 3²-factorial design. The experimental results demonstrate that within the tested range of airflow, the gasification process operates in the oxygen-limited zone. Despite increasing the airflow from 20 to 40 standard liters per minute (SLPM) and driving the reaction towards the combustion zone, the high temperatures achieved resulted in the gas reaching a peak Lower Heating Value (LHV) of 2.6 MJ/Nm3 and a gas power of 2.6 kW, with a Cold Gas Efficiency (CGE) of 62%. In contrast, the effect of biomass moisture content was negligible due to the thermal inertia of the reactor and the natural variation of the process. Dynamic evaluation revealed that the oxidation temperature and gas concentration were the variables that took the longest to return to stability after air disturbances. It took approximately 1200 s for the hydrogen (H₂) concentration to stabilize, while the gas power required about 300 s. No clear results were observed regarding the impact of the dynamic disturbance in moisture content, which varied between 12.3% w.t and 21.5% w.t.