GASPRO
Biomass gasification coupled with catalytic fuel synthesis has been identified as the most promising, closets to commercialization and most viable technology for production of 2nd generation transportation fuels. However, to this day, there are very few truly commercial gasifiers, operating without government support or subsidies, day in, day out, generating useful gas from biomass and even fewer that are integrated with fuel synthesis. The main reason for this is products of incomplete gasification (soot, tars, and char).
Products of incomplete gasification are responsible for fouling in process equipment; they contaminate and/or deactivate catalytic reactors and reduce the overall energy efficiency of gasification installations. More importantly, they introduce an uncertainty; of poor gasification performance, of poor process economy, of difficult plant engineering etc. Most importantly, this uncertainty, can lead to that companies are unwilling to invest in the gasification technology. As long as this uncertainty is present, 2nd generation biofuels produced via gasification will remain a promising, viable, on the paper technology.
In this research project we wish to change this by addressing the uncertainties in biomass gasification directly. We will use advanced computational methods and new experimental infrastructure to address the Achilles heel of biomass gasification. We aim to show (experimentally and numerically) that energy efficiency (and thus competitiveness and economy) in biomass gasification can be improved by using results obtained from fundamental research methods.
The international team of researchers in this project will provide a fundamental research base for current and future competence building projects and establish a communication bridge between universities, research institutes and industry thus accelerating the acceptance and confidence in the gasification technology.
My Tasks: SP leader on idealized particle experiments and CFD simulations; developing simplified soot formation model; developing CFD solvers for simulating gasification of biomass; performing experimental studies on high-temperature biomass gasification
