Date of Award

12-1-2014

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Wiltowski, Tomasz

Abstract

Coal fired power stations produce vast amounts of harmful products that may affect our health and environment. Co-gasification of coal and biomass could be a solution to this issue as an emerging technology. Biomass may reduce emissions significantly and it may contribute to reducing capital operational cost while providing high gas yields. This research tests the co-gasification of coal and biomass blended chars. Coal and biomass were both prepared. Coal Illinois No #6 was prepared as coal semi-char and coal-char while Jatropha biomass was torrefied at six different temperatures ranging from [200-300] ºC. The co-gasification experiments was conducted in a fixed-bed reactor. A gasification temperature was 900 ºC and a constant flow rate of 100 mL/min. Carbon conversion, maximum char reactivity, products yield and amount of hydrogen produced were evaluated and studied based on data obtained from the G.C. Additionally, weight of bed material and ash leftover weight from gasification process were significantly contributed in calculating the carbon conversion percentages.

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