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.
Access
This thesis is only available for download to the SIUC community. Current SIUC affiliates may also access this paper off campus by searching Dissertations & Theses @ Southern Illinois University Carbondale from ProQuest. Others should contact the interlibrary loan department of your local library or contact ProQuest's Dissertation Express service.