PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SOLID AND LIQUID WASTE PRODUCTS FROM THE HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATED ENERGY CROPS GASIFICATION PROCESS

Treatment of the soil by plants (phytoremediation), associated with the production of biomass for energy purposes, carries a number of significant problems with a practical and technical point of view. They concern mainly the way of the thermal conversion of biomass to energy production in an efficient and environmentally safe way. One way may be gasification. This process involves the conversion of organic matter into a combustible gas mixture by partial oxidation at high temperature under the influence of gasifying agent (air, oxygen, steam, or mixtures of these components). Gasification aim is to obtain a combustible gas. Unfortunately, the formation of gas also accompanied by the formation of solid and liquid waste products. The paper presents the results of basic physicochemical properties of solid (ash) and liquid (tar) waste products of the gasification process of the heavy metal contaminated energy crops. The gasification process has carried out in a laboratory fixed bed reactor. Three types of energy crops: Miscanthus x giganteus, Sida hermaphrodita and Spartina Pectinata were used. The experimental plots were established on heavy metal contaminated arable land located in Bytom (southern part of Poland, Silesian Voivodship). The results show that the gasification process, promotes the migration of harmful substances such as heavy metals from fuel to the solid phase.