Atmospheric fluidized bed gasification of promising biomass fuels in southern European regions

Three promising biomass fuels from southern European regions were gasified atmospherically with air in a lab-scale fluidized bed reactor with quartz or olivine as bed material. The fuels used were an agro-industrial residue (olive bagasse) and the energy crops giant reed and sweet sorghum bagasse. Varying air ratios and temperatures were tested to study the impact on the product gas composition and tar load. Tars were higher in the case of olive bagasse, attributed to its higher lignin content compared to the other two biomasses with higher cellulose. Giant reed gasification causes agglomeration and defluidisation problems at 790°C while olive bagasse shows the least agglomeration tendency. The particular olivine material promoted the destruction of tars, but to a lesser level than other reported works; this was attributed to its limited iron content. It also promoted the H2 and CO2 production while CO content decreased. Methane yield was slightly affected (decreased) with olivine, higher temperatures, and air ratios. Air ratio increase decreased the tar load but at the same time the gas quality deteriorated.