Gasification of biomass using a novel vortex reactor; fuel, tar and system analysis
Increasing the biomass share in production of (combined) power and heat as well as substitute natural gas are effective ways to reduce CO2 emissions and to become less dependent on fossil fuels, oil in particular. In this national project a novel, intensified reactor concept will be demonstrated at pilot scale, the Vortex reactor. This reactor is available at the site of the project partner Synvalor in Moerdijk. The project aims at obtaining new insight in this advanced gasification process, from its basics (fuel characterization under representative process conditions; development of rapid, simple analytical tools) to the system level (thermodynamic system evaluation modeling and simulation). The project will be mainly experimental, but simulation work of the system is also a key part of the objectives.
The project's activities consist of:
1. Biomass pyrolysis study using a heated grid (metal gauze/foil) reactor available at TU Delft to obtain critical initial fuel conversion data needed for gasifier model input (pyrolysis sub-model improvement).
2. Development of a new, simplified tar analysis method.
3. System modeling for woody biomass gasification integrated with combined heat and power generation as well as substitute natural gas production on small-scale.
