Exergy Analysis of Biomass Gasification by Using Computational Method /

Abstract

Biomass gasification is an emerging technology for the production of synthesis gas. A robust mechanism for evaluating its energy efficiency is vital to realize the biomass gasification process’s efficient operation. In this context, exergy based analysis has been getting more attention from researchers over conventional energy-based analysis because of its capability to encompasses the effect of all the irreversibilities present in a process. In this study, the exergy analysis of the biomass gasifier was performed in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) environment. For the model development, the designed specifications of a lab-scale downdraft biomass gasifier were used. The reaction sets were imported from the species transport model. A code for exergy analysis was written in a custom field function (CFF). The designed model achieved better syngas composition and gasification temperature compared to reported work in literature. The algorithm for exergy analysis also helped in evaluating the downdraft biomass gasifier’s performance by analyzing all three types of exergies, chemical exergy, physical exergy, and mixing exergy.