Fuel substitution by wood gasification for diesel electricity generator

Abstract

Abstract Gasification is a technology for converting biomass into energy in the form of gas. The gas produced can be used as fuel in a diesel generator with dual fuel system. The purposes of this study were to identify the gasification characteristics of sengon, pine, and caliandra woods, as well as wood pellet to produce burnable gas and to analyze the role of burnable gas produced in reducing diesel input in a dual system generator engine. In this study, a locally designed downdraft gasifier and a commercially available diesel engine generator with 12 kW maximum power output were used. The study investigated wood consumption rate, color of fire, and percentage of diesel savings from each wood type. Gasification process was running well, of which burned woods and wood pellet produced an orange-stable flame. The consumption rate of wood was 18 kg/hour for sengon, 15 kg/hour for calliandra, 8 kg/hour for Pine, while wood pellet was 6 kg/hour. Diesel savings with gas co-firing was 33%, 50% and 95% for sengon, calliandra and pine respectively. The low efficiency of diesel savings may due to heat radiation in the reactor and heat loss in the gas purification process or a decrease in efficiency of the diesel generator engine.