Experimental Investigation of Updraft Gasifier Using Solid Waste as Feedstock

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume V, Issue VI, June 2018 | ISSN 2321–2705

Experimental Investigation of Updraft Gasifier Using Solid Waste as Feedstock

Sivakumar P^#, Mahendran S^#, Manikandan V^#, Kalaichelvan A^#, Muralidharan G^#

^#Department of Mechanical Engineering, SNS College of Engineering, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
(Affiliated to Anna University, Chennai)

Abstract— Even though the presence of waste to energy industry in past decade most of the solid wastes do end up in landfills. For every tonne of waste land filled, greenhouse gas emissions in the form of carbon dioxide increase by at least 1.3 tonnes. Gasification is a promising technology which would help deal with the landfill problems and would rather convert the municipal solid waste (MSW) into an energy source.

Gasification is a process in which a solid carbonaceous fuel is transformed into combustible gas consisting of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane. This process is achieved by reacting the fuel at high temperatures, without combustion, with controlled amount of oxygen or steam. This gas is known as producer gas which acts much efficient than the direct combustion of the fuel. In this study an updraft gasifier is fabricated and is used to carry out the experiment. The solid non-recyclable wastes like china cardboards, clothes, wet newspapers, etc, are used for the generation of the producer gas. A gas analyzer is used to measure H₂, CH₄, and CO concentrations of the product gas. The study investigates the aspect of municipal solid waste as potential energy source in gasification technology.

Keywords— Gasification; Biomass; Solid Waste; Greenhouse gas; Combustion; Gas analysis

I. INTRODUCTION

1.1 General Introduction

The demand of energy around the world has been increasing at a very fast pace especially in the developing countries. In light of global issues of sustainable energy and reduction in greenhouse gases, renewable energy is getting increased attention as a potential alternative source of energy. There are nine general sources of energy on earth. There are geothermal, nuclear, fossil, solar, biomass, wind, wave, hydro and tidal energies. Except for the first three the remaining six are generally called renewable sources of energy, as they are not depleted with time.

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