Gasification represents a promising technology for conversion of biomass into a high-calorie
gas that can be used for heating, electricity generation or production of other useful
chemicals. Due to the complexity of the process, there is a need for mathematical models
that can predict the gasification products without expensive and time-consuming
experiments. This paper presents a thermodynamic equilibrium model of biomass
gasification, which predicts the composition of syngas, its lower heating value and process
efficiency based on the composition of biomass and gasification temperature. The model
results were compared with experimentally obtained data from literature and showed good
agreement regarding the composition of the syngas. We found that there is an optimal
gasification temperature at which we achieve the highest process efficiency. Moisture of
biomass is a problem for gasification because it reduces the efficiency and calorific value of
gas. The opposite is true for reactor pressure, which improves efficiency and calorific value
as it rises.
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