Conversion of forest residues to a methane-rich gas in a high-throughput gasifier. Summary report

Results of the experimental work conducted thus far have shown that wood can be readily gasified in a steam environment into a hydrocarbon rich fuel gas that can be used as a replacement for petroleum-based fuels or natural gas with minimal boiler retrofit. Further, this conversion can be achieved in a compact gasification reactor with heat supplied by a circulating entrained phase, thereby eliminating the need for an oxygen plant. Tars have not been found except at the lowest gasifier temperatures employed, and therefore heat recovery from the product gas should be much simpler than that from commercially available fixed-bed gasification systems where product gas contains significant quantities of tar. The data generated have been used in a preliminary conceptual design. Evaluation of this design has shown that a medium-Btu gas can be produced from wood at a cost competitive with natural gas or petroleum-based fuels.