Solar gasification of carbonaceous materials

Abstract Charcoal, wood and paper have been gasified in a packed-bed reactor using steam and solar energy. The steam was generated by spraying water directly on to the surface of the fuel and, at the same time, heating the fuel at the focus of a solar furnace. Half of the steam reacted with carbon and 30 per cent of the incident solar energy was stored as chemical enthalpy. The performance of a fluidized-bed reactor was compared to that of a packed-bed reactor using charcoal and CO2. The fraction of the incident solar energy utilized to produce CO (stored) was 10 per cent in the case of the fluidized-bed reactor and 40 per cent for the packed-bed reactor. The fuel value of the gas produced from the steam-gasification of wood and paper was 65 kcal/mole (320 Btu/lb). On an ash free basis the volume yield of the gas was 1 ± 0.1 m3/kg.