Concentrated Solar-Assisted Biomass Gasification and Hydrogen Enrichment System

In the present work, a solar-assisted steam-gasification and gas conditioning system has been modeled and analyzed. Concentrated parabolic trough collectors (PTC) are employed as feed water heaters, and a two-stage parabolic dish collector (PDC) arrangement generates superheated steam for the biomass gasifier and the gas conditioning reactors. Syngas produced in steam gasification is treated in a two-stage reactor, operating at different operating conditions, so as to yield hydrogen-rich syngas for clean energy applications, including gas engines and fuel cells. The two-stage reactor helps eliminate tars that are produced in biomass gasifiers and also improves the hydrogen content of the product gas. The process model was simulated in Cycle-tempo and DWSIM. Model results were validated with reference data. The results suggest that clean syngas containing hydrogen as high as 65% could be obtained in this method. Cold gas efficiency exceeding 80% is achievable. Thus, the system offers a reliable, economic and alternative method of producing clean gas for high-efficiency fuel cell applications that mostly depend on hydrogen.