Nwabunwanne Nwokolo, Sampson Mamphwelia and Golden Makaka
University of Fort Hare, South Africa
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl
Gasification of biomass for the generation of heat and power gives off product gases that are contaminated mostly by carbon particulates and tars. The degree of contamination depends on the gasification process, type of gasifiers and type of biomass used. The use of downdraft gasifiers minimizes the production of tar to a tolerable limit; however, carbon particles still pose a challenge particularly with integration of heat exchanger for heat recovery from the product gas. Although, the presence of carbon particles in the product gas does not affect the quality and quantity of heat contained in the product gas, but it does influence the heat recovery process and materials used in the recovery. Hence, there is a need for characterization of these carbon particles to ascertain their chemical compositions, thermal properties and morphological features. This study aims at evaluating the characteristic features of carbon particles recovered from the syngas stream during gas cleaning at the cyclone. The elemental analysis of the carbon particle sample was performed using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. An electron beam from scanning electron microscopy was passed through the sample surface at a magnification of 1000 and accelerating voltage of 15 kV to determine the morphological features. The thermal properties were investigated using thermo gravimetric analyzer. Silicon, oxygen and carbon were found to be the dominating elements in the carbon particulate. In the final paper, the final result will be presented.
Email: nnwokolo@ufh.ac.za
