Enrichment of fuel properties of biomass using non-oxidative torrefaction for gasification

The abundance and replenishment nature of solid biomass prompt fuel substitution for gasification and thermal power plants. However, many challenges are encountered while utilizing raw biomass, such as seasonality, strong hydrophilicity, low bulk and energy density, excess oxygen content, less compositional homogeneity, and poor grindability. It is, therefore, indispensable to augment the thermo-chemical properties of the solid biomass by performing suitable pretreatment. Among the various pretreatment techniques, non-oxidative torrefaction effectively upgrades solid biomass to coal-like fuel altering its physico-chemical properties. Therefore, in this work, torrefaction of rice husk and sugarcane bagasse have been performed in a fixed bed reactor by varying temperatures from 210–330 °C and residence time from 30–60 min under a non-oxidative environment. The experimental investigation illustrates a decrease in mass and energy yield of the biomass with a rise in temperature and residence time. Conversely, the higher heating value of rice husk and sugarcane bagasse has improved by 119.4% and 128.9%, respectively. The hydrogen-to-carbon (H/C) and oxygen-to-carbon (O/C) ratio of the torrefied biomass has reduced to enriched fuel variety as indicated by the van Krevelen plot. The decomposition and structural modifications were assessed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, and morphology analysis. Based on the experimental observations, it has been found that torrefaction of rice husk at 290 °C and 30 min and sugarcane bagasse at 270 °C and 30 min would generate enriched syngas using a dual fluidized bed gasification system. Furthermore, water gas shift reactions will be promoted to enhance the percentage of hydrogen in the gas mixture.