Air-steam gasification of poultry litter in a bubbling fluidised bed reactor

Abstract

This study focuses primarily on poultry waste valorisation process to produce bioenergy and nutrients. The research aims to identify the most promising route to create a new agricultural and farm-based bio-industry while mitigating the carbon footprint originating from landfilling of animal waste. This study investigates experimentally the technical feasibility of an air-steam gasification of poultry litter in a bubbling fluidised reactor and evaluates its performance. The maximum carbon conversion efficiency of 98% was reported at 750 °C and remaining unreacted carbon was found in the bottom ash. The reported permanent gas compositions (vol%, db) at the temperature of 750 ºC and an equivalence ratio (ER) of 0.30 were H2: 19.2%, CH4: 2.2%, CO: 13.6%, CO2: 15.7%, C2H4: 1.0% and C2H6: 0.2%. Agglomeration issue was not encountered however, ash sintering had occurred at 750 ºC on the grate (air inlet pores) but they were not blocked. The amount of total tar was 24.2 gr/kgfeedstock,daf at the tested temperature 750 ºC whereas, the moisture content was 13.2 vol.% in the wet gas. The mass balance calculations were performed to ascertain the accuracy of the experimental measurements.