Effect of changing of (oxygen/air) ratio on the power resulted from gasification of agricultural wastes

Using air in gasification processes yields producer gas with low heating value, it is only appropriate for heating and power applications. On the other hand, a mixture of air and oxygen gasification can increase the heating value of the producer gas as well as the main gas components were acceptable for producing liquid fuels by the synthesis process. In this research, experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of using oxygen enriched –air as a gasifying agent on producer gas composition and heating value during the gasification and combustion processes. The oxygen percentage in the enriched-air was varied from 30% to 45% to 60% (V/V, atmospheric air) respectively on dry conditions. All experiments were carried out at a fixed bed gasifier of 800°C using sawdust as feedstock. Tests shows that the oxygen enriched-air causes a decrease in the combustible gas species such as (CH4, H2, and CO2) and less molecular weight hydrocarbons in addition to a decrease in the yield of producer gas from 74% to 55.5% and 46% respectively.