Potassium Retention in Updraft Gasification of Wood

The release of compounds of K with producer gas during biomass gasification is known to play significant roles in fouling and high-temperature corrosion in boilers and high-temperature heat exchangers as well as blades in gas turbines that use producer gas as fuel. These phenomena are a major setback in the application of biomass fuel in combination with advanced process conditions. Updraft gasification provides gas filtering by the fuel bed with a gas cooling effect, conditions anticipated to create an avenue for K retention in the gasifier. The objective of this study was to determine the K retention potential of such gasifiers during wood gasification. Samples for the determination of the fate of K compounds included in the feedstock were collected from the generated producer gas using Teflon filters and gas wash bottles and also from wall deposits and ash residues. Analyses of samples were carried out using inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectrometry/mass spectrometry and X-ray diffraction methods. The finding was that about 99% of K was retained in the gasifier. K was found in the ash samples as a crystalline phase of K2Ca(CO3)2(s) (fairchildite). A possible reaction mechanism leading to the formation of K2Ca(CO3)2 is discussed in the paper. The 1% K understood as released, equivalent to 1200 ppbw content of K entrained in the producer gas stream, exceeds a known limit for application of the gas in conventional gas turbines. This would suggest application of the gas in an externally fired gas turbine system, where some limited K and other depositions in the heat exchanger can be relatively easy to handle.