Gasification Biomethane and Syngas

A green renewable energy scheme is best!

Gasification and Biomethane production is probably the most important and efficient energy-conversion technology for a wide variety of biomass fuels. The large-scale deployment of efficient technology along with interventions to enhance the sustainable supply of biomass fuels can transform the energy supply situation in rural areas.

Biomethane recovery, use and production generates "Greentags" or a "Renewable Energy Credits" for the owners as it is good for our environment and our governments wish to encourage its use. The production and use of the natural gas sold by your gas supply company does not generate these incentives and new revenue streams and is not good for our environment because it is sourced from mineral gas fields which are finite in their size and contribute to global warming when burnt.

Watch this YouTube video -The Hybrid Stove Two Cooking With Biomass

By careful renewal of the biomass source (such as by replanting forests) biomethane does not contribute to global warming when created and burnt. This may seem hard to believe, but as long as the biomass burnt is replaced by re-growing another crop, it is a fact. Whether it be forest wood or corn-stubble, the human intervention whereby we use the energy and heat through burning that organic material for our purposes as part of the natural circulation of carbon driven by the sun’s light energy, the net level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will not rise.

For global warming to occur it matters not how much carbon dioxide man creates, it only matters that what he does create is re-absorbed the next summer by the re-growth of plants.

The magic of gasification comes both from the cleanness of the burn from gasification, but most importantly also from the gas it produces, which is called syngas.

Syngas can be used as a fuel to generate electricity or steam, or as a basic chemical building block for a multitude of uses.

When mixed with air, syngas can be used in gasoline or diesel engines with few modifications to the engine. Syngas is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide and it can be converted into fuels such as hydrogen, natural gas or ethanol.

Syngas (which in one example) leaves the converter at a temperature of around 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit) is fed into a cooling system which generates steam.

Syngas can be used as a fuel to generate electricity and steam or as a chemical building block for the petrochemical and refining industries. The gasification process converts feedstock such as coal, crude oil, petroleum-based materials or gases into marketable fuels and products.

Collaborative research now reportedly underway aims to convert synthesis gas (syngas), that can be derived from abundant resources such as coal or biomass, to "building block" chemicals in a more efficient and economical process. For example Dow Chemical, America's diversified chemical company and Shemie, a Munich-headquartered specialty chemical company, have announced an agreement to research alternative routes to produce chemicals to help reduce dependence on traditional sources of oil and gas by April 2009.

So, to round this article off our point is that gasification conserves the chemical energy of waste in the syngas produced. The syngas is than a very versatile energy or raw material source.

One technology giving good results has been developed by Thermoselect of Switzerland. The process accepts a wide range of waste, and better than an ash, it produces, in addition to purified syngas, well as granulated metals and minerals that can be used in industry and construction.

Steve Evans is enthusiastic about gasification and other renewable energy sources from biomass. He also runs a great web site about agricultural anaerobic digestion homesite.