Biomass4Power_and_Heat_2 - Evaluation of the gasification process and development of a cocurrent fixed bed gasifier for standard and alternative fuel operation

The first objective is to face the currently reduced economic viability of the system through operating cost reductions. An important challenge in terms of cost-effectiveness lies in the high fuel costs, since in systems currently available on the market mainly technically dried wood chips with a precisely defined particle size or standardized wood pellets may be used. Cheaper fuels such as e.g. untreated wood chips, wood chips from coppice including short rotation coppice or pelleted residues from agriculture and/or the food industry would represent a possible way to reduce operating costs if they can be employed. However, the applicability of these "low-cost" fuels must first be tested, or appropriate reactors and processes must be developed for these fuels. Another goal of the project is the variable-performance plant operation. By means of power modulation, the machine characteristic curve (producer) can be better adapted to the system characteristic (consumer), thereby increasing the own consumption. One possibility for this is to regulate the plant output with the aid of the fuel gas supply. However, a throttling of the fuel gas supply has a direct effect on the mass flows in the gasifier, which completely changes its process behavior. It is necessary to examine the extent to which "small" wood-gas cogeneration plants are regulatable and which engine and gasifier management systems are needed to operate such plants flexibly with regard to the required load profile. The potential applications of energy storage systems for electricity and heat are also evaluated and tested in this context. The development of cascade solutions is also part of this project.