SBIR Phase I: Development of The Fuel Agnostic Swirl Hearth Gasifier

该SBIR第一阶段项目能够研究和开发一种新的混合固定流化生物质气化炉设计，该设计允许在更广泛的原料范围内实现更高的碳转化效率，而不是目前商业上可用的生物质发电技术所能提供的。这一技术发展通过提高可再生废物转化为能源项目的经济可行性来服务于公众利益。来自森林间伐和农业的生物质废物积累仅在美国每年就产生约1.66亿吨生物质，并且由于空气质量法规限制露天焚烧以及废物场地必须减少分解产生的甲烷的倾倒费而难以处置。生物质气化取代了露天燃烧或不受控制的分解，使这些资源能够在当地利用，以取代化石燃料，并固碳以减缓气候变化。生物质能源目前受到原料要求的限制（通常限于标准化的木屑颗粒），这限制了美国生物质能源工厂的实施。该项目旨在大大扩展生物质能源的原料特性选择，为美国的可持续能源项目开发商和负责生物质废物处理的组织提供现成的商业解决方案。预计美国将通过制造业和项目开发以及相关的销售和所得税收入，创造约150个就业岗位，以支持这两个行业。商业上可获得的下吸式和流化床生物质气化器受到三个主要根本技术问题的阻碍，这三个主要根本技术问题显著地限制了现有技术的生物质发电项目的经济可行性：1）每一个都受到其可以处理的小范围的原料颗粒尺寸的限制; 2）由于灰熔融温度，最大允许反应温度受到限制;和3）灰熔融温度太低而不能使焦油裂化最大化。所提出的技术解决方案将汽化的焦油和小原料颗粒与较大颗粒和高灰分固体木炭分离。 这种分离满足了温度要求，并允许在较高温度下更大的焦油裂解潜力，同时保持较低的焦炭氧化温度，以提高碳转化效率。克服了所有三个根本技术问题。该研究的目标是确定和验证保持稳定的生物质气化所需的尺寸和参数，提高焦油裂解效率，降低灰结渣风险。该项目的范围包括在20千瓦的气体容量下证明拟议的技术，该技术将扩大到150千瓦，以便能够提供算法以在任何规模下对该技术进行调整。完全燃料不可知的气化炉的开发是所谓的气化圣杯，该项目的成功完成将是朝着这一目标迈出的重要一步，使该技术能够成功扩展并在几乎任何具有生物质废物流的市场或行业中传播。

This SBIR Phase I project enables the research and development of a new hybrid fixed-fluidized biomass gasifier design that allows for a higher carbon conversion efficiency over a far wider range of feedstocks than what current commercially available biomass-to-electricity technologies are able to offer. This technological development serves the public interest by increasing the economic viability of renewable waste-to-energy projects. Biomass waste accumulation from forest thinning and agriculture generate approximately 166 million tons of biomass each year in the United States alone and is problematic to dispose of due to air quality regulations, which restrict open burning, and tipping fees from waste sites that have to mitigate methane production from decomposition. Instead of open burning or uncontrolled decomposition, biomass gasification enables these resources to be utilized locally to replace fossil fuels and to sequester carbon to mitigate climate change. Biomass energy is currently limited by feedstock requirements (typically restricted to standardized wood pellets), which has constrained the implementation of biomass-to-energy plants in the U.S. This project seeks to greatly expand the feedstock characteristic options available for biomass energy to offer an off-the-shelf commercial solution to sustainable energy project developers in the U.S. and organizations responsible for biomass waste processing. Approximately 150 jobs are expected to be generated in the US to support these two industries, through manufacturing and project development, as well as associated sales and income tax revenue. Commercially available downdraft and fluidized bed biomass gasifiers are hindered by three main root technical problems that significantly constrain the economic viability of state-of-the-art biomass-to-electricity projects: 1) each is limited by the small range of feedstock particle sizes it can process; 2) maximum allowable reaction temperatures are limited due to ash fusibility temperatures; and 3) the ash fusibility temperature is too low to maximize tar cracking. The proposed technical solution separates the vaporized tar and small feedstock particle sizes from the larger particles and high ash solid charcoal. This separation decouples the temperature requirements and allows for greater tar cracking potential at higher temperatures while maintaining a lower oxidation temperature for the char to increase carbon conversion efficiency??overcoming all three root technical problems. The goal of the research is to identify and validate the dimensions and parameters required to maintain stable biomass gasification with improved tar cracking efficiency and reduced ash clinkering risk. The scope of the project includes proving the proposed technology at a gas capacity of 20kW, which will be scaled up to a 150kW to be able to provide the algorithm to dimension the technology at any scale. The development of a fully fuel agnostic gasifier is the so-called holy grail of gasification and the successful completion of the project will be a significant step toward this goal, enabling the technology to scale successfully and be disseminated in almost any market or sector with a biomass waste stream.