A small pilot plant (capacity, 450 kg/day) has been constructed to evaluate gasification of manure by partial oxidation.The reactor operates as a countercurrent, fluidized bed in which an air-steam mixture is the fluidizing medium and manure is the only solid phase present. The product gas from this process contains a significant amount of hydrocarbons (CH4 ~10%, C2H4 ~6%) in addition to normal partial oxidation products. The net heating value of the dry gas exceeded 8.6 MJ/m3 (1 atm, 0 °C) in all cases. The net heating value of the C02-free gas (still containing nitrogen) exceeded 11.2 MJ/m3. The pilot plant design and operating procedure are described as are the results of the heat and material balances. This work confirms the technical feasibility and potential scale-up for producing a medium heating value gas suitable for fuel or for feed to a petrochemical production process at relatively high yields from cattle feedlot manure.

Thermochemical conversion o f biomass o f f e r s an o p p o r t u n i t y t o increase t h e w o r l d ' s reserves o f hydrocarbon resources (1, 2 , 3). Biomass can be defined as s o l a r energy stored i n t h e form o f p l a n t matter and residues t h a t have some p o s i t i v e value as a chemical resource. This i s ' i n c o n t r a s t t o wastes which have a negative value, e.g.one must pay t o dispose o f wastes. Biomass i s a very d e s i r a b l e hydrocarbon resource because i t i s renewable and thus, i n theory, should provide an inexhaustable supply. The major obstacle t o the implementation o f biomass technology i s t h a t t h e energy d e n s i t y o f biomass i s very low compared t o f o s s i l fuels as shown below.

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