Modeling of oil palm frond gasification process in a multistage downdraft gasifier using aspen plus

Abstract

Oil palm plantations produce waste that has not been used so far, namely Oil Palm Fronds. This waste can be converted into energy in the form of producer gas using gasification technology. This study aimed to model the gasification process using Aspen Plus in a multi-stage gasifier by adding air at the pyrolysis and oxidation zone. The influence of variations in air ratio (AR) between the pyrolysis and oxidation zones have been analyzed. The results of this model are validated with experimental data to get accurate results. Based on the modeling results H2 content for all variations of Air Ratio (AR) has increased from 8.12% in single-stage to 9% in multi-stage. However, when viewed from the total efficiency was lower than single-stage gasification. It can be concluded that multi-stage gasification can be applied to improve gasification performance, especially to increase volumetric percentage of hydrogen. However, when viewed from the total efficiency was lower than single-stage gasification. Overall, the results of gasification modeling using Aspen Plus can be used as a reference to improve gasification performance.

Simplified model of process to design the two stages gasification system for reuse of municipal waste

“…The basic idea in gasification is to create syngas from waste that is a source for chemicals in chemical industry [3]. There are different approaches to use different material [4,5,6,7,8] or plasma [9,10,11]. There are many possibilities how to make a gasification and the main problem is how to remove difficulties with tars in the process and how to use them as advantage compared to other processes.…”