Thermodynamic equilibrium modeling of gasification for syngas production from carbonaceous feed containing the sulfur impurity

Abstract The present study deals with modeling and simulating the gasification process for syngas production. Equilibrium modeling was done to study the product gas composition by changing the process parameters, viz., reaction temperature, equivalence ratio, and moisture content. Coal, wood waste, eucalyptus, pine, and oak were gasification feedstocks. System model equations have been solved using MATLAB software. The model is studied for the range of temperature (800–1400 K), moisture content (7–40 %), and equivalence ratio (0–1). The results of the simulation study were compared with the values in the literature. The results show that the model is entirely satisfactory for the equivalence ratio range of 0.15–0.35. The variation in operating conditions, i.e., equivalence ratio, temperature, moisture content, and the characteristics of carbonaceous feed material, greatly influences the exit gas composition. A carbonaceous feed with almost the same syngas composition can be used for the same gasification process without changing the parameters. Further, coal-derived syngas has different characteristics from the wood waste of oak, pine, and eucalyptus feedstocks. Under optimal conditions, H 2 and CO concentrations reached 38 and 35 %, respectively. Increasing sulfur content by 2 % led to a 6 % reduction in CO yield, confirming its inhibitory effect on gasification efficiency.