Transient and Dynamic First-Principle Modelling of Gasification Processes for Different Biomass Materials

This study presents a transient and dynamic first-principle model of biomass gasification processes for wood chips and rice husk, implemented in GNU Octave. The syngas composition was analyzed over time, to show the level of variations in compositions of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) in the produced syngas. Simulation results reveal that wood chips produce slightly more CO (peak 26.51%) than rice husk (peak 23.60%), attributed to their higher carbon content and reactivity, while H2 trends show a marginally higher H2/CO ratio for wood chips (2.58 at 600s) compared to rice husk indicating rice husk's better H2 production potential. The influence of operating conditions, including an air-fuel ratio (AFR) of 1.3, was analyzed and suggests that optimization (AFR: 0.6-1.0, steam addition) could enhance H2 yield and reduce tar. Overall, both feedstocks show promise for syngas production, with wood chips exhibiting a slight edge in CO production