ETHOS Technical Reports
Document Type
Report
Publication Date
8-23-2007
Abstract
In the summer of 2007 two students travelled to La Paz Bolivia to work with the company Prolena. During their stay in Bolivia the students designed, built, and tested a biomass gasifier with the goal of providing 40kW of heat for a variety of heating purposes.
After a brief period of experimentation to build firsthand experience with biomass gasifiers, the students were able to design a first model. This model was modified and rebuilt three times over the summer in order to optimize various parameters such as fluid flows, preheating zones, as well as the amount of air available for combustion. The design and following modifications were designed to take advantage of a wide range of feed stocks, preventing the students from taking full advantage of the gasifier’s high efficiency as it is optimized for a singular feed stock. The students also decided that instead of designing a 40kW gasifier, a better approach would be to design a lower output gasifier which could be purchased in multiples in order to come to the desired value of 40kW, thus providing an option for industries requiring less the original target value.
Due to the failure of testing equipment, no numerical data was able to be collected from tests performed on the final gasifier design, however; comparisons were drawn on the improvement made by the various gasifiers based off of observations. Based off of rough time estimates the students were able to best estimate the final gasifier design to be capable of producing 18-20kW.
The gasifier was left with Prolena for further testing and modification.
eCommons Citation
White, Eric and Heyne, Josh, "Bolivia: Biomass Gasification" (2007). ETHOS Technical Reports. 7.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/ethos_reports/7
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