An investigation into heat recovery from the surface of a cyclone dust collector attached to a downdraft biomass gasifier

摘要

The gas leaving the reactor of a downdraft biomass gasifier contains large quantities of heat energy; this is due to the fact that the gas passes through a hot bed of charcoal before leaving the reactor. This heat is normally wasted in the gas scrubber/cooler that cools it from between 400 degrees C-500 degrees C to ambient temperature (around 25 degrees C). The waste heat stream under consideration is the raw syngas that emanates from a gasification process in a downdraft gasifier situated at Melani Village, Eastern Cape. This loss of heat is undesirable as it impacts on the thermal efficiency of the system. This study investigates the feasibility of heat recovery from the surface of the cyclone dust collector prior to entering the gas scrubber. It was shown that there was a downward decrease in temperature along the length of the cyclone. It is found that the total quantity of heat contained in the gas was 665893.07 kcal, which could indicate the viability of recovering heat from the cyclone. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.