Design, fabrication, and performance evaluation of a novel biomass-gasification-based hot water generation system

Authors: Sunil, Rahul Sinha, Bathina Chaitanya, Birendra Kumar Rajan, Anurag Agarwal, Ajay D. Thakur, Rishi Raj

Abstract: Design and development of a novel 22kWth hot water generation system comprising a biomass-gasification unit in the core and an integrated fire-tube water heat exchanger in the annulus is re-ported. Producer gas from the gasifier is combusted in a burner and the resulting hot flue gases are routed back through the helical tube to heat the water contained within the annular shell. This allows recovery of the thermal energy typically lost from the outer surface of a conventional gasification system.The simple design improvisation leads to a doubling of the overall efficiency (48 %) compared to a standard system with physically separated gasifier and heat exchanger units (24 %). The developed system holds promise in domestic and industrial water heating applications. Overall, this integrated design presents an efficient and environment-friendly waste-to-value concept and proposes a meaningful use of the underutilized 36 EJ/annum potential of biomass from crop residue globally.

Publishing Date:July 2019

Published in: Energy