Design and Development of a 50kW Producer Gas Generator in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This research paper presents the design, fabrication, and experimental investigation of a downdraft gasifier system. The design of the system first required evaluation of various literature to select the correct gasifier type and the components of the gas conditioning system. The downdraft gasifier design was done by using existing gasifier designs in the literature and Sri Lanka. Further, a gas conditioning system comprising a cyclone separator and a wet-packed bed scrubber was designed and fabricated. The completed gasifier system was then tested to validate its capacity and to evaluate the thermal conversion efficiency. A maximum cold gas efficiency of 67% was achieved and the maximum capacity was 50.9kW. The capacity and cold gas efficiency were evaluated with the variation of the inlet velocity of the air nozzles. Further, the report consists of the operational manual and manufacturing procedure. A brief feasibility study was done regarding its applicability for a heating application and its financial assessment.