IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i20p6711-d657457.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Barriers to Success: A Technical Review on the Limits and Possible Future Roles of Small Scale Gasifiers

Author

Listed:
  • Giulio Allesina

    (BEELab-Bio Energy Efficiency Laboratory, Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Vivarelli 10/1, 41125 Modena, Italy)

  • Simone Pedrazzi

    (BEELab-Bio Energy Efficiency Laboratory, Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Vivarelli 10/1, 41125 Modena, Italy)

Abstract

Literature and manuals refer to biomass gasification as one of the most efficient processes for power generation, highlighting features, such as residual biomass use, distributed generation and carbon sequestration, that perfectly incorporate gasification into circular economies and sustainable development goals. Despite these features, small scale applications struggle to succeed as a leading solution for sustainable development. The aim of this review is to investigate the existing technological barriers that limit the spreading of biomass gasification from a socio-technical point of view. The review outlines how existing technologies originated from under feed-in-tariff regimes and highlights where the current design goals strongly differ from what will be needed in the near future. Relevant market-ready small-scale gasification systems are analyzed under this lens, leading to an analysis of the reactor and filtration design. To help understand the economical sustainability of these plants, an analysis of the influence of capital expenditures and operating expenditures on the return of investment is included in the discussion. Finally, a literature review on prototypes and pre-market reactors is used as a basis for spotting the characteristics of the system that will likely resolve issues around fuel flexibility, cost efficiency and load variability.

Suggested Citation

  • Giulio Allesina & Simone Pedrazzi, 2021. "Barriers to Success: A Technical Review on the Limits and Possible Future Roles of Small Scale Gasifiers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-23, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:20:p:6711-:d:657457
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/20/6711/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/20/6711/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Henriksen, Ulrik & Ahrenfeldt, Jesper & Jensen, Torben Kvist & Gøbel, Benny & Bentzen, Jens Dall & Hindsgaul, Claus & Sørensen, Lasse Holst, 2006. "The design, construction and operation of a 75kW two-stage gasifier," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(10), pages 1542-1553.
    2. Anis, Samsudin & Zainal, Z.A., 2011. "Tar reduction in biomass producer gas via mechanical, catalytic and thermal methods: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 2355-2377, June.
    3. Michela Costa & Maurizio La Villetta & Daniele Piazzullo & Domenico Cirillo, 2021. "A Phenomenological Model of a Downdraft Biomass Gasifier Flexible to the Feedstock Composition and the Reactor Design," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-29, July.
    4. Tejasvi Sharma & Diego M. Yepes Maya & Francisco Regis M. Nascimento & Yunye Shi & Albert Ratner & Electo E. Silva Lora & Lourival Jorge Mendes Neto & Jose Carlos Escobar Palacios & Rubenildo Vieira A, 2018. "An Experimental and Theoretical Study of the Gasification of Miscanthus Briquettes in a Double-Stage Downdraft Gasifier: Syngas, Tar, and Biochar Characterization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-23, November.
    5. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    6. J. R. Copa & C. E. Tuna & J. L. Silveira & R. A. M. Boloy & P. Brito & V. Silva & J. Cardoso & D. Eusébio, 2020. "Techno-Economic Assessment of the Use of Syngas Generated from Biomass to Feed an Internal Combustion Engine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-31, June.
    7. Evans, Annette & Strezov, Vladimir & Evans, Tim J., 2010. "Sustainability considerations for electricity generation from biomass," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 1419-1427, June.
    8. Yasutsugu Baba & Andante Hadi Pandyaswargo & Hiroshi Onoda, 2020. "An Analysis of the Current Status of Woody Biomass Gasification Power Generation in Japan," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-13, September.
    9. Zhou, Zhaoqiu & Yin, Xiuli & Xu, Jie & Ma, Longlong, 2012. "The development situation of biomass gasification power generation in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 52-57.
    10. Yong Huang & Yiling Wan & Shasha Liu & Yimeng Zhang & Huanhuan Ma & Shu Zhang & Jianbin Zhou, 2019. "A Downdraft Fixed-Bed Biomass Gasification System with Integrated Products of Electricity, Heat, and Biochar: The Key Features and Initial Commercial Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-9, August.
    11. Watson, Jim & Sauter, Raphael & Bahaj, Bakr & James, Patrick & Myers, Luke & Wing, Robert, 2008. "Domestic micro-generation: Economic, regulatory and policy issues for the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 3085-3096, August.
    12. del Río, Pablo & Burguillo, Mercedes, 2009. "An empirical analysis of the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(6-7), pages 1314-1325, August.
    13. Huang, Y. & McIlveen-Wright, D.R. & Rezvani, S. & Huang, M.J. & Wang, Y.D. & Roskilly, A.P. & Hewitt, N.J., 2013. "Comparative techno-economic analysis of biomass fuelled combined heat and power for commercial buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 518-525.
    14. Campbell, Robert M. & Anderson, Nathaniel M. & Daugaard, Daren E. & Naughton, Helen T., 2018. "Financial viability of biofuel and biochar production from forest biomass in the face of market price volatility and uncertainty," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 330-343.
    15. Gadsbøll, Rasmus Østergaard & Clausen, Lasse Røngaard & Thomsen, Tobias Pape & Ahrenfeldt, Jesper & Henriksen, Ulrik Birk, 2019. "Flexible TwoStage biomass gasifier designs for polygeneration operation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 939-950.
    16. Martínez, Juan Daniel & Mahkamov, Khamid & Andrade, Rubenildo V. & Silva Lora, Electo E., 2012. "Syngas production in downdraft biomass gasifiers and its application using internal combustion engines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-9.
    17. Fang, Yi & Paul, Manosh C. & Varjani, Sunita & Li, Xian & Park, Young-Kwon & You, Siming, 2021. "Concentrated solar thermochemical gasification of biomass: Principles, applications, and development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Savelii Kukharets & Algirdas Jasinskas & Gennadii Golub & Olena Sukmaniuk & Taras Hutsol & Krzysztof Mudryk & Jonas Čėsna & Szymon Glowacki & Iryna Horetska, 2023. "The Experimental Study of the Efficiency of the Gasification Process of the Fast-Growing Willow Biomass in a Downdraft Gasifier," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-12, January.
    2. Kenji Koido & Eri Takata & Takashi Yanagida & Hirofumi Kuboyama, 2022. "Techno-Economic Assessment of Heat Supply Systems in Woodchip Drying Bases for Wood Gasification Combined Heat and Power," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Mateusz Kochel & Mateusz Szul & Tomasz Iluk & Jan Najser, 2022. "On the Possibility of Cleaning Producer Gas Laden with Large Quantities of Tars through Using a Simple Fixed-Bed Activated Carbon Adsorption Process," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-19, October.
    4. Zachl, A. & Soria-Verdugo, A. & Buchmayr, M. & Gruber, J. & Anca-Couce, A. & Scharler, R. & Hochenauer, C., 2022. "Stratified downdraft gasification of wood chips with a significant bark content," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pulla Rose Havilah & Amit Kumar Sharma & Gopalakrishnan Govindasamy & Leonidas Matsakas & Alok Patel, 2022. "Biomass Gasification in Downdraft Gasifiers: A Technical Review on Production, Up-Gradation and Application of Synthesis Gas," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Pereira, Emanuele Graciosa & da Silva, Jadir Nogueira & de Oliveira, Jofran L. & Machado, Cássio S., 2012. "Sustainable energy: A review of gasification technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 4753-4762.
    3. Manel Kamoun & Ines Abdelkafi & Abdelfetah Ghorbel, 2019. "The Impact of Renewable Energy on Sustainable Growth: Evidence from a Panel of OECD Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(1), pages 221-237, March.
    4. Matteo Baldelli & Lorenzo Bartolucci & Stefano Cordiner & Giorgio D’Andrea & Emanuele De Maina & Vincenzo Mulone, 2023. "Biomass to H2: Evaluation of the Impact of PV and TES Power Supply on the Performance of an Integrated Bio-Thermo-Chemical Upgrading Process for Wet Residual Biomass," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-17, March.
    5. Yepes Maya, Diego Mauricio & Silva Lora, Electo Eduardo & Andrade, Rubenildo Vieira & Ratner, Albert & Martínez Angel, Juan Daniel, 2021. "Biomass gasification using mixtures of air, saturated steam, and oxygen in a two-stage downdraft gasifier. Assessment using a CFD modeling approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 1014-1030.
    6. Ma, Zhongqing & Zhang, Yimeng & Zhang, Qisheng & Qu, Yongbiao & Zhou, Jianbin & Qin, Hengfei, 2012. "Design and experimental investigation of a 190 kWe biomass fixed bed gasification and polygeneration pilot plant using a double air stage downdraft approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 140-147.
    7. Ud Din, Zia & Zainal, Z.A., 2016. "Biomass integrated gasification–SOFC systems: Technology overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1356-1376.
    8. Sunil Thapa & Prakashbhai R. Bhoi & Ajay Kumar & Raymond L. Huhnke, 2017. "Effects of Syngas Cooling and Biomass Filter Medium on Tar Removal," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-12, March.
    9. Janda, Karel & Tan, Tianhao, 2017. "Renewable Energy Sources in Central Europe and East Asia," MPRA Paper 76719, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Ribó-Pérez, David & Herraiz-Cañete, Ángela & Alfonso-Solar, David & Vargas-Salgado, Carlos & Gómez-Navarro, Tomás, 2021. "Modelling biomass gasifiers in hybrid renewable energy microgrids; a complete procedure for enabling gasifiers simulation in HOMER," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 501-512.
    11. Elsner, Witold & Wysocki, Marian & Niegodajew, Paweł & Borecki, Roman, 2017. "Experimental and economic study of small-scale CHP installation equipped with downdraft gasifier and internal combustion engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 213-227.
    12. Vargas-Salgado, Carlos & Águila-León, Jesús & Alfonso-Solar, David & Malmquist, Anders, 2022. "Simulations and experimental study to compare the behavior of a genset running on gasoline or syngas for small scale power generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(PA).
    13. Patuzzi, Francesco & Prando, Dario & Vakalis, Stergios & Rizzo, Andrea Maria & Chiaramonti, David & Tirler, Werner & Mimmo, Tanja & Gasparella, Andrea & Baratieri, Marco, 2016. "Small-scale biomass gasification CHP systems: Comparative performance assessment and monitoring experiences in South Tyrol (Italy)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 285-293.
    14. Butera, Giacomo & Fendt, Sebastian & Jensen, Søren H. & Ahrenfeldt, Jesper & Clausen, Lasse R., 2020. "Flexible methanol production units coupling solid oxide cells and thermochemical biomass conversion via different gasification technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    15. Clausen, Lasse R. & Butera, Giacomo & Jensen, Søren Højgaard, 2019. "Integration of anaerobic digestion with thermal gasification and pressurized solid oxide electrolysis cells for high efficiency bio-SNG production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    16. Zeng, Xi & Wang, Fang & Li, Hongling & Wang, Yin & Dong, Li & Yu, Jian & Xu, Guangwen, 2014. "Pilot verification of a low-tar two-stage coal gasification process with a fluidized bed pyrolyzer and fixed bed gasifier," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 9-16.
    17. Ashiwani Yadav & Nitai Pal & Jagannath Patra & Monika Yadav, 2020. "Strategic planning and challenges to the deployment of renewable energy technologies in the world scenario: its impact on global sustainable development," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 297-315, January.
    18. Asadullah, Mohammad, 2014. "Barriers of commercial power generation using biomass gasification gas: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 201-215.
    19. Janda, Karel & Tan, Tianhao, 2017. "Integrated Multi-Attribute Value and Analytic Hierarchy Process Model of Sustainable Energy Development in Central Europe and East Asia," MPRA Paper 76716, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Reyes, Y.A. & Pérez, M. & Barrera, E.L. & Martínez, Y. & Cheng, K.K., 2022. "Thermochemical conversion processes of Dichrostachys cinerea as a biofuel: A review of the Cuban case," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:20:p:6711-:d:657457. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.