TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Objectives
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Eastern Redcedar
Physiology
Impact on Oklahoma Rangeland
Current Uses of Eastern Redcedar
Conventional Methods of Controlling Redcedar
Eastern Redcedar Product Research
Eastern Redcedar Suitability for Gasification
Chemical Composition
Gasification
Goal of Gasification
History of Gasification
Gasification Chemistry
Gasification Technologies
Downdraft Gasification
Updraft Gasification
Comparison of Updraft to Downdraft Gasification Systems
Prior Studies of Gasification of Wood
Prior Studies of Gasification of Redcedar
CHAPTER THREE: UPDRAFT GASIFIER DESIGN
Hopper and Feedstock Auger
Gasifier Body
Agitator and Scraper System
Support Frame
Data Collection System
CHAPTER FOUR: EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Eastern Redcedar for Study
Gasifier Startup and Operation
Gas Sampling and Analysis
Cold Gas Efficiency
CHAPTER FIVE: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Equivalence Ratio
Operating Temperature
Tar and Water Production
Producer Gas Composition
Heating Value
Cold Gas Efficiency
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Suggestions for future research
REFERENCES
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
If a pasture in Oklahoma is allowed to lie out of production, without being cultivated, mowed or sprayed, the owner might soon begin to notice the pointed tops of little evergreens sticking up past the grasses. Allowed to continue without interruption, the little evergreens will shoot up, and after a few years the owner will only see wisps of grass between the trees. Landowners across Oklahoma have battled this landscape phenomenon for years, utilizing pesticides and tree cutting, but the trees continue their takeover. Juniperus virginiana, or eastern redcedar (as shown in Figure 1), is the primary source of these trees invading the fallow land of our state.
Eastern redcedar grows in most of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, ranging from South Dakota to southern Texas to southern Georgia to New England (Schmidt and Piva, 1996). A small strip along the Gulf coast and some of the higher elevations in the Appalachian Mountain range are the only areas in this range that do not have eastern redcedar growth. Because it is a pioneer invader, the tree is commonly found in prairies or oak barrens, old pastures, or limestone hills, often along highways and near recent construction sites (Farjon, 2005).
There are several products made from redcedar, including fenceposts, lumber, mulch, and cedar oil. However, the demand for each of these products is not great enough to provide a market for the abundance of eastern redcedar in Oklahoma. Converting redcedar to fuel would provide a market for it with inexhaustible demand. Gasification is one option for the conversion.
Gasification is the process of converting a solid, organic feedstock in a high temperature, oxygen deficient atmosphere to a mixture of gases, known as producer gas or synthesis gas. Though gasification of wood has been utilized to produce energy for decades, gasification of redcedar has been studied very little. There are few gasifier designs that have been published.
Gasifying redcedar would provide a two-fold benefit to the state of Oklahoma. First, there would be an added incentive for landowners to clear land, which would help to offset the cost of clearing pastures. This would mean more useful grazing land for decades to come, and that is important to our state where cattle is a big industry. Second, gasification will provide a new source of renewable energy. Incorporating as many
renewable energy sources as possible to offset non-renewable, imported oil is an important goal in both Oklahoma and the entire United States of America.
Gasification of eastern redcedar could have a great impact on the perception of redcedar in Oklahoma. In addition to providing a source of “green” energy, it will add value to the currently-considered-nuisance plants taking over the landscape.
However, existing gasifiers at Oklahoma State University were not available for gasification of redcedar because the byproducts of gasifying redcedar were not known and could potentially damage the existing gasifiers. Published designs for gasifiers of the type desired for this research were not found. Therefore, before gasification of redcedar can be studied, a new gasifier must be designed and constructed.
Objectives
The main goal of this project is to examine the feasibility of gasification of redcedar as a means of adding value to the crop. The two specific objectives are:
Ø Provide a detailed design of an updraft gasifier that can be used with a variety of feedstocks including eastern redcedar mulch
Test the quality and quantity of producer gas produced by the new gasifier using eastern redcedar mulch as a feedstock.....================================================================
Item Type: Project Material | Size: 77 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
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