High-pressure co-gasification of coal and biomass in a fluidized bed

Mixtures of coal and biomass were co-gasified in a jetting, ash-agglomerating, fluidized-bed, pilot scale-sized gasifier to provide steady-state operating data for numerical simulation verification. Biomass used was sanding waste from furniture manufacture. Powder River Basin subbituminous and Pittsburgh No. 8 bituminous coals (screened from −1.2 to +0.25 mm) were mixed with sawdust (screened to −1.2 mm) and pneumatically conveyed into the gasifier at an operating pressure of 3.03 MPa. Feed mixtures ranged up to 35% by weight biomass. The results of gasification tests of subbituminous coal/sawdust mixtures showed few differences in operations compared to subbituminous coal only tests. The bituminous coal mixture had marked differences. Transport properties of coal/biomass mixtures were greatly improved compared to coal only.