Influence of Wet Torrefaction Pretreatment on Gasification of Larch Wood and Corn Stalk

Abstract

Biomass was wet-torrefied to improve its properties prior to gasification. Two kinds of biomass were employed as feedstock, including the larch wood and corn stalk. For both larch wood and corn stalk, the oxygen content of torrefied samples reduced greatly, while the carbon content increased. All of these features had a positive effect on the gasification process, which was discussed in the research. During steam gasification, all of the wet-torrified biomass samples yielded higher amounts of H2 and CO compared to the raw biomass samples, showing the superiority of the wet torrefaction (WT). During CO2 gasification, the CO production was also significantly improved by WT. The kinetic characteristic parameters for the gasification of raw and torrefied biomass samples were determined using the random pore model. It was found that the activation energy of gasification could be reduced by the WT process.