**2.2 Equipment**

Steam gasification runs have been carried out in a bench-scale plant, whose scheme is shown in **Figure 1**. The main element of the plant is the conical spouted bed reactor (CSBR), whose design is based on previous hydrodynamic studies [25] and on the application of this technology to the pyrolysis of different solid wastes, such as biomass [26–28], plastics [29], and waste tires [30].


**77**

**Figure 1.**

*Development of the Conical Spouted Bed Technology for Biomass and Waste Plastic Gasification*

The plant is provided with a system for continuous feeding of the biomass or plastic. The system for solid feeding consists of a vessel equipped with a vertical shaft connected to a piston placed below the material bed. The plastic/sawdust is fed into the reactor by raising the piston at the same time as the whole system is

Water has been fed by means of a Gibson 307 pump that allows a precise measuring of the flow rate. The water stream has been vaporized by means of an electric cartridge placed inside the forced convection oven and prior to the entrance of the

The reactor is located within an oven, which is in turn placed in a forced convection oven maintained at 270°C to avoid the condensation of steam and tars before the condensation system. A high-efficiency cyclone and a sintered steel filter (5 μm) are also placed inside this oven in order to retain the fine sand particles entrained from the bed and the soot or char particles formed in the gasification process. The gases leaving the forced convection oven circulate through a volatile condensation system consisting of a condenser, a Peltier cooler, and a coalescence filter. The Peltier cooler consists of a 150 mL tank and a refrigerator that lowers the temperature to around 2°C, thereby efficiently condensing the volatile products.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86761*

The condenser is a double-shell tube cooled by tap water.

*Scheme of the bench-scale biomass gasification plant equipped with a conical spouted bed reactor.*

vibrated by an electric engine.

reactor.

#### **Table 1.**

*Characterization of the biomass and HDPE used in this study.*

*Development of the Conical Spouted Bed Technology for Biomass and Waste Plastic Gasification DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86761*

The plant is provided with a system for continuous feeding of the biomass or plastic. The system for solid feeding consists of a vessel equipped with a vertical shaft connected to a piston placed below the material bed. The plastic/sawdust is fed into the reactor by raising the piston at the same time as the whole system is vibrated by an electric engine.

Water has been fed by means of a Gibson 307 pump that allows a precise measuring of the flow rate. The water stream has been vaporized by means of an electric cartridge placed inside the forced convection oven and prior to the entrance of the reactor.

The reactor is located within an oven, which is in turn placed in a forced convection oven maintained at 270°C to avoid the condensation of steam and tars before the condensation system. A high-efficiency cyclone and a sintered steel filter (5 μm) are also placed inside this oven in order to retain the fine sand particles entrained from the bed and the soot or char particles formed in the gasification process.

The gases leaving the forced convection oven circulate through a volatile condensation system consisting of a condenser, a Peltier cooler, and a coalescence filter. The Peltier cooler consists of a 150 mL tank and a refrigerator that lowers the temperature to around 2°C, thereby efficiently condensing the volatile products. The condenser is a double-shell tube cooled by tap water.

*Sustainable Alternative Syngas Fuel*

and draft tube, are also discussed.

**2. Material and methods**

46.2 kg mol<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

**2.2 Equipment**

Ultimate analysis (wt%)

Proximate analysis (wt%)

*Characterization of the biomass and HDPE used in this study.*

HHV (MJ kg<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

**2.1 Feedstock characterization**

HDPE are summarized in **Table 1**.

the operation range and improve the reactor's hydrodynamic behavior [24]. Thus, this chapter summarizes the main results obtained in the application of the conical spouted bed reactor in the steam gasification of biomass and waste plastics. Moreover, the influence of different primary catalysts and the incorporation of novel modifications in the reactor design, such as fountain confiner

The HDPE was supplied by Dow Chemical (Tarragona, Spain) in the form of chippings (4 mm), with the following properties: average molecular weight,

The biomass used in this study is forest pinewood waste (*Pinus insignis*). The sawdust has been sieved to obtain a particle size between 1 and 2 mm. This material has been dried at room temperature to a moisture content below 10 wt%. Ultimate and proximate analyses have been carried out in a LECO CHNS-932 elemental analyzer and in a TGA Q500IR thermogravimetric analyzer, respectively. The high heating value (HHV) for both biomass and HDPE was measured in a Parr 1356 isoperibolic bomb calorimeter. The main features of both the raw biomass and the

Steam gasification runs have been carried out in a bench-scale plant, whose scheme is shown in **Figure 1**. The main element of the plant is the conical spouted bed reactor (CSBR), whose design is based on previous hydrodynamic studies [25] and on the application of this technology to the pyrolysis of different solid wastes,

Carbon 49.33 85.71 Hydrogen 6.06 14.29 Nitrogen 0.04 — Oxygen 44.57 —

Volatile matter 73.4 99.7 Fixed carbon 16.7 0.3 Ash 0.5 — Moisture 9.4 —

) 19.8 43.1

such as biomass [26–28], plastics [29], and waste tires [30].

.

**Biomass HDPE**

; polydispersity, 2.89; and density, 940 kg m<sup>−</sup><sup>3</sup>

**76**

**Table 1.**
