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.....================================================================
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