Comparison of downdraft and updraft gasification of biomass in a fixed bed reactor

The aim of this study was to compare and analyze the gasification process of beech wood. The experimental investigation was conducted inside a gasifier, which can be operated in downdraft and updraft gasification system. The most important operating parameter studied in this paper was the influence of the amount of supply air on the temperature distribution, biomass consumption and syngas calorific value. The results show that the amount of air significantly influences the temperature in the combustion zone for the downdraft gasification process, where temperature differences reached more than 150 °C. The increased amount of air supplied to the gasifier caused an increase in fuel consumption for both experimental setups. Experimental results regarding equivalence ratio show that for value below 0.2, the updraft gasification is characterized by a higher calorific value of producer gas, while for about 0.22 a similar calorific value (6.5 MJ/Nm3) for both gasification configurations was obtained. Above this value, an increase in equivalence ratio causes a decrease in the calorific value of gas for downdraft and updraft gasifiers.