The Paton Welding Journal, 2024, №06



2024 №06 (02)

DOI of Article 10.37434/tpwj2024.06.03

2024 №06 (04)

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The Paton Welding Journal, 2024, #6, 20-28 pages

Steam plasma gasification of biomass using electrodeless plasmatrons

S. Petrov¹, P. Stukhlyak², S. Bondarenko³, S. Roshanpour⁴, M. Ganczarski⁵

¹The Gas Institute of the NASU 39 Degtyarivska Str., 03113, Kyiv, Ukraine. E-mail: vizana.sp@gmail.com
²Paton Research Institute of Welding Technologies in Zhejiang Province. People’s Republic of China, Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou City, Xiaoshan District, St. Shixing Beilu 857, Office 426
³National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, 37 Prosp. Beresteiskyi, 03056, Kyiv, Ukraine
⁴Plasma Dynamics srl, 11/13, Via del Progresso, Vicenza, Italy, 36100
⁵HYDROGENIUM p.s.a. 5/35, Gliniana, Lublin, Poland, 20-616

Abstract
The use of plasma processes in the production of biohydrogen opens up the possibility of replacing fossil fuels with an environmentally friendly energy source from biomass. The work examines the process of plasma processing of biomass (based on the example of sunflower husks), using an electrodeless discharge to produce highly productive synthesis gas with a high hydrogen content. The use of CFD modeling made it possible to determine the parameters of a steam plasma reactor for the gasification process. The operation of the reactor is based on the principle of gasification using steam-water plasma with oxygen. The use of plasma blast allows increasing the process temperature, the rate of physical and chemical transformations, the degree of conversion of raw materials, the residence time of gases in the reaction volume, the content of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the synthesis gas, the thermal intensity of the reaction volume and specific productivity. It has been experimentally established that plasma power affects the energy balance of the entire gasification process, and also directly affects the temperature profile, synthesis gas composition, resin yield and stability of the gasification process. The influence of such parameters as the plasma energy to waste energy ratio (PER), equivalence ratio (ER) and steam to oxygen mass ratio (SOMR) on the gasification process was studied. It has been found that increasing PER raises the average temperature of the supplied steam-oxygen mixture and increases the heat input for gasification. A dual influence of ER on the gasification process has been noted: on the one hand, a higher ER provides more chemical heat during combustion, which has a beneficial effect on the synthesis gas output, and on the other hand, a higher ER provides an increase in the amount of combustion products in the reactor, which leads to reducing the amount of flammable gases. It has been determined that with an increase in SOMR from 2 to 2.5, the volume fraction of H2 in the synthesis gas increases, and CO2 decreases. Hydrogen obtained from biomass gasification processes is one of the promising methods for alternative hydrogen production from fossil fuels.
Keywords: electrodeless plasmatron, gasification, steam plasma reactor, biomass, CFD modeling

Received: 18.03.2024
Received in revised form: 14.05.2024
Accepted: 25.06.2024

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Suggested Citation

S. Petrov, P. Stukhlyak, S. Bondarenko, S. Roshanpour, M. Ganczarski (2024) Steam plasma gasification of biomass using electrodeless plasmatrons. The Paton Welding J., 06, 20-28.

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