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The promising properties of torrefied biomass provide a valid co-firing option for large percentage biomass utilization in existing coal-fired boilers. Torrefied biomass is expected to have a better combustion stability than raw biomass and similar to that of coal. The present work will characterizes the oxidation properties of torrefied biomass char and compare with that of raw biomass char. The studied two chars are produced from raw and torrefied biomass in an Isothermal Plug Flow Reactor (IPFR) at high temperature and high heating rate, a sufficient residence time is applied for the completion of the high temperature devolatilization. Char oxidation tests are carried out in the IPFR by varying temperature, oxygen concentration and residence time. The reactivity of two studied chars are analyzed and compared with referenced biomass char and coal char, and the impact of torrefaction on char reactivity is also discussed in this paper. Finally, the char oxidation kinetic parameters are determined using a parameter optimization method, and the obtained kinetics are examined by comparing the experimental and predicted mass conversions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pretreatment of biomass becomes more and more important due to the large scale application of biomass having low energy density. In this paper, steam exploded biomass pellets (Black pellets) and unpretreated biomass pellets (Gray pellets) were gasified with air and steam at an updraft HTAG (High Temperature Agent Gasification) unit. Decomposition characteristics of pellets were first analyzed with TGA (thermo gravimetric analysis). Early decomposition of hemicellulose and cellulose were seen with Black pellets around 241 °C and 367 °C respectively. Introducing CO2 led comparatively high mass loss rate with Black pellets. Gasification of Black pellets resulted in syngas with high CO and hydrocarbon contents while Gasification of Gray pellets resulted in high H2 content of syngas. LHV (lower heating value) of syngas was high around 7.3 MJ/Nm3 and 10.6 MJ/Nm3 with air gasification and steam gasification respectively. Even with significantly low syngas temperature with gasification of Black pellets, only slightly high total tar content was seen compared to that of Gray pellets gasification. Phenolic compounds dominated the tar composition. In general, steam gasification of Black pellets seems to be more feasible if syngas with high energy value is desired. If higher H2 yield is preferred, gasification of unpretreated pellets likely to be more attractive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]