Exergy Analysis of Steam Generation Integrated with Biomass Gasification.

Introduction: Biomass is an important energy source, as it has high potential and produces low environmental impact. Biomass can be harnessed thermochemical processes such as gasification, combustion and pyrolysis. Biomass gasification is a well-studied process as it allows the production of combustible gases with properties that depend on the gasifying agent used. Objective: perform an exergetic analysis of steam generation by gasification of agro-industrial corn residues. Method: First, a biomass characterization was performed to determine its properties. A computational model of the biomass gasification process was then performed in Aspen Plus. The model was made in a stationary state and it was taken into account that all the gases behave in an ideal way. Results: the developed model estimates a syngas with lower heating value (LHV) of 6.18 MJ/Nm³, which was subsequently injected into a boiler for the generation of steam of the system. After this, an exergetic analysis was made with the data thrown in the simulation, which resulted in 14.37 kW are used in the generation of steam, likewise it was determined that the exergetic efficiency of the system is of 35%. Conclusions: Theoretical data could be obtained from a gasification system coupled to a boiler that allows generating steam for use in various applications. Also, it is observed that much of the energy that is produced is not used, due to losses and irreversibility of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]