Biomass gasifier – internal combustion engine system: review of literature

A biomass waste producer gas has a good potential as renewable sources fuel of either spark ignition (SI) or compression ignition (CI) engine. Several biomass wastes have been utilised as a feedstock of gasification process to produce producer gas. High heating value and low tar content producer gas should be obtained in biomass gasification. The producer gas has to be cleaned up to remove tar when it is used for the engines. The present paper aims to review a thermo-chemical conversion of a biomass into a producer gas, tar removal method and utilisation of a producer gas as fuel of internal combustion engine. Many previous published works are studied, cited and summarised in the present work. The review indicates that performance of a gasifier is affected by gasifier design and operating parameters, i.e. feedstock properties and size, gasification medium, equivalence ratio and gasification temperature. Tar removal can be approached using primary or secondary technique. Modification of the intake system of either SI or CI engine is required when the engine is fuelled with a producer gas.