Integrated drying and gasification of wet microalgae biomass to produce H2 rich syngas – A thermodynamic approach by considering in-situ energy supply

A novel integrated drying and gasification of microalgae wet biomass process, involving a chemical-looping combustion (CLC) option to supply energy, is developed using Aspen Plus. The integrated gasification system consists of four primary units, including (i) a wet biomass drying unit, (ii) the gasification system, (iii) the CLC section, and (iv) the gas purification process. The model shows a good accuracy (relative error < 10%) in predicting the product compositions as compared to the experimental results under consistent operating conditions. The performance of the integrated gasification system is evaluated using Spirulina microalgae at various moisture contents (0–45 wt%). The effect of gasifying agents O₂/steam and the fraction of the produced char used in the CLC section on the gasification performance is also evaluated. The tar is successfully reformed into syngas in the pyrolysis stage by adjusting the O₂ flow rate. The C (char) to CLC provides to a positive effect on the syngas composition, particularly for gasification of wet biomass, but brings an adverse impact on the yield of the syngas product. The integration of the CLC process and CO₂ absorber in the gasification system provides high-quality syngas by removing CO₂. The separated pure CO₂ can be used as a feedstock for other chemical industries.     

Characteristics of biomass gasification using chemical looping with iron ore as an oxygen carrier

Experiments regarding to biomass gasification using chemical looping (BGCL) were carried out in a fluidized bed reactor under argon atmosphere. Iron ore (natural hematite) was used as an oxygen carrier in the study. Similar to steam, a performance of oxygen carrier which provided oxygen source for biomass gasification by acting as a gasifying medium was found. An optimum Fe₂O₃/C molar ratio of 0.23 was determined with the aim of obtaining maximum gas yield of 1.06 Nm³/kg and gasification efficiency of 83.31%. The oxygen carrier was gradually deactivated with reduction time increasing, inhibiting the carbon and hydrogen in biomass from being converted into synthesis gas. The fraction of Fe²⁺ increased from 0 to 47.12% after reduction time of 45 min, which implied that active lattice oxygen of 49.75% was consumed. The oxygen carrier of fresh and reacted was analyzed by a series of characterization methods, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX).     

Identifying the roles of MFe2O4 (M=Cu,Ba, Ni,and Co) in the chemical looping reforming of char,pyrolysis gas and tar resulting from biomass pyrolysis

Biomass chemical looping gasification (BCLG), which employs oxygen carriers (OCs) as the gasification agent, is drawing more attention for its low cost and environmental friendliness. However, the complex products of biomass pyrolysis and the reactions between OCs and the pyrolysis products constrain its development. In this study, MFe₂O₄ (M = Cu, Ba, Ni and Co) ferrites synthesized via the sol-gel method were investigated as OCs in BCLG for hydrogen-rich syngas production. The properties of the as-prepared and spent OCs were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), H₂-temperature programmed reduction (TPR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and automatic surface area porosimetry (BET). The three-phase products (char, pyrolysis gas and toluene) derived from biomass pyrolysis were employed as the reactants to investigate the reactivity of the ferrites. Then, BCLG experiments using biomass were conducted on the four ferrites to further determine their performance. The characterization results suggested that the four ferrites are all attractive for the chemical looping process, exhibiting good oxygen transferability and wide distributions of metal cations because of their metal synergistic effects in the spine structure. Reactions with pyrolysis gas and biomass char indicated that BaFe₂O₄ has a higher reactivity via a solid-solid reaction but a lower reactivity with pyrolysis gas, which make it very favorable for the production of hydrogen-rich syngas. Furthermore, BaFe₂O₄ showed excellent performance for toluene catalytic cracking with small amounts of carbon deposition. The synergetic effects between Ba and Fe metals considerably enhanced selective oxidation to produce 26.72% more H₂ than CoFe₂O₄ and 13.79% more H₂ than NiFe₂O₄ and CuFe₂O₄ for biomass gasification. The hydrogen yield produced by BaFe₂O₄ with the assistance of steam for biomass gasification can reach 41.8 mol/kg of biomass.     

An overview of solar decarbonization processes,reacting oxide materials,and thermochemical reactors for hydrogen and syngas production

Solar decarbonization processes are related to the different thermochemical conversion pathways of hydrocarbon feedstocks for solar fuels production using concentrated solar energy as the external source of high-temperature process heat. The main investigated routes aim to convert gaseous and solid feedstocks (methane, coal, biomass …) into hydrogen and syngas via solar cracking/pyrolysis, reforming/gasification, and two-step chemical looping processes using metal oxides as oxygen carriers, further associated with thermochemical H₂O/CO₂ splitting cycles. They can also be combined with metallurgical processes for production of energy-intensive metals via solar carbothermal reduction of metal oxides. Syngas can be further converted to liquid fuels while the produced metals can be used as energy storage media or commodities. Overall, such solar-driven processes allow for improvements of conversion yields, elimination of fossil fuel or partial feedstock combustion as heat source and associated CO₂ emissions, and storage of intermittent solar energy in storable and dispatchable chemical fuels, thereby outperforming the conventional processes. The different solar thermochemical pathways for hydrogen and syngas production from gaseous and solid carbonaceous feedstocks are presented, along with their possible combination with chemical looping or metallurgical processes. The considered routes encompass the cracking/pyrolysis (producing solid carbon and hydrogen) and the reforming/gasification (producing syngas). They are further extended to chemical looping processes involving redox materials as well as metallurgical processes when metal production is targeted. This review provides a broad overview of the solar decarbonization pathways based on solid or gaseous hydrocarbons for their conversion into clean hydrogen, syngas or metals. The involved metal oxides and oxygen carrier materials as well as the solar reactors developed to operate each decarbonization route are further described.     

Reactivity investigation on biomass chemical looping conversion for syngas production

Chemical looping gasification (CLG) is regarded as an innovative and promising technology for producing syngas. In this work, CLG of straw was conducted in a fixed bed reactor with Fe₂O₃ as the oxygen carrier, whose results led to conclusions that Fe₂O₃, the oxygen carrier, proved advantageous to the secondary gasification reaction and the formation of CO and CO₂. It was also found that CO was further oxidized to CO₂ at high Fe₂O₃/C molar ratio, which resulted in a decreased gasification efficiency and low heat value of syngas. Therefore, a conclusion was drawn that the most optimized Fe₂O₃/C molar ratio was 0.2. In addition, the alkali metals in the biomass evaporated as chlorine salts into gas phase and retained as alkali metal oxide at high temperature, resulting in coking, slagging and heating surface corrosion. In the mean time, the oxygen carrier mainly converted to Fe and sintering phenomenon was serious at high temperature despite the fact that high temperature promoted gas yield, carbon conversion efficiency and gasification efficiency. Therefore, the most optimized temperature was set to 800 °C in order to maximize gas yield and gasification efficiency.     

Evaluation of biomass gasification in a ternary diagram

The present paper addresses the development of an alternative approach to illustrate biomass gasification in a ternary diagram which is constructed using data from thermodynamic equilibrium modeling of air-blown atmospheric wood gasification. It allows the location of operation domains of slagging entrained-flow, fluidized-bed/dry-ash entrained-flow and fixed/moving-bed gasification systems depending on technical limitations mainly due to ash melting behavior. Performance parameters, e.g. cold gas efficiency or specific syngas production, and process parameters such as temperature and carbon conversion are displayed in the diagram depending on the three independent mass flows representing (1) the gasifying agent, (2) the dry biomass and (3) the moisture content of the biomass. The graphical approach indicates the existence of maxima for cold gas efficiency (84.9%), syngas yield (1.35 m³ (H₂ + CO STP)/kg (waf)) and conversion of carbon to CO (81.1%) under dry air-blown conditions. The fluidized-bed/dry-ash entrained-flow processes have the potential to reach these global maxima since they can operate in the identified temperature range from 700 to 950 °C. Although using air as a gasifying agent, the same temperature range posses a potential of H₂/CO ratios up to 2.0 at specific syngas productions of 1.15 m³ (H₂ + CO STP)/kg (waf). Fixed/moving-bed and fluidized-bed systems can approach a dry product gas LHV from 3.0 to 5.5 MJ/m³ (dry STP). The ternary diagram was also used to study the increase of gasifying agent oxygen fraction from 21 to 99 vol.%. While the dry gas LHV can be increased significantly, the maxima of cold gas efficiency (+6.5%) and syngas yield (+7.4%) are elevated only slightly.     

Movable injection point–based syngas production in the context of underground coal gasification

Underground coal gasification (UCG) has been proven as a viable technology for the generation of high calorific value syngas using deep mine coal seams. The use of multiple injection points/movable injection point method could be an alternate technique for efficient gasification of high ash Indian coals. In this context, the present study is focused on evaluating the heating value of syngas using a variety of gasifying agents such as pure O₂, air, humidified O₂, and CO₂-O₂ dual-stage gasification under movable injection method for high ash coals. It is found that the use of movable injection point method had significantly increased the heating value of the product gas, compared with the fixed point injection method. For high and low ash coal under pure O₂ gasification, the calorific value of syngas obtained using movable injection point is 123.2 and 153.9 kJ/mol, which are 33.5% and 24.3% higher than the syngas calorific value obtained using fixed injection point, respectively. Further, the air as a gasification agent for high ash coals had increased the gross calorific value of the syngas by 24%, using this technology. The results of high ash coal gasification using humidified oxygen at optimum conditions (0.027-kg moisture/kg dry O₂) and CO₂-O₂ gas had enhanced the syngas calorific value by 12.6% and 5%, respectively. Humidified O₂ and CO₂-O₂ gasifying agents produced a high-quality syngas with the calorific value of 190 kJ/mol, among the gasifying agents used. The experimental results had shown that the movable injection point method is found to be a better alternative for the generation of calorific value-enriched syngas using high ash-based Indian coals.     

Production of synthesis gas by partial oxidation and steam reforming of biomass pyrolysis oils

As the lowest cost biomass-derived liquids, pyrolysis oils (also called bio-oils) represent a promising vector for biomass to fuels conversion. However, bio-oils require upgrading to interface with existing infrastructure. A potential pathway for producing fuels from pyrolysis oils proceeds through gasification, the conversion to synthesis gas. In this work, the conversion of bio-oils to syngas via catalytic partial oxidation over Rh–Ce is evaluated using two reactor configurations. In one instance, pyrolysis oils are oxidized in excess steam in a freeboard and passed over the catalyst in a second zone. In the second instance, bio-oils are introduced directly to the catalyst. Coke formation is avoided in both configurations due to rapid oxidation. H₂ and CO can be produced autothermally over Rh–Ce catalysts with millisecond contact times. Co-processing of bio-oil with methane or methanol improved the reactor operation stability.     

Characteristics of microalgae gasification through chemical looping in the presence of steam

As a novel gasification technology, chemical looping gasification (CLG) was considered as a promising technology in solid fuel gasification. In this work, CLG was applied into microalgae, and the characteristics of syngas production and oxygen carrier in the presence of steam were obtained through experiments in a fixed bed reactor. The results showed that the partial oxidation of oxygen carrier improved the gasification efficiency from 61.65% to 81.64%, with the combustible gas yield of 1.05 Nm³/kg, and this promotion effect mainly occurred at char gasification stage. Also, an optimal Fe₂O₃/C molar ratio of 0.25 was determined for the maximum gasification efficiency. 800 °C was needed for the gasification efficiency over 70%, but excess temperature caused the formation of dense layer on oxygen carrier particle surface. Steam as gasification agent promoted syngas production, but excess steam decreased the gasification efficiency. Steam also enhanced the hydrogen production by the conversion of Fe/FeO into Fe₃O₄, avoiding the intensive reduction of oxygen carrier. The Fe₂O₃ oxygen carrier maintained a good reactivity in 10th cycle while used for microalgae CLG. The results indicated that CLG provided a potential route for producing combustible gas from microalgae.     

Hydrogen and syngas production from sewage sludge via steam gasification

High temperature steam gasification is an attractive alternative technology which can allow one to obtain high percentage of hydrogen in the syngas from low-grade fuels. Gasification is considered a clean technology for energy conversion without environmental impact using biomass and solid wastes as feedstock. Sewage sludge is considered a renewable fuel because it is sustainable and has good potential for energy recovery. In this investigation, sewage sludge samples were gasified at various temperatures to determine the evolutionary behavior of syngas characteristics and other properties of the syngas produced. The syngas characteristics were evaluated in terms of syngas yield, hydrogen production, syngas chemical analysis, and efficiency of energy conversion. In addition to gasification experiments, pyrolysis experiments were conducted for evaluating the performance of gasification over pyrolysis. The increase in reactor temperature resulted in increased generation of hydrogen. Hydrogen yield at 1000 °C was found to be 0.076 g_gas g_sample⁻¹. Steam as the gasifying agent increased the hydrogen yield three times as compared to air gasification. Sewage sludge gasification results were compared with other samples, such as, paper, food wastes and plastics. The time duration for sewage sludge gasification was longer as compared to other samples. On the other hand sewage sludge yielded more hydrogen than that from paper and food wastes.     

Characteristics of hydrogen-rich gas production of biomass gasification with porous ceramic reforming

In the present study, an updraft biomass gasifier combined with a porous ceramic reformer was used to carry out the gasification reforming experiments for hydrogen-rich gas production. The effects of reactor temperature, equivalence ratio (ER) and gasifying agents on the gas yields were investigated. The results indicated that the ratio of CO/CO₂ presented a clear increasing trend, and hydrogen yield increased from 33.17 to 44.26 g H₂/kg biomass with the reactor temperature increase, The H₂ concentration of production gas in oxygen gasification (oxygen as gasifying agent) was much higher than that in air gasification (air as gasifying agent). The ER values at maximum gas yield were found at ER = 0.22 in air gasification and at 0.05 in oxygen gasification, respectively. The hydrogen yields in air and oxygen gasification varied in the range of 25.05–29.58 and 25.68–51.29 g H₂/kg biomass, respectively. Isothermal standard reduced time plots (RTPs) were employed to determine the best-fit kinetic model of large weight biomass air gasification isothermal thermogravimetric, and the relevant kinetic parameters corresponding to the air gasification were evaluated by isothermal kinetic analysis.     

Study of chemical looping co-gasification (CLCG) of coal and rice husk with an iron-based oxygen carrier via solid–solid reactions

The chemical looping gasification (CLG) is a promising gasification technology for syngas production. It reduces the demand for pure oxygen and heat from outside by the cycle of oxygen carriers. The lattice oxygen is transferred by oxygen carrier like Fe₂O₃ in CLG. Considering the synergy between lignite and rice husk, the chemical looping co-gasification (CLCG) of lignite and rice husk with Fe₂O₃ as oxygen carrier was studied in this work. The mass loss of lignite increased by about 3% with the help of rice husk. Due to the synergetic effect, rice husk developed the pyrolysis of coal in the co-gasification. It is found that the most contributing reaction at around 800 °C–1000 °C in CLG is the gasification of char with Fe₂O₃via solid-solid reactions. The kinetic fitting was used to explore the reaction mechanism of CLCG. The modified random pore model (MRPM) fitted the experimental data well, which confirmed the solid-solid reactions between char and Fe₂O₃, and the synergy between lignite and rice husk in CLCG. Finally, the gas analysis was conducted in a fixed bed system with gas analyzers. It is found that Fe₂O₃ enhanced the concentration of CO and CO₂ in CLG process.     

生物质化学链气化联合燃气轮机发电系统模拟

使用Aspen Plus软件对以Fe_2O_3为载氧体的生物质化学链气化系统进行模拟,分析温度、压力、载氧体与生物质摩尔比、水蒸气与生物质摩尔比等因素对合成气制备的影响;对不同生物质的气化条件进行优化;将气化制得的合成气通入M701F燃气轮机中发电,考察系统的发电效率。结果表明:常压下,不同生物质气化的优化温度均在740℃左右,此时制备的合成气冷煤气效率较高;提高反应压力有利于系统热量自平衡,但合成气的冷煤气效率降低;载氧体与生物质摩尔比的优化值与生物质中氧碳摩尔比呈负相关,且达到优化值时,气化环境中氧碳摩尔比在1.25左右;水蒸气通入气化系统后冷煤气效率可提高15.00%～20.00%,主要原因为H_2的产量显著增加,通入水蒸气后的气化环境的氧碳比在1.4左右时,制备合成气的冷煤气效率较高;系统的发电效率在30.00%～37.00%,高于生物质发电效率。     

The effect of oxygen carrier content and temperature on chemical looping gasification of microalgae for syngas production

The study of the effect of oxygen carrier content and temperature on chemical looping gasification (CLG) of Chlorella vulgaris was carried out in a fixed bed reactor. In order to obtain the characterization and optimal conditions of CLG for syngas production, this paper analyzed the product fractional yields, gaseous yields, conversion efficiency, SEM, XRD and composition analysis of oxygen carriers. The results indicated that CLG had a greater performance on gasification characteristics. When O/C increased from 0.5 to 3.0, gas yield, CO₂ yield and carbon conversion efficiency increased gradually, but LHV, H₂ and CH₄ yields decreased. Meanwhile, CO yield and gasification efficiency increased firstly and then decreased. Oxygen carrier Fe₂O₃ exhibited the characteristics of step-wise reduction (Fe₂O₃ → Fe₃O₄ → FeO) in CLG process. More FeO were generated at O/C of 0.5 and then caused serious sintering and agglomeration. High temperature was helpful to improve gas yield, carbon conversion efficiency and gasification efficiency. However, higher temperature would cause sintering and then weaken the activity of oxygen carrier. Moreover, under the experimental condition, O/C of 1.0 and 800 °C were the optimal parameters to obtain a high conversion efficiency of biomass, high products yield, good LHV and great reducibility of oxygen carrier.     

Syngas production by chemical looping gasification of rice husk using Fe-based oxygen carrier

The chemical looping gasification (CLG) of rice husk was conducted in a fixed bed reactor to analyze the effects of the ratio of oxygen carrier to rice husk (O/C), temperature, residence time and preparation methods of Fe-based oxygen carriers. The yield of gas, H₂/CO, lower heating value of syngas (LHV), conversion efficiency and performance parameters were analyzed to obtain CLG reaction characterization and optimal reaction conditions. Results showed that when O/C increased from 0.5 to 3.0, the gas production, H₂/CO, CO₂ yield and carbon conversion efficiency gradually increased, while the yield of H₂, CO and CH₄ and LHV gradually decreased. At the same time, a highest gasification efficiency was obtained when O/C was 1.5. As increasing temperature, the gas production, CO yield, carbon conversion efficiency and gasification efficiency gradually increased, while the yield of H₂, CH₄ and CO₂, H₂/CO and LHV gradually decreased. Sintering and agglomeration was obvious when the temperature was higher than 850 °C. When the reaction time increased from 10 min to 60 min, the gas production, CO yield, carbon conversion efficiency and gasification efficiency gradually increased, but the yield of H₂, H₂/CO and LHV decreased, among which 30 min was the best reaction residence time. In addition, coprecipitation was the best preparation method among several preparation methods of oxygen carrier. Finally, O/C of 1.5, 800 °C, 30 min and coprecipitation preparation method of oxygen carrier were the optimal parameters to obtain a gasification efficiency of 26.88%, H₂ content of 35.64%, syngas content of 56.40%, H₂/CO ratio of 1.72 and LHV of 12.25 MJ/Nm³.     

Hydrogen-rich gas production from biomass air and oxygen/steam gasification in a downdraft gasifier

Biomass gasification is an important method to obtain renewable hydrogen. However, this technology still stagnates in a laboratory scale because of its high-energy consumption. In order to get maximum hydrogen yield and decrease energy consumption, this study applies a self-heated downdraft gasifier as the reactor and uses char as the catalyst to study the characteristics of hydrogen production from biomass gasification. Air and oxygen/steam are utilized as the gasifying agents. The experimental results indicate that compared to biomass air gasification, biomass oxygen/steam gasification improves hydrogen yield depending on the volume of downdraft gasifier, and also nearly doubles the heating value of fuel gas. The maximum lower heating value of fuel gas reaches 11.11 MJ/N m³ for biomass oxygen/steam gasification. Over the ranges of operating conditions examined, the maximum hydrogen yield reaches 45.16 g H₂/kg biomass. For biomass oxygen/steam gasification, the content of H₂ and CO reaches 63.27–72.56%, while the content of H₂ and CO gets to 52.19–63.31% for biomass air gasification. The ratio of H₂/CO for biomass oxygen/steam gasification reaches 0.70–0.90, which is lower than that of biomass air gasification, 1.06–1.27. The experimental and comparison results prove that biomass oxygen/steam gasification in a downdraft gasifier is an effective, relatively low energy consumption technology for hydrogen-rich gas production.     

Gasification performance of olive pomace in updraft and downdraft fixed bed reactors

This study aims to investigate the gasification potential of olive pomace with using different fixed-bed gasifier systems. Olive pomace as a dried form was supplied from a chemical industry plant working on olive oil soap, located in Izmir, Türkiye. After a complete characterization of olive pomace, gasification experiments by using fixed bed reactor systems were done at three different gasifier temperatures as 700, 800 and 900 °C. As a gasification agent, dry air was used with four different flowrates (0.4, 0.2, 0.1, 0.05 L/min) while pure oxygen experiments were carried out with a flow rate of 0.01 L/min. Syngas with H₂ content of 48% and 45% (volumetric) were obtained in updraft and downdraft gasifiers, respectively, by using dried air as a gasifying agent. Heating value of syngas was around 12.4 MJ/Nm³. In the pure oxygen atmosphere, H₂ contents of the syngas were measured as 53% and 39%vol. In the updraft and downdraft gasifiers. This paper presents the research results on the olive pomace gasification study as a part of a large-scale research project and discuss them in the context of hydrogen production from the fixed bed reactors.     

Gasification of torrefied oil palm biomass in a fixed-bed reactor: Effects of gasifying agents on product characteristics

Gasification represents an attractive pathway to generate fuel gas (i.e., syngas (H₂ and CO) and hydrocarbons) from oil palm biomass in Malaysia. Torrefaction is introduced here to enhance the oil palm biomass properties prior to gasification. In this work, the effect of torrefaction on the gasification of three oil palm biomass, i.e., empty fruit bunches (EFB), mesocarp fibres (MF), and palm kernel shells (PKS) are evaluated. Two gasifying agents were used, i.e., CO₂ and steam. The syngas lower heating values (LHV_syngas) for CO₂ gasification and steam gasification were in the range of 0.35–1.67 MJ m⁻³ and 1.61–2.22 MJ m⁻³, respectively. Compared with EFB and MF, PKS is more effective for fuel gas production as indicated by the more dominant emission of light hydrocarbons (CH₄, C₂H₄, and C₂H₆) in PKS case. Gasification efficiency was examined using carbon conversion efficiency (CCE) and cold gas efficiency (CGE). CCE ranges between 4% and 55.1% for CO₂ gasification while CGE varies between 4.8% and 46.2% and 27.6% and 62.9% for CO₂ gasification and steam gasification, respectively. Our results showed that higher concentration of gasifying agent promotes higher carbon conversion and that steam gasification provides higher thermal efficiency (CGE) compared to CO₂ gasification.     

Solar-driven steam-based gasification of sugarcane bagasse in a combined drop-tube and fixed-bed reactor – Thermodynamic,kinetic, and experimental analyses

Syngas production via steam-based thermochemical gasification of Brazilian sugarcane bagasse, using concentrated solar energy for process heat, was thermodynamically and experimentally investigated. Energy and exergy analyses revealed the potential benefits of solar-driven over conventional autothermal gasification that included superior quality of syngas composition and higher yield per unit of feedstock. Reaction rates for the gasification of fast pyrolyzed bagasse char were measured by thermogravimetric analysis and a rate law based on the oxygen exchange mechanism was formulated. In order to provide residence times long enough for adequate char conversion, a laboratory-scale entrained flow reactor that combines drop-tube and fixed-bed concepts was developed. Testing was performed in an electric furnace with the final aim to supply heat by concentrated solar radiation. Experimental runs at reactor temperatures of 1073–1573 K and a biomass feed rate of 0.48 g/min yielded high-quality syngas of molar ratios H₂/CO = 1.6 and CO₂/CO = 0.31, and with heating values of 15.3–16.9 MJ/kg, resulting in an upgrade factor (ratio of heating value of syngas produced over that of the feedstock) of 112%. Theoretical upgrade factors of up to 126%, along with the treatment of wet feedstock and elimination of the air separation unit, support the potential benefits of solar-driven over autothermal gasification.     

Downdraft gasifier structure and process improvement for high quality and quantity producer gas production

The current study reveals several efficient amenities that can affect the gasification process to improve syngas quality and yield. A comprehensive study was carried out using a 24 kW downdraft gasifier to evaluate the effect of uniform air distribution in the oxidation zone, additional throat on the reactor temperature distribution and the overall gasification process. The effect of fuel moisture, equivalence ratio, gasifying agent type and pre-treatment of the gasifying agent on producer gas yield and composition were also evaluated. The biomass feeding rate was 30–40 kg/h, and the maximum gas flow rate was 90 m³/h. When corn cobs and waste wood (carpenter waste) with moisture content from 5 to 30% were used as feed stock, with 70 °C air as the gasifying/oxidizing agent, the energy value of the producer/syngas obtained was 6.31 and 6.66 MJ/m³, respectively. The heating value was improved to 6.72 and 8.43 MJ/m³ when using 150 °C air-steam mixture as the gasifying agent, with the optimum equivalence ratio of 0.30. The methane, hydrogen and carbon monoxide concentration (on volume basis) were 6.20, 19.32 and 21.00. The average amount of syngas produced from 1 kg of corn cobs and waste wood were 2.94 and 2.62 m³, while the average amount of tar produced was 2.2 and 1.8 g/Nm³ respectively. The investigation revealed that uniform air distribution in the oxidation zone, fuel moisture content, gasifying agent type and the pre-treatment of gasifying agent played a significant role in enhancing the quantity and quality of the producer gas.