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Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version. If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options. Auger Reactor Gasification of Algal Blooms Produced In a Waste Water Treatment FacilityPublished by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org Citation: 2012 Dallas, Texas, July 29 - August 1, 2012 121337915.(doi:10.13031/2013.41851)Authors: Mahmoud A Sharara, Samy S Sadaka Keywords: Algae, gasification, water treatment, auger reactor, char, tar, producer gas yield Aquatic biomass; i.e., algae have been successfully incorporated in wastewater treatment as nutrients strippers. Low-maintenance algal communities; i.e., wild species, can be a cheap and effective sequestration strategy. Few studies have investigated the quality of wastewater treatment algae as a potential feedstock for thermochemical conversion in atmospheric gasification. This study is a preliminary investigation of the gasification of wastewater treatment algae as means to produce renewable gaseous fuel streams, and also to condense minerals and micro- nutrients into easily managed char using an auger gasifier. Three temperature conditions were investigated in this study; 760, 860 and 960 C. Temperatures were found to increase the concentration of CO, and H2 in producer gas from 12.8% and 4.7% (vol.) at 760 C to 16.9% and 11.4% at 960 C, respectively. On the other hand, concentration of CO2 in producer gas decreased from 14.0% to 11.6% (vol.) with the increase in temperatures from 760 C to 960 C, respectively. Tar yields ranged between 15% and 16.6%, whereas char yields fell between 46% and 51% due to the significantly high ash content of raw algae; >40% dry-basis. The high ash content in char, however, might bolster gasification as a minerals concentration step which would facilitate transportation, and re-use of these minerals. Future studies will further investigate the thermodynamic performance of auger gasification on aquatic biomass. Also, fate of various minerals after this process will be investigated in future research. (Download PDF) (Export to EndNotes)
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