Aprovechamiento energético de biomasas mediante gasificación con briquetas de tusa de maíz y cáscara de papa

Abstract

In Ecuador, agricultural production generates considerable amounts of waste such as potato peel and corncob. Most of these materials are not used efficiently, they are used as fertilizers or burned in the same crops, which generates a negative environmental impact, in this context, the need arises to take advantage of these wastes as an alternative energy source through the gasification of briquettes. The main objective of this research is to energetically analyze the process of gasification of potato peel and corncob briquettes to determine its viability as an alternative energy source, the methodology used adopted a combined approach of qualitative and quantitative research by carrying out tests under controlled conditions. These tests were designed with the purpose of measuring the chemical properties of both the briquettes and the resulting synthesis gas, a factorial research design was used in order to analyze the interactions between various variables and determine their influence on energy yield. In addition, direct tests were carried out in the gasifier to optimize its operation and facilitate obtaining gas, which was analyzed by chromatography. The composition of hydrogen was 5.26%; carbon monoxide 13.25%; methane 1.72%; carbon dioxide 12.16%. With the application of this technology, the mass flow of the biofuel that comes from the briquettes was determined, where a value of 71,703 kg/h was determined, at the same time the ash and tar residues were analyzed experimentally by FTIR analysis, to know its composition, the synthesis gas obtained, is not considered commercial, due to the low values of its composition in methane and ethane, it is concluded that the use of briquettes of these residues is not suitable as an alternative energy source.