Bioenergy–Intensified Biomass Utilization

A major objective of European energy policy is to move towards more sustainable development based on diverse mix of resources, in particular, renewable resources including biomass. This chapter addresses broad field of power and combined heat and power (CHP) generation from biomass: more specifically, advances in biomass gasification technology aimed at increasing the overall conversion and efficiency and hence in a decreased cost of electricity. Poly-generation strategies are also considered, with particular reference to recent technological innovations in hot gas cleaning and conditioning; these have been developed to achieve the required improvements in syngas quality and have been validated under industrially relevant conditions. Biomass gasification is a thermo-chemical conversion process for the production of a fuel gas. Various combinations of air, oxygen and steam may be used as the gasification agent. This chapter focuses on steam gasification processes carried out in fluidized bed reactors for the production of H2-rich syngas. © 2015 John Wiley