by
Alexis Belonio, Victoriano Ocon, and Antonio Co
Garbage-In Fuel-Out (GIFO) Project
Suki Trading Corporation, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Philippines
Glory to God!
A rice husk gasifier plant, enough to provide
electricity for community street lighting, was
recently developed by Suki Trading
Corporation in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu,
Philippines in collaboration with Kanvar
Enterprises and the Center for Rice Husk
Energy Technology (CRHET).
The project aimed at using wastes from rice
mills to fuel a spark-ignition engine that will
drive a generator to produce electricity.
Instead of dumping rice husks along roadsides,
it can now be converted into valuable fuel that
can help communities energize their street
lights.
The gasifier basically employs a moving-bed
downdraft gasifier reactor developed by
CRHET in combination with a gasconditioning devices that remove impurities
from the gas thereby making it highly suitable
fuel for heat engines.
As shown, the gasifier is a small unit with 40-cm diameter reactor equipped with 3-in., 220-volt electric blower to provide the air needed in
gasifying rice husks to produce carbon
monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2
) gases.
Rice husk is fed at the top end of the reactor
either manually using a ladder or with the use
of a bucket elevator.
Rice Husk Disposal Practice
Pictorial of the Power Generating Plant
On the other hand, char
is removed from
beneath the char box
using a screw conveyor.
The gas coming out of
the reactor is
conditioned by allowing
it to pass through the
gas-cleaning devices
which consisted of wet
scrubbers, tar
condenser, and a series
of packed and bag
filters.
The gas is fueled to a 3-cylinder, 12-valve
surplus Susuki engine which directly drive a 10-kWe AC synchronous generator at a speed of
1,800 rpm producing 220 volt current.
A total of 160 pieces of 50-watt bulbs can be energized by the plant for 8 to 10 hours continuous
operation. The plant consumes rice husks at an average rate of 19 kg per hour.
The gas temperature coming out of the reactor ranges from 400 to 550°C. It dropped between 50
to 70°C after passing the wet scrubbers, and
further cooled down between 35 to 42°C before
entering the intake manifold of the engine.
Gas flow rate is at 24 Nm
3
per hour.
The engine is entirely fueled by the gas
generated, except at the start-up and at the end of
the operation. Furthermore, a parasitic load of
15% of the power output is needed to run the
plant itself.
One trained person is required to operate the
plant, to load the fuel and discharge the char and
at the same time to oversee the operation of the
plant.
The gasifier produces a clean gas with a very
low amount of black carbon (i.e., only 50 um/m
3
of gas), and so the gas coming out of the muffler
of an engine is also clean. CO2 emission is
Operation of the Gasifier
likewise relatively low of about 0.6 kg per ton of rice husks.
The char produced is about 30 to 35% of the rice husks consumed. Char is a good material in
increasing the water holding capacity of the soil.
The advantage features of the gasifier system are:
(1) It makes use of available wastes in rural areas to fuel engines that usually drive
generators;
(2) The tar problem which is common among conventional rice husk gasifier systems is
eliminated in this gasifier technology;
(3) Operation can be done continuously without the need to restart the reactor;
(4) It can easily be adopted with surplus spark-ignition engine that is readily available in
the locality;
(5) The technology can be locally produced making use of available fabrication resources
and skills;
(6) It can be scaled up to meet the power demand of a certain community or application;
and
(7) Investment and operation cost s are at the reach of the local community.
The entire plant requires an investment cost of P420,000.00, excluding shipment. With proper
operation and maintenance, it can last even for a minimum period of 5 years. It can be recovered
within a year when operated at 8 hours per day, and 365 days per year.
Development of a large-scale unit of the gasifier plant, aimed at utilizing city garbage so as to
avoid trashslide, is now underway.
This development platform of GIFO Project is geared towards helping communities or local
government units eliminate the problem of garbage disposal while, at the same time, providing a
solution to both energy and environmental problems.
For further information, please contact: Suki Trading Corporation, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu,
Philippines at sukitradingcenter@yahoo.com or Engr. Alexis Belonio at atbelonio@yahoo.com.
Released: September 9, 2011
Sources:
http://www.bioenergylists.org/en/node/3066http://www.bioenergylists.org/en/node/3066
http://nexus-scu.org/energymap/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Small-Scale-RHGP-10-KVA-for-StreetLighting-1.pdf
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