Gasification involves turning organic fuels (such as biomass resources) into low to medium energy gaseous compounds (producer gas or syngas) by supplying less oxygen than is needed for complete combustion of the fuel. Gasification of biomass resources is already being used to produce bioenergy and bioproducts (particularly electricity and other power applications), and research is underway to develop transportation fuels (such as ethanol) and organic chemicals from syngas produced from the gasification of biomass.
The moisture content, size, and chemical composition of the biomass resource significantly affects the design of the gasification reactor and the fuel feeding system that is needed, as well as the efficiency of gasification, and the chemical composition and energy content of the syngas that is produced. Slagging (deposit formation on heat transfer surfaces) can be a problem, particularly with biomass resources containing high mineral (ash) content.
A wide variety of biomass resources have been gasified including wood, urban wastes, crop residues, animal manure, and agricultural processing wastes among others. Several different gasification reactor designs have been developed and are being tested for the gasification of biomass resources.