Characterization and thermo-chemical conversion of invasive biomass by varying gasifying agents for hydrogen rich producer gas using ASPEN Plus

In recent years, the reduction of fossil fuels leads in finding a revolutionary solution for meeting their necessary demands. Also burning of fossil fuels releases undesirable pollutants that release harmful greenhouse gases. In order to overcome this polluting means of fossil fuel usage, the utilization of locally available invasive plants such as Parthenium hysterophorus (PHP) and Lantana camara (LC) has been proposed as it leaves low carbon footprints in the environment. In this study, the proximate and ultimate analysis along with the morphological structure was examined to identify the elemental composition, heating values, and physical structures. The depicted characteristic results are feed into ASPEN Plus simulation for evaluating the domination of gasification temperature and steam to biomass ratio (S/B ratio) on producer gas composition with different quasi-steady-state models by varying the equivalence ratios (0.2 to 0.4) at diverse temperatures ranging from 300 to 1000 & DEG;C by supplying air and air-steam as gasifying agents. The obtained results are compared with the literature of experimental studies. The validation of the developed model is done by comparing the elemental percentage and heating value. From the evaluation, it is observed that the temperature increment during the steam gasification enhances hydrogen production. The effects of gasification with air and air-steam supply are investigated using essential operational factors such as gasification temperature, equivalence ratio, and S/B ratio. The S/B ratio drives a tremendous part in the elemental composition by increasing hydrogen (% by vol.) and carbon monoxide (% by vol.).