期刊名称：International Journal of Energy and Environment
印刷版ISSN：2076-2895
电子版ISSN：2076-2909
出版年度：2014
卷号：5
期号：2
页码：251-256
出版社：International Energy and Environment Foundation (IEEF)
摘要：Approximately 95% of electricity in South Africa is generated from coal, which is a fossil fuel that has detrimental environmental impacts. Eskom has started investigating the possibility of co-firing coal with biomass to improve their carbon footprint. However, co-firing utilizes approximately 80% of water and results in extensive environmental impacts. This research seeks to investigate the possibility of co-gasification of coal and biomass, which is a thermochemical process that uses about a third of the water required by a coal-fired power station, and results in much lower emissions. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was conducted to investigate the existence of a synergy between coal and biomass during gasification. Various coal/biomass blends were investigated using TGA. The synergistic effect between the two feedstock as determined through TGA allowed the prediction of the gasification characteristics of the blends that most likely gave the highest conversion efficiency. Preliminary results suggested the existence of this synergy.
