Gasification of biomass for electricity power generation has been a proven technology in a number of countries in the world. MSW consists of biomass, glass, plastics, metallic scrap and street debris. Biomass constitutes the highest proportion of MSW and being an energy resource, implies that it can contribute tremendously to the energy needs of any country since every country is endowed with this resource which is generated in enormous tonnes per day. The challenge would then be the choice of the technology to harness this abundant energy resource subject to financial and environmental constraints. In Uganda, MSW gasification for power generation has never been implemented in spite of the 500-600 tonnes of MSW collected per day, the biomass component of the MSW comprising 88%. MSW is instead collected in skips, transported by trucks to a landfill were it is deposited and left to decompose releasing methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) gases which are highly potent greenhouse gases. In this regard, the many tonnes per day of MSW collected in Kampala city (area of the study) portray significant potential of generating producer gas using the technology of gasification to run engines for power generation and this study evaluated possible gasifier-engine system applications for power generation. Experiments were carried out at the Faculty of Technology, Makerere University to determine biomass characteristics (e.g. moisture content, ash content) and gasification parameters(e.g. lower heating value) of MSW required for gasifier-engine applications. After establishing the lower heating value of the producer gas from MSW, a theoretical design of a gasifier-engine system was investigated for possible applications with the biomass component of MSW and an economic analysis was done to assess the feasibility of the project.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kth-98777 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | BERNARD, KIVUMBI |
| Publisher | KTH, Kraft- och värmeteknologi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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