Comprehensive investigation on the Techno economic parameters for implementing biomass gasifier in paddy parboiling industries

Abstract

In paddy parboiling industries, paddy is subjected to hydrothermal newlinetreatment and then dried to the desired moisture content to increase the head rice newlineyield, rice quality and nutrients in rice. It is an energy-intensive process, as it newlineconsumes huge quantity of fuel for processing. Most of the parboiling mills use newlineconventional technologies. They burn different types of biomass such as rice newlinehusk and firewood in boilers to generate steam which is used for soaking and newlinesteaming processes. Normally the soaked paddy is dried under direct sunlight. newlineAt the end of the milling process huge amount of rice husk is left out as waste, newlineand it can be a good source of energy. Moreover, the appropriate use of rice newlinehusk could improve the cost savings and profits of such industries. The direct newlineburning of rice husk practiced in the existing industries has less conversion newlineefficiency. Thus, huge quantity of fuel is burnt in excess and it leads to serious newlineenvironmental problems. Therefore, many investigations are focused on the newlineeffective utilization of rice husk at the paddy parboiling industries to improve newlinethe system efficiency, besides mitigation to environmental issues. newlineBiomass gasification is one of the most viable techniques to convert rice newlinehusk into gaseous fuel. In boilers and furnaces, gaseous fuels can be burnt with newlinehigh conversion efficiency. Therefore, a proper utilization of biomass through newlinegasification could reduce the fuel consumption, emission and improve the newlineeconomic benefits. Among the gasification devices, downdraft biomass newlinegasifiers are mostly preferred in thermal applications, because such type of newlinegasifier controls the tar formation and works with high thermal efficiency. newlineTherefore, in this work, the potential of implementing gasifiers in parboiling newlineindustries has been studied. Besides, the thermal efficiency, economic benefit newlineand environmental impact of the proposed system are also analysed newlinesystematically to ensure the advantages of the system. newline