A recent emphasis in gasification technology development has been directed toward reduced-scale gasifier systems for distributed generation at remote sites. The domestic distributed power generation market over the next decade is expected to be 5-6 gigawatts per year. The global increase is expected at 20 gigawatts over the next decade. The economics of gasification for distributed power generation are significantly improved when fuel transport is minimized. Until recently, gasification technology has been synonymous with coal conversion. Presently, however, interest centers on providing clean-burning fuel to remote sites that are not necessarily near coal supplies but have sufficient alternative carbonaceous material to feed a small gasifier. Gasifiers up to 50 MW are of current interest, with emphasis on those of 5-MW generating capacity. Internal combustion engines offer a more robust system for utilizing the fuel gas, while fuel cells and microturbines offer higher electric conversion efficiencies. The initial focus of this multiyear effort was on internal combustion engines and microturbines as more realistic near-term options for distributed generation. In this project, we studied emerging gasification technologies that can provide gas from regionally available feedstock as fuel to power generators under 30 MW in a distributed generation setting. Larger-scale gasification, primarily coal-fed, has been used commercially for more than 50 years to produce clean synthesis gas for the refining, chemical, and power industries. Commercial-scale gasification activities are under way at 113 sites in 22 countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, according to the Gasification Technologies Council. Gasification studies were carried out on alfalfa, black liquor (a high-sodium waste from the pulp industry), cow manure, and willow on the laboratory scale and on alfalfa, black liquor, and willow on the bench scale.
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