Hydrogen production from hazelnut shell by applying air-blown downdraft gasification technique

The main objective pursued in this work is to investigate the potential of hydrogen production from hazelnut shells by applying downdraft gasification technique. An experimental study was carried out using a pilot scale-5 kW- throated downdraft gasifier. During the experiments, the temperatures at zo nes of downdraft gasifier and pressure drops across the downdraft gasifier were recorded with an Analog to Digital (ATD) converter linked to computer at every 15 s. The flow rates of produced dry gas, combustible gas, hydroge n gas and the percentage of hydrogen gas in the produced gas were determine d and illustrated. The effects of air fuel ratio and oxidation zone tempera tures on the production of hydrogen gas were discussed. Additionally, the p roduction of hydrogen gas from hazelnut shells was also estimated for a yea r. It was concluded that hazelnut shells could be easily converted to hydro gen gas by applying downdraft gasification technique. (C) 2000 Internationa l Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All r ights reserved.