Fuel generation from catalytic gasification of cassava rhizome

Gasification of cassava rhizome for production of fuel product was performed in this work. Cassava rhizome is a short woody part connected the tube to the rest of the plant that is typically discarded, burnt or land filled by farmer, which creates not only adverse effect on the environment but also loss of potential energy source. The main objective in this research is to investigate the feasibility of gasification of cassava rhizome for synthesis gas production, using a fixed bed reactor. The influence of operating parameters such as gasification temperatures (600-900°C) and equivalence ratio of 0.2-0.6 were studied. Gas yields, H₂/CO ratio and lower heating value (LHV) of gas product were measured. Highest conversion was achieved at reaction temperature of 800 900°C and ER of 0.6 with product gas LHV of 7.06 MJ/Nm³. Addition of prepared Co, Ce, Fe, La, and Mg based catalysts on alumina support and dolomite significantly improved conversion with Ni and Fe based catalysts exhibited superior performance at temperature of 700°C and ER of 0.4 while char and tar yields also decreased. The results suggest that cassava rhizome is suitable for conversion by gasification process to produce quality fuel gas with addition of these cost effective catalysts.