Process Safety and Environmental Protection, Vol.90, No.3, 246-254, 2012
On the gasification of biomass: Data analysis and regressions
The use of solid wastes as a way to produce energy and chemicals is one of the frontiers in chemistry. One of these methods is the biomass gasification. In this thermal treatment the biomass is heated in a partially oxidising environment using different process conditions. The variability of both biomass composition and process conditions can lead the thermal treatment to several different results. In order to find a methodology for the classification of all the involved data a dataset containing biomass characterization, gasification process conditions and obtained syngas properties have been gathered from the literature. This dataset has been analysed through multivariate analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) and a partial least square analysis (PLS) have been performed. Several correlations among different biomass and their gasification products have been found among input parameters, such as biomass properties and process conditions, and output variables like products composition and properties. (C) 2011 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.