Characterization of rice husk for cyclone gasifier

Abstract

The characterization of rice husk from local rice mills has been studied and evaluated to determine its potential utilization as a biomass fuel for a cyclone gasifier. The raw rice husk was pre-treated throughout a grinding process into smaller sizes of particles which is within a range of 0.4 to 1 mm and the sample of ground rice husk was analyzed for its fuel characteristics. The result of proximate analysis shows that the ground rice husk with size distribution within 0.4 to 1 mm contains 13.4% of fixed carbon, 62.95% of volatile matter and 18.5% of ash on dry basis. The moisture content of the sample was measured and determined as 10.4% (wet basis) and the calorific value was found to be approximately 14.8 MJ kg-1 with bulk density of 91.46 kg m-3. The result of ultimate analysis validates both ash and moisture content which are found to be 18.15 and 10.4%, respectively. Other elemental compositions determined by the ultimate analysis are carbon (37.9%), hydrogen (5.2%), nitrogen (0.14%), sulfur (0.61%) and oxygen (27.7% by difference). The study has identified that the fuel characteristics of the ground rice husk is comparable with other types of biomass and thus, making it another potential source of fuel for the cyclone gasification system.