Reducing Gasoline Specific Consumption in Dual-Fuel Electricity Generation by Using Combustible Gas from Rice Husk Gasification

Abstract

Using air gasification process, rice husk is attractive to be converted into combustible gas mixture which contains mainly CO, H_2, and several hydrocarbon substances. The gas is possible for fueling gasoline engine generator to generate electricity in dual-fuel operation mode, while partially substitutes the gasoline consumption. Obviously, it will influence the generator’s performance. This research reports the gasoline consumption savings in dual-fuel operation of electricity generation at different electricity loads. The gas flowrate was limited with the engine vibration level. A small scale air-blown downdraft gasifier converted rice husk at maximum capacity of 1 kg/h to the gas. A 1 kWe gasoline engine generator was used for this operation. At electricity load of 0.92 kVA in dual-fuel operation, the saving of gasoline (L/kVAh) attained 20.9% and the thermal system energy efficiency was about 11%. In this case, the producer gas flow rate was 1.84 L/s^-1 and Specific Gasification Rate(SGR) was 81.53 kg/(m².h). The energy equivalent was 4.6 kg rice husk/L gasoline or 0.7 kg rice husk/kVAh.