Unlike wind and solar energy, which are highly dependent on weather conditions and are extremely variable over time, the use of biomass for electricity production has the considerable advantage of being largely programmable according to the specific needs of the grid. Furthermore, as is well known, the impact of biomass in terms of carbon dioxide emissions is extremely low: on the other hand, from a purely conceptual point of view, in the combustion phase biomass ends up re-emitting the CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere in the plant growth phase, and the only net contribution in terms of carbon emissions is that relating to transport and preparation.

To date biomass power generation technologies are still typically expensive and are only applicable if biomass is characterised by an extremely low market value. Research is therefore focused on the development of technologies for small-scale applications (100-500 kW electricity) characterised by costs that are as low as possible.

In the first phase of the project (2014-2017), an experimental 100 kW electric boiling fluidised bed gasification plant, known as FABER, was built at the Sotacarbo Pilot Platform. The technology used follows that already experimentally tested at the FluGas plant in Caserta by researchers at the University of Campania, and here suitably optimised. For this reason, both in the design and construction phase of the plant and in the subsequent phase of carrying out the experimental tests, a collaboration was set up with researchers from DiSTABiF (Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali, Biologiche e Farmaceutiche- Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies of the University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’) coordinated by Prof. Umberto Arena.

During the project, wood biomass (cypress chips, eucalyptus) was tested to develop the technology and management procedures of the plant, with the aim of optimizing the process under different operating conditions, improve performance and study the effects of key operating parameters.

Attention was subsequently shifted to the use of fluidised bed gasification technology - particularly flexible - for the gasification of non-recyclable plastic waste, which today represents a serious environmental problem worldwide. Indeed, the gasification of such products would make it possible to neutralise them (reducing the quantities to be landfilled) and recover their energy content to produce electricity, hydrogen and other fuels.

Parallel to the experimental activity, the development of advanced simulation models is also underway - in collaboration with prestigious scientific partners - to predict the performance of the process under different operating conditions, thus containing the costs of experimentation.

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

Below the papers published in international scientific journals produced as a result of the research activities of this line:

• Francesco Parrillo, Filomena Ardolino, Gabriele Calì, Davide Marotto, Alberto Pettinau, Umberto Arena. Fluidized bed gasification of eucalyptus chips: axial profiles of syngas composition in a pilot scale reactor. Energy 2021; 219:119604.
• Andrea Porcu, Stefano Sollai, Davide Marotto, Mauro Mureddu, Francesca Ferrara, Alberto Pettinau. Techno-economic analysis of a small-scale biomass-to-energy BFB gasification-based system. Energies 2019; 12:494-511.