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RESEARCHERS SAY THEY will optimise a system that produces heat and power and supplements fertilisers using a new intermediate pyrolyser fed by ash-rich biomass.

A research team led by Andreas Hornung of Aston University, UK, says that they will demonstrate that low-oil, high-ash biomass sourced from agriculture and forestry, including twigs and grass, can be used to generate electricity and produce a stable char suitable for carbon sequestration on farmland.

The fundamental part of the project is proving the intermediate pyrolyser where vapours pass directly to a gasifier for gasification. “We have tested the pyrolysis in a reactor and it works and we have had a gasifier running for seven years. The team will spend two years optimising the coupled system.”