One ISU researcher plays an important role in designing the future of next generation biofuel technology. Nicholas Creager, graduate student in mechanical engineering, designed and built a prototype gasifier, which combines elements from gasification and fast pyrolysis to produce transportation fuels.
This gasifier is part of a two-step process. The first step is to convert bio-oil into a gas mixture called synthesis gas or syngas and the second step is to synthesize the product into transportation fuel, said Song-Charng Kong, associate professor in mechanical engineering.
”We are focusing on the first step,” Kong said. “We gasify bio-oil to produce syngas.”
Traditionally, gasification uses a biomass feedstock, such as corn stover, corn cobs or wood chips, and exposes the material to high temperatures of 700 C or greater with controlled amounts of oxygen and/or steam to produce a mixture of gases called synthesis gas, Kong said. The end product can be processed into transportation fuels.
Read the full story at the Iowa State Daily.