Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ULIBTK’25 Uluslararası Katılımlı 25. Isı Bilimi ve Tekniği Kongresi, Adana, Türkiye, 10 - 12 Eylül 2025, cilt.1, sa.1, ss.1-7, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
This study investigates the technical and economic feasibility of converting biomass and solid waste into clean energy through downdraft gasification technology. The project is designed around building small- to mediumscale decentralized power plants (1–50 MWe) using Turkey's agricultural, forestry and municipal waste for renewable energy. Downdraft gasification is a thermochemical conversion process that converts solid fuels (e.g., Refuse Derived Fuel - RDF, wood chips, agricultural waste) into syngas by controlled sub-stoichiometric air processes at elevated temperature (1000-1200 °C). This syngas is primarily CO, H₂, CH₄ and N₂, and requires multiple stages of cleaning (cyclones, scrubbers, WESP, gas cooling systems), before it is ready to feed a combustion engine or for use in combined heat and power (CHP) systems. A modular gasification system with 1 MWe capacity was designed using RDF briquettes with LHV 3500–4000 kcal/kg. Approximately 24 tons of RDF per day are gasified, generating syngas with 1500–1600 kcal/Nm³ calorific value and 1800–2000 Nm³/h flowrate. The process achieves a carbon-to-gas conversion efficiency of 95%, while producing minimal ash and emissions, fully complying with EU and EPA environmental standards. The techno-economic study suggests a quite favorable result. A 1 MWe facility with an annual operating time of 8000 hours and a capital expenditure (CAPEX) of €1.4 million would achieve €330,000 EBITDA annually, a 20% internal rate of return (IRR) and an estimated payback time of 5–6 years. Gasification appears much more progressive than incineration, being more efficient and environmentally sound overall. More importantly, gasification could do a much more valuable job of controlling the release of carbon dioxide (CO2), nonmethane volatile organic compound (VOCs), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), dioxins and furans.This information on the fast development of converting waste to energy supports negative impacts to reduce having an environmental impact and is aligned with the objectives of renewable energy developments in Turkey and the Kyoto Protocol. Downdraft gasification demonstrates a low-cost, flexible, clean alternative for Turkey's sustainable energy development, primarily—though not exclusively—in rural areas with locally sourced biomass. Gasification, as a scalable and modular technology linked to an integrated, decentralized, solid fuel heat and power generation process.