What are the aims and advantages of biomass gasification?
The main needs for further development of biomass-electric technology are to improve the efficiency of energy conversion, to lower emissions, and to reduce costs. Gasification offers greater flexibility, both in the range of possible biomass feedstocks and in the end-use of the energy. For example, as well as driving a gas turbine, the gas from a gasifier can power a fuel cell to generate electricity, or it can be used to generate steam in a gas boiler, sometimes in combination with natural gas. Large steam-turbine systems in power plants 200 MW or larger (such as most coal-fired power plants) are relatively efficient at energy conversion, whereas smaller biomass-fired steam-turbine systems (20-100 MW) require further research to improve their cost-competitiveness with fossil fuels. Biomass gasification systems may be able to combine high efficiency with cost-competitiveness in this size range (20-100 MW). Other research is continuing to develop small modular biomass conversion systems
