PhD student Lukas von Berg from the Institute of Thermal Engineering at TU Graz University, Austria, has won a EUBCE 2019 Student achievement award following a transnational access visit from fellow researchers Cevdet Dogan and Ebubekir Aydin from Turkey to TU Graz.

Lukas’s main field of research is fluidized bed biomass gasification and producer gas treatment with a focus on multi-scale CFD modelling of the gasification process in a fluidized bed.

Along with Cevdet Doğan, Ebubekir Sıddık Aydin, Stefan Retschitzegger, Robert Scharler and Andrés Anca-Couce, Lukas wrote the paper: “Catalytic Tar Reforming with Sewage Sludge Char of a Producer Gas from Fluidized Bed Co-gasification of Sewage Sludge and Wood”.

EUBCE 2019 Student Award won by Lukas von Berg from the Institute of Thermal Engineering at TU Graz University, Austria

The abstract is as follows:

Fluidized bed gasification of sewage sludge is a promising method for its valorisation due to the fuel flexibility of the process. The main drawbacks are the impurities present in the producer gas, with a high tar content, and its low calorific value. In this study, sewage sludge and wood mixtures are gasified in a fluidized bed. A tar cracking reactor is used to reduce the amount of tars and to increase the calorific value of the producer gas. Sewage sludge char is employed for tar cracking with a real producer gas, showing the feasibility of the process, which could employ a by-product of the gasifier. Char deactivation is also investigated in a test conducted during several hours, as well as the possibility of reactivating the char with steam, showing promising results.

Download the full paper and presentation here: http://www.etaflorence.it/proceedings/?detail=16458

To apply for the EUBCE Student Awards 2020 please visit http://www.eubce.com/conference/prizes-and-awards/student-awards-2.html

The deadline is 5 November 2019.