Grassroots Innovation for Generating Efficient Biofuel - Biomass Gasifier

The whole world is busy in doing research for generating and using biofuels. Scientists have already developed biofuels in all the three forms of matter. Unaware of all these developments, an uneducated common man Raj Singh Dahiya from Rajasthan, India, has made his own biomass gasifier which generates the clean fuel producer gas from wood and agricultural wastes.

Features, process and advantages of the biomass gasifier

The whole setup of the innovative machine consists of a gasifier, an aspirator, a mixer and a modified engine. Biomass is first fed into the gasifier unit which heats up to 200 degree centigrade to convert the solid biomass into producer gas. The producer gas at this point has ash, tar and other residues and so, needs a lot of filtration which is done by a series of filters arranged sequentially in two stages. In these two stages, baffles and sieves arranged in order of progressively fine perforations filter the gas. The aspirator sucks the filtered producer gas and passes it through a water cooling cyclone followed by another cyclone which removes the carbon and ash contents. The water jacket surrounding the filtration unit and the water-cooled cyclone do the job of cooling the hot producer gas. Now, the clean producer gas is fed into the mixer unit where it is mixed with air in a correct fuel-air ratio. This mixture gas is then used to run the modified engine.

* The biomass gasifier can run an engine of 30 HP for an hour from 20 kilograms of biomass wastes.
* This system's running cost is half of what an electric run machine costs in generating the same output.
* The biomass gasifier can be used to run machines like water lifting pump sets, saw mills and flour mills.
* It can also be used to generate electricity by charging an alternator.
* The unique design of Raj Singh's biomass Gasifier enables it to consume 30 to 40 percent less biofuel than other available designs.
* The machine has been priced at Rs. 125,000 for its 10 KW units version.

Support and recognition for the grassroots innovation

The innovation was first recognized at district level and later, by National Innovation Foundation, a non-profit autonomous body under Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. NIF has awarded the innovation in its biennial national competition of unaided green grassroots innovations and traditional knowledge and has also filed a patent application for it. With the help and support of NIF, Raj Singh has also achieved some initial success in commercializing his biomass gasifier and has already sold more than 50 units of it.

Ashish Kumar D is a student at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He writes articles on grassroots innovation and other related topics. To know about Raj Singh's biomass gasifier in detail, please visit http://www.nif.org.in/bd/biogas.

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