Any technology to reconfigure (or control) the gasifier and/or engine to accommodate to varying loads with good efficiencies (for cases where there is no grid to absorb demand fluctuation problems)?
A. Our current understanding based on a large number of experiments on gasifier – gas engine combination is that up to 30 % load fluctuation can be accommodated.If there is a larger load change, one can design a resistive load that cuts in and slowly drops off to reduce the sharpness of the transient. If it is too much of a fluctuation like a heavy cutting machine coming in and going off, then one has to go to grid or diesel engine (and even in a diesel engine, the fuel consumption will be more than under steady conditions). With regard to efficiencies, you must know that kg/kWh increases as the load decreases. This is inescapable. To derive better efficiencies, you have to match the load to the power delivered. As long as peak power is about 10 – 15% higher than the demand except for short durations, you will derive economic benefit significantly.
