Comparative Analysis of Combustion Vs Auto-gasification of Prosopis Juliflora Sticks for Rural Household Application

In 1870's the concern about deforestation, desertification and fuel wood shortage leading to the introduction of the Prosopis juliflora in India. The pro-line content in Prosopis is high under stress conditions, which helped the plant to thrive under extreme draught. Since Prosopis juliflora is abundantly available in rural areas, Indian rural households mainly depends on firewood for cooking and other thermal application using combustion route. The conversion efficiency of such system is very low and also degrade the environment. This paper analysis the combustion Vs autogasification route of converting Prosopis juliflora strikes into thermal as well as power application due to its high calorific value and ash properties. A novel gasification approach called autogasification has been employed converting solid combustible to gaseous fuel without supplying of oxygen to enrich specific calorific value of producer gas.