Browsing by Author "Musinguzi, Wilson B."

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    Long-life performance of biogas systems for productive applications: The role of R&D and policy
    (Energy Reports, 2019) Tumusiime, Edmund; Kirabira, John B.; Musinguzi, Wilson B.
    In order to achieve the transformations required to realize sustainable development, the use of modern renewable energy has to increasingly take primacy. Biogas technology is one of listed modern RETs but despite its early introduction in Uganda, its adoption rate remains very low amidst high technology failure and dis-adoption. To investigate this, a field-based assessment was conducted to evaluate performance of productive biogas installations with an aim of determining the root cause of this poor performance. It was found out that over 50% of productive biogas installations failed within two years after their commissioning due to logistical and technological challenges. Most installations could not sustain biogas production due to deprived quality of digester feed, and lack of local technical data to utilize alternatives during scarcity of the primary feedstock. Insufficient R&D in the biogas sector is suggested to be the lead cause of such poor performance. Therefore, novel policy strategies for promoting R&D have been proposed in this paper because for success of any productive biogas system, optimization of energy recovery through R&D must be at the forefront in order to drive system outputs to better economic gain.
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    Small-scale CHP for Rural Electrification in Uganda – The State-ofthe- art and Prospective Development
    (In Second International Conference on Advances in Engineering and Technology, Working Paper., 2011) Musinguzi, Wilson B.; Okure, Mackay A.E.; Sebbit, Adam; Løvås, Terese
    Worldover, small-scale CHP systems are undergoing rapid development, and are emerging on the market with promising prospects for the near future. The choice of a suitable CHP system is driven by the need and local conditions at the target end user, keeping in mind that the system integration should have a good balance of being most efficient, reliable, cost effective, socially beneficial, least polluting and sustainable in the long run. In developing countries, small-scale biomass-fuelled CHP systems have a particular strong relevance in improving the quality of life, especially among rural communities. This paper presents the recent advances in small scale CHP process integration for decentralized power generation. It also presents an exergy analysis of a prospective CHP system that has the potential of providing relatively higher efficiency and minimal operational difficulties and thus attractive for rural electrification in Uganda. The target generation capacity is 100 kWe sufficient to meet electricity needs of a rural community of 250 households. Stepwise procedure with simulation using Aspen Plus is used in the analysis of this CHP cycle. The results show that the proposed process integration has the promise of efficiently utilizing the exergy generated.
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    Thermal characterization of Uganda's Acacia hockii, Combretum molle, Eucalyptus grandis and Terminalia glaucescens for gasification
    (Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012) Musinguzi, Wilson B.; Okure, Mackay A.E.; Wang, Liang; Sebbit, Adam; Løvås, Terese
    In this paper, thermal characterization of four Ugandan woody biomass species was carried out in order to ascertain their suitability for gasification for small-scale biopower generation. The analyses and tests covered the aspects of proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, heating value, Thermogravimetric Analyses (TGA), ash melting and chemical composition. Eucalyptus grandis revealed ideal properties that make it the most promising wood specie for gasification applications. Furthermore, the low ash content in E. grandis significantly minimizes the possibilities of ash deposits on the gasifier and heat exchanger surfaces. The high fixed carbon in Terminalia glaucescens, Acacia hockii and Combretum molle makes these species ideal for charcoal making (pyrolysis). Due to high ash melting temperatures demonstrated by these samples, their pyrolysis and gasification can therefore take place with minimal worry of the ash related problems.
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    Thermodynamic Modeling of Allothermal Steam Gasification in a Downdraft Fixed-bed Gasifier
    (Trans Tech Publications Ltd., 2014) Musinguzi, Wilson B.; Okure, Mackay A.E.; Sebbit, Adam; Løvås, Terese; Silva, Izael Da
    A process of converting a solid carbonaceous fuel into a gaseous energy carrier in presence of a gasifying medium at high temperature is called gasification. The resulting gaseous energy carrier, known as producer gas, is more versatile in its use than the original solid fuel. Gasification is widely considered as a more efficient and less polluting initial thermochemical upstream process of converting biomass to electricity. The objective of this study was to investigate the process of allothermal steam gasification in a fixed-bed downdraft gasifier for improved quality (HHV, high hydrogen content) of the producer gas generated. The study involved thermodynamic equilibrium modeling based on equilibrium approach in which the concentrations of the gaseous components in the producer gas at equilibrium temperature are determined based on balancing the moles in the overall gasification equation. The results obtained suggest that the maximum equilibrium yield of producer gas with high energy density is attained at a gasification temperature of around 820oC and a steam/biomass ratio of 0.825 mol/mol. The equilibrium yield was richer in hydrogen at 52.23%vol, and with a higher heating value of 11.6 MJ/Nm3. Preliminary validation of the model results using experimental data from literature shows a close relationship. The study has further shown the advantage of using steam as a gasifying medium towards the improved quality of the producer gas generated.