Energy Conversion and Management 93 (2015) 7283

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Modeling of a biomass high temperature steam gasier integrated with

assisted solar energy and a micro gas turbine
Pablo Campo, Teresa Benitez, Uisung Lee, J.N. Chung
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-6300, USA

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 10 October 2014
Accepted 24 December 2014
Available online 20 January 2015
Keywords:
BIGCC
CHP
Steam gasication
Solar energy
System efciency

a b s t r a c t
A mathematical model that describes a trailer scale biomass steam gasication system coupled with a
solar collector heat source and a micro gas turbine is reported in this paper. This combined heat and
power system is set to a prescribed output of 20 kWe and several system conditions have been optimized
in a parametric study to minimize resource consumption rates. Biomass feeding rates under optimal conditions were found to range between 23 and 63 kg/h depending on the types of feedstock and other
parameters. Water consumption is reduced through a condensation and recirculation process that is part
of a heat recovery unit. Also, solar energy requirements have been reduced by means of a recuperator that
extracts heat out of the combustion products. The overall system performance has been evaluated by a
utilization factor which was found to range between 30% and 43%. The system has been compared to a
baseline case of an air breathing gasication system of a similar scale. It was found that steam gasication
produces the syngas with heating values over twice as high as those obtained by air gasication. Steam
gasication also led to a 25% and 50% reduction in emission rates of contaminants like CO2 and nitrogen
oxides respectively relative to the baseline case.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
A major challenge for engineers and scientists in the pursuit of
sustainable development is the procurement of renewable energy
sources that result in low damage to the environment. Energy
transfer processes in nature are virtually cyclic where no raw
materials are converted to waste. Manmade processes are characterized by the consumption of nonrenewable resources and the
production of wastes and pollutants that must be disposed of properly. For example in 2013, 6.9 billion barrels of oil were consumed
in the United States to produce in part 135 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) that were discarded in landlls. The energy
content the aforementioned MSW is estimated to be equivalent to
330 million barrels of oil [1,2]. Biomass and wastes are renewable
energy sources that can be used in combined heat and power
systems although today these kinds of processes are not as
competitive as fossil fuels due to their low efciency and high
production costs.
Early efforts to recover some of the energy content of wood,
MSW, plastic, rubber among other wastes involved their direct
incineration. These waste-to-energy projects are highly
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 352 392 9607; fax: +1 352 392 1071.
E-mail address: jnchung@u.edu (J.N. Chung).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2014.12.069
0196-8904/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

controversial because of the pollutants emitted to the environment

such as ne particles, nitrogen oxides (precursors of the formation
of tropospheric ozone), and several toxic chemicals such as dioxins
and furans [3].
Gasication is a widely studied process that converts coal,
biomass or wastes into synthesis gas (syngas) which can be combusted to generate electric power. In the case of biomass feedstock,
the process is considered carbon neutral. Conventional common air
breathing gasiers operate at temperature ranges of 400850 C,
Eq. (1) shows the chemical reaction involved in an air breathing
gasication process as presented by Lee et al. [4]. To operate under
these conditions, no external energy is needed since they rely on
partial air-breathing combustion of the feedstock to generate heat.
However, this creates multiple limitations on the overall performance of the system. When nitrogen, the most abundant species
of air mixes with the biomass, it dilutes the syngas and lowers
its heating value. The effects of air breathing gasication on the
lower heating value of the syngas is evaluated with a baseline case
found in the literature and compared to special cases based on
steam gasication; a study performed by Vera et al. [5] exposes
the theoretical results of an air breathing process with tree leaves
and prunings as feedstock derived from the olive oil industry. Air
blown gasication also produces undesirable products like
particulates and tars that must be removed or eliminated prior to

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P. Campo et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 93 (2015) 7283

Nomenclature
STBR
MGT
TIT
LHV
HHV

gup
gdw
P
Pv
Pr
Cp
Q_ s
Q_ HX
Q_ rec
F/A
Tad

_ net
W
_ out
W
_ in
W
Eb

steam to biomass ratio

micro gas turbine
turbine inlet temperature
lower heating value
higher heating value
upstream efciency
downstream efciency
pressure
vapor pressure
relative pressure
specic heat
solar heat rate
heat exchanger heat rate
recuperator heat rate
fuel to air ratio
adiabatic ame temperature

cp
_
m
n_
M
Mav
y
H
DHDry Gas
h

h
i
0
h
f ;i

combustion. This increases the investment and maintenance cost

of the plant. The work performed by Vera et al. [5], concluded
experimentally that such air blown process produces syngas with
heating values ranging between 4.4 and 5.4 MJ/kg. Considering
that conventional natural gas has heating values as high as
54 MJ/kg demonstrates the need for improving syngas quality in
order to establish biomass as a sustainable and competitive energy
source. Steam gasication involves an air free medium that keep
the syngas heating value high and produces less undesirable
products. The main products are pure syngas and an inert vitreous
slag that can be easily separated from the gas and properly
disposed of

CHx Oy wH2 O mO2 3:76N2

) a1 H2 a2 CO a3 CO2 a4 H2 O a5 CH4 m3:76N2

This work focuses on biomass gasication using steam as the

gasication agent entering the gasication chamber at temperatures between 800 C and 1200 C; this process that has been
found to produce syngas with high caloric values with less undesirable products. Eq. (2) shows the overall chemical reaction for a
steam gasication process as presented by Lee et al. [6]. The effect
of steam temperature was studied by He et al. [7]. They assessed
the catalytic steam gasication of MSW and concluded that higher
temperatures resulted in higher conversion of MSW into hydrogen
rich syngas. Similarly, Umeki et al. [8] demonstrated that gasication with steam temperatures exceeding 1200 K (927 C) of woody
biomass generates syngas with H2 levels of 3555 vol%; experimental results concluded that the steam to carbon ratio had a signicant role on the H2 concentration. Khan et al. [9] also
demonstrated the potential of high concentration hydrogen production from palm kernel shell with an integrated catalytic absorption steam gasication process; results showed a maximum
hydrogen composition of 84.62 vol% with gas heating values ranging between 10.92 and 17.02 MJ/Nm3. Guan et al. [10] proposes a
two region high temperature steam catalytic gasication process
of MSW to reduce the tar content of the syngas. Results indicated
that under optimum conditions, dry gas yield can reach up to
1.97 Nm3/kg MSW and tar production was completely eliminated.
Erkiaga et al. [11] present a different approach to minimize tar formation where two catalyst: olivine and c-Al2O3, are used in a gasication process with steam temperatures ranging between 850 C
and 900 C. Results demonstrated particularly low tar yield of
approximately 4.8% with olivine as the catalyst.

net work output rate

work out rate
work input rate
biomass energy consumption rate
pressure ratio
mass ow rate
molar ow rate
molecular weight
mixture average molecular weight
molar fraction
enthalpy
change in enthalpy of non-condensable gases
specic enthalpy
standardized enthalpy of species i
enthalpy of formation at reference state of species i
equivalence ratio

CHx Oy wH2 O mH2 O ) a1 H2 a2 CO a3 CO2 a4 H2 O

a5 CH4

The study performed by Lee et al. [6] demonstrated that high

temperature biomass steam gasication produces syngas with
much higher heating values than a typical air blown process. The
primary disadvantage is generating superheated steam which
requires signicant amounts of energy and water. In order to maintain a high thermodynamic efciency and minimize water and biomass consumption rates, Chung [12] proposes a system that
combines a gasication plant with a heat recovery unit that
extracts thermal energy of the syngas leaving the gasier (condensing and recycling most of the water vapor in the syngas) with
a concentrated solar heating unit to generate superheated steam at
a design temperature and a downstream process that combusts the
syngas. This work studies the feasibility of integrating a micro gas
turbine (MGT) as the downstream process.
Some researchers studied integration of steam gasication systems with solar thermal energy or combined heat and power system (CHP). However, high temperature steam gasication
integrated in a combined heat and power system with solar
assisted energy used for steam production has not been studied
yet. In an effort by Piatkowki et al. [13] solar thermal energy is
used in the steam gasication of carbonaceous feedstock. The gasier is composed of a transparent quarts window that allows the
optical access of concentrated radiation. This however created
complications as the reactor window needed to be kept clean preventing particulate or condensable gases from being deposited on
its internal surface. The system presented in this paper takes a different approach as solar assisted steam generation at a design temperature takes place in a separate process prior to gasication.
Because insolation varies between geographical locations, the
physical requirements of the solar collector will change; it can be
said however, assuming there are no spatial limitations, that a
design steam temperature can be achieved by increasing the surface area exposed to solar ux on a solar collector with the possibility of concentrating solar ux by means of parabolic troughs or
solar towers.
Cadorin et al. [14] performed a CFD analysis on the combustion
of syngas in a micro gas turbine as MGTs have demonstrated the
ability to burn lower caloric fuels without radically changing
the geometry of the combustion chamber. As the syngas studied
had caloric values of 9.4 MJ/kg on a dry basis, it is expected that

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P. Campo et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 93 (2015) 7283

the integration of the steam gasication which usually generates

around 10 MJ/kg with MGT is feasible. Another advantage mentioned by Laurence and Ashena [15] is that micro gas turbines
require less rigorous syngas cleaning. Due to the worldwide abundance of biomass, this type of system does not have geographical
limitations and it can be optimal in rural areas with no electric networks. Centralized power plants with industrial scale production
of hydrogen and similar fuels are limited to an energy provision
radius; extending such energy supply for mobile applications presents storage and transportation difculties due to related safety
issues that can only be solved by introducing an on board fuel processor homologous to the system proposed [16].
The main objective of this study is to evaluate and optimize the
performance of a biomass steam gasication system integrated
with solar assisted steam production and electricity generation
by a micro gas turbine. This paper presents a thermodynamic analysis of a CHP system with biomass steam gasication and presents
the optimal conditions to minimize feedstock and water consumption while maximizing the overall system efciency. This paper
analyzes the consumption of biomass feedstock such as wood, rubber, plastic and MSW and concludes proposing optimal system
parameters for the theoretical system studied such as steam temperature, steam to biomass ratio, equivalence ratio and pressure
ratio across the turbine.
2. Thermochemical analysis
2.1. Combined heat and power BIGCC system
The primary objective is to predict the solar heat requirements
and the performance of a micro gas turbine using syngas as fuel.
Biomass sustainability is a complication of primary concern for
typical air blown gasication since the syngas lower heating value
leads to high biomass consumption rates. The gasication model is
based on the results from the study conducted by Lee et al. [6]
which is based on a thermochemical equilibrium model where
the feedstock and steam feeding rates dene the steam to biomass
ratio (STBR) of the system. The steam temperature, feedstock type
and STBR complete the input parameters of the model. The results
obtained from Lees model include syngas composition, and temperature of the mixture leaving the gasier.
The system schematic presented in Fig. 1 illustrates the extent
of the analysis in this work. This system consists of two main
processes an upstream process where solar energy harvesting,
gasication, cooling and water condensation and purication take
place and a downstream process where the cooled syngas is combusted to generate electricity. The main purpose of the upstream
process is to produce syngas sustainably and efciently with high
caloric values. The solar collector produces steam at a design temperature therefore avoiding electric consumption by superheaters.

The heat recovery unit decreases the heat input requirements and
the low temperature induces water condensation which is recycled
making the system more sustainable. A purication unit removes
any tar that might be sent back to the upstream process with the
stream of condensed water. The downstream process is dened
as a normal gas turbine idealized by a Brayton cycle where syngas
is compressed prior to combustion at a design equivalence ratio
and the products are used to power a turbine that generates
electricity.
2.2. Assumptions and justications
Simplications of the model were based on achieving reasonably accurate system performance results while reducing the
computational complexity. The theoretical optimal performance
of the MGT is found at a particular pressure ratio for a
predetermined equivalence ratio. Parasitic energy losses to the
surroundings have not been accounted for as these depend on
environmental conditions and geometric characteristics of the
system. The following assumptions have been made given that
this work focuses on the global thermochemical behavior of the
system, not on a specic hardware model or irregular environmental conditions:
 Gasication process assumed to be under adiabatic equilibrium
conditions.
 Syngas composition neglects the presence of solid carbon.
 Water and air enter the system at standard pressure and
temperature.
 Ideal gas behavior of non-condensable gases.
 No heat losses in heat exchangers or solar collector.
 No pressure losses due to friction.
 Upstream processes assumed to occur at constant atmospheric
pressure.
 Isentropic compression and expansion.
 Isobaric combustion.
 Combustion losses are independent of pressure ratio, stoichiometric ratio or fuel composition.
The combustion analysis has been performed with Cantera [17]
software. This program provides thermodynamic properties of the
products on the basis of the equilibrium reactions with a given
interchangeable reactant composition and the equivalence ratio.
Although the combustion process involves reactions that do not
approach equilibrium due to the presence of unstable species
and the uid dynamic effects driven by the geometry of the combustor, it is good enough to evaluate the feasibility of this system
under optimal conditions. Since the maximum combustion temperature (adiabatic ame temperature) is signicantly higher
than the turbine inlet temperature (TIT), a correction factor is

Fig. 1. System diagram.

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P. Campo et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 93 (2015) 7283

implemented to approximate realistic results. The fraction of the

adiabatic ame temperature used as the TIT is based on a CFD analysis of a combustor of a similar magnitude performed by Cadorin
et al. [14] for an air induced BIGCC.
The temperature of the combustion reactants is assumed to be
equal to that of the compressed air. The temperature of the
mixture changes slightly as syngas and air mix in the combustor,
however these change is neglected as the amount of syngas is of
minimal magnitude relative to the amount of air required for
combustion. This is due to having a lean fuel condition. The fuel
to air ratio is lower than 0.35 regardless of the feedstock being
consumed as it would not lead to the optimal performance under
stoichiometric conditions. The equivalence ratio is dened as
follows:

F 

U F A

act:

A stoich:

where F/A is the fuel to air ratio entering the combustor. The subscripts act. and stoich. have been used to indicate actual and stoichiometric conditions respectively.
Bhattacharya et al. [18] demonstrated that in a MGT, the pressure ratio is more inuential than the temperature ratio. The
increase in temperature that syngas could induce to the reactants
would have negligible effects. The combustion reaction varies minimally by alterations of the reactants temperature and pressure as
the equivalence ratio decreases. This trend is shown in Fig. 2 where
the adiabatic ame temperature is computed. This temperature is
from the entire combustion of the reactants without any heat
transfer. These graphs illustrate the case of woody biomass with
1000 C steam when the STBR is 6. Two cases are shown to demonstrate the inuence of the equivalence ratio on the combustion system. Case (a) demonstrates stoichiometric conditions, while (b)
illustrates the effects of an equivalence ratio of 0.75. It is clear that
a lower equivalence ratio leads to lower adiabatic ame temperatures and the dependence on the pressure ratio decreases. The
pressure ratio dependency is even smaller as the STBR increases.
The tendency for different cases of feedstock and STBR is the same
with the adiabatic ame temperature values changing accordingly
to the caloric value of the syngas reaching the combustor. The
presence of water has the same effect as diluting the caloric value
of the fuel.
The gas turbine is modeled as an ideal open Brayton cycle, having isentropic compression and expansion with isobaric combustion. Incoming air is assumed to be at standard temperature and
pressure.

=1

743 K
703 K
663 K

2200

2100

Pressure Ratio

3.1. Gasier model

The steam gasication process modeled by Lee et al. [6] was
developed as an adiabatic thermochemical equilibrium process.
The biomass composition and other chemical properties (LHV,
HHV, moisture content) are computed based on these equilibrium
conditions. The main input parameters are the steam temperature
(T5), types of feedstock and STBR; outputs include the equilibrium
temperature (T7) and syngas composition. The syngas composition
accounts for the presence of the species H2, CO, CO2, H2O and CH4.
The chemical properties of the four types of feedstock chosen by
Lee et al. [6] are summarized in Table 1. Given that the primary
focus is to determine the feasibility of implementing a high temperature steam gasication combined cycle with solar assisted
steam production under optimal conditions, tar production has
been omitted from the product composition of the gasication
model; this assumption is justied by the experimental results
obtained by Guan et al. [10] where steam to biomass ratios (in
the case of MSW) higher than 0.42 for gasication reactor and catalytic reactor temperatures of 900 C and 800 C respectively lead
negligible tar contents (0 wt.%). In order however to avoid complications due to any tar presence being fed back to the system

(b) 2400

T12syng = 783 K

2300

The system has been analyzed with the purpose of determining

optimal conditions to attain 20 kW electric output. This output
power is at the downstream MGT which is inuenced by the
upstream conditions of the system. In order to optimize the system, the model starts by characterizing the composition of the syngas leaving the gasier, and this information is dependent on the
STBR and steam temperature (Tsteam = T5, this work presents results
for steam temperatures ranging between 800 C and 1200 C) The
_ 6 ), and the heat
syngas properties, the biomass feeding rate (m
exchanger output temperature (T8) are used as inputs of the heat
recovery model that determine how much water is condensed
and recycled and the amount of heat recovered. Properties of the
cooling water exiting the heat exchanger is used to determine
the amount of heat required to be captured by the solar collector.
The heat exchanger model also predicts the composition of the
syngas after condensation takes place which changes as a function
of the heat exchanger output temperature as condensation reduces
the presence of water species. This information is sent to the MGT
model where the syngas is combusted at design equivalence and
pressure ratios.

Adiabatic Flame Temperature (K)

Adiabatic Flame Temperature (K)

(a) 2400

3. System modeling

10

=0.75

2300

T12syng = 783 K

2200

743 K
703 K
663 K

2100

10

Pressure Ratio

Fig. 2. Adiabatic ame temperature graphed as a function of pressure ratio across MGT and incoming syngas temperature.

76

P. Campo et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 93 (2015) 7283

analysis. The specic heat change of each of the gaseous species

was found using the following correlations [19].

Table 1
Chemical properties of biomass feedstock entering the gasier.
Property

Wood

Plastic

Rubber

MSW

C (wt.%)
H (wt.%)
O (wt.%)
Moisture (wt.%)
LHV (MJ/kg)
HHV (MJ/kg)
Empirical formula

47.13
5.63
38.54
8.18
19.14
20.48
CH1.43O0.61

62.20
4.20
32.87
0.00
21.85
22.77
CH0.8O0.4

81.15
7.10
3.32
1.48
32.06
33.61
CH1.05O0.03

43.40
5.29
39.88
14.93
13.98
15.55
CH1.46O0.69

after condensation (state 9), a water purier is implemented to

reduce maintenance issues.

During the gasication process, superheated steam entering the

reactor produces syngas at relatively high temperatures. According
to Lee et al. [6] syngas produced with wood, 1000 C steam and a
STBR of 6.2 leaves the reactor at temperatures close to 700 C. Most
of the thermal energy can be recovered because downstream processes like the MGT studied in this work do not require high temperature conditions.
3.2.1. Mass balance
The following expressions use subscripts based on the system
diagram shown in Fig. 1. The total mass ow rate of the syngas
leaving the gasier is dened as the sum of the biomass feeding
_ 6 and the incoming water m
_ 5 . This value is calculated by
rate m
the expression:

The molar ow rate of this stream is calculated using the average molecular weight of the syngas, Mav, from the molar fraction,
yi, and molecular weights of each individual species, Mi:

M av ;7

X
yi M i

n_ 7

_7
m
Mav ;7

The stream leaving the heat exchanger is saturated with water

vapor at a design temperature of 40 C. Therefore the partial pressure of water in the gases is equal to the vapor pressure of water at
this temperature. The molar fraction of water vapor in the gases
leaving the heat exchanger is P v =P. The water vapor remaining
in the gases at the heat exchanger exit is given by:

n_ H2 O;10

X
Pv =P
n_ i


1  Pv =P
i

where i H2 ; CO2 ; CO; CH4 .

3.2.2. Energy balance
Applying the rst law of thermodynamics on the heat recovery
unit gives:

Q_ HX

X
n_ i;7 hi;7  hi;8 n_ 3 h4  h3

C PCO 25:566 6:096T 4:055T 2  2:671T 3  0:131T 2

9
10

C PCO2 24:997  55:187T  33:691T 2  7:948T 3  0:137T 2

11
C PCH4 0:703 108:477T  42:522T 2 5:863T 3 0:679T 2
12
T7
1000

3.2. Heat recovery model

_ 7 1 STBRm
_6
m

C PH2 33:066  11:363T 11:433T 2  2:773T 3  0:159T 2

where Q_ HX is the thermal load of the heat exchanger, and hi refers to

the molar enthalpy of species i (including water and all non-condensable gases). The cooling heat exchanger is modeled by determining the effects of the syngas being produced by the reactor.
These are characterized by determining the change in specic heat
of each of the mixture species. Moisture is an important component
of the syngas that causes signicant effects on the thermal properties of the uid therefore it must be considered as part of this

In these equations T
where T7 is dened in kelvin. The
total change of enthalpy of the dry gas is found by integrating these
correlations between input and output heat exchanger
temperatures.

DHDry Gas

X Z
n_ i
i

T8

C P;i TdT

13

T7

where i H2 ; CO2 ; CO; CH4 .

The total change in enthalpy of water changes as a function of
the amount of condensation present. The initial enthalpy of water
HH2 O;7 is found by referring to the thermodynamic tables for superheated steam. The enthalpy after the heat exchanger HH2 O;8 is
found similarly accounting for latent heat extraction due to condensation [20].

_ 8 hfg m
_ 9 hg
DHH2 O;7 m

14

DHH2 O HH2 O;6  HH2 O;7

15

Finally, the total heat transfer rate across the heat exchanger is
found as the addition of both changes in enthalpy dry gases and
water.

DH67 Q_ HX DHDry Gas DHH2 O

16

The total ow of cooling water in stream 3 of Fig. 1 is the sum of

the condensed water and the external water required. Assuming
_ 9 and m
_ 2 is adiabatic, the total ow rate
that mixing both streams m
and enthalpy of stream 2 is calculated from mass and energy
balances.
3.3. Solar collector
The heat energy input required to convert liquid water at 298 K
to steam at a design temperature is calculated assuming that the
solar collector is adiabatic with the surroundings. The required
solar energy is reduced by the recuperator which extracts thermal
energy form the wasted heat from the turbine exit and heats up the
water coming from the reservoir. The recuperator assumes a constant combustion products output temperature of 40 C. The specic enthalpy at each state is evaluated at standard atmospheric
pressure.

_ 3 h5  h4
Q_ s m

17

A solar collector that harvests enough energy to deliver steam at

a design temperature has been assumed as part of the model. In
depth characteristics of the apparatus like materials, exposed surface area to solar heat ux, tilt angle and dimensions of the uid
passage tubing would be dened by the location as well as the
weather patterns such as the surrounding atmospheric temperature and wind speed. Like most solar based energy plants, this systems weakness is the dependency on the season and time of day as
well as weather conditions that cannot be generalized. For

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P. Campo et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 93 (2015) 7283

example, considering cities with relatively low average solar

annual insolation rates like Seattle, Tokio and Glasgow where the
solar heat ux ranges between 100 and 125 W/m2, [21] an idealized solar collector would require 1012.5 m2 of exposed surface
area to harvest 1 kW; considering that this system would require
up to 32 kW of solar energy, the surface required might not be sizable for a trailer scale plant, however the overall package size of
the solar energy harvesting unit can be reduced by means of
concentrating solar ux with parabolic troughs or solar towers.
Fernandez-Garcia et al. [22] study the applications of parabolic
solar collectors (PTCs) in the last century. They summarize multiple commercial small and medium sized PTCs which are found to
have geometric concentration ratios of 14.3615.04. If PTCs of
these characteristics are implemented in geographic locations with
poor insulation rates, realistically sized solar energy harvesting
plants could be constructed to achieve steam at high design
temperatures.
3.4. Upstream efciency
The upstream efciency, gup, is dened as the fraction of the
total energy input to the chemical energy of the syngas produced.

Chemical energy of syngas

Chemical energy of feedstock Solar energy
P
_ i  LHVi
m
i
_ 6 LHV6 Q_ s
m

The numerical approximation performed by Cantera [17]

assesses the combustion process with the reaction mechanism
GRI-Mech 3.0. This mechanism is widely used in the combustion
of natural gas. It contains 53 species composed of the elements
hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and/or argon and 325 reactions
most of which are reversible. The results include the products
thermodynamic properties and composition based on specic
reaction conditions. Since the goal of this model is to obtain the
maximum combustion temperature, the reaction has been
assumed to be isenthalpic and isobaric. Under these conditions,
the adiabatic ame temperature can be calculated.
3.5.1. Mass balance
The combustion process requires a mass balance analysis to
determine the composition of the incoming reactants. These are
found given a particular equivalence ratio and syngas composition
at state 10. The composition of the combustion reactants is determined by analyzing the global combustion reaction. This is the
result of mixing syngas at state 12syng and air from the compressor or state 12. The stoichiometric condition is found by solving for
the coefcients of the expression:

aH2 bCO cCO2 dCH4 f H2 O eO2 3:76N2

! yCO2 zH2 O e3:76N2

gup

19

where i H2 ; CO; CH4 .

where a, b, c and d are the coefcients dening dry syngas molar

composition. The amount of water species present in the syngas
is calculated using information from the heat exchanger model that
determines the amount of moles extracted from the syngas as it
condensates.

3.5. Micro gas turbine model

f nH2 O;7

The performance of the MGT is greatly inuenced by the pressure difference across the compressor and turbine. This value is
commonly presented as a pressure ratio (cp ) dened between the
pressures after and before compression. Because an isobaric process has been assumed, the pressure ratio across the turbine during
the expansion process is assumed to be the inverse of the compression process. In this model, the performance of the gas turbine is
evaluated across a wide range of pressure ratios. The optimal pressure ratio is found as it leads to a maximum net-work output given
a pre-established biomass feeding rate, heat exchanger output
temperature and STBR. These upstream input parameters dene
the composition, ow rate and thermodynamic properties of the
syngas reaching the MGT at state 10. The STBR and biomass feeding rate dene state 8 while the heat exchanger output temperature denes how the syngas composition and ow rate change
based on the amount of water being extracted via condensation.
Since this work emphasizes on the application of a trailer scale gasication system, the target output for the gas turbine has been set
_ 6 starting at 1 kg/h are tested
to 20 kWe. Biomass feeding rates m
in an iterative process until the power output is obtained. The analysis starts from the assumed pre compressor air conditions P11, T11
and a given pressure ratio, these parameters dene the air temperature and pressure (P12, T12) conditions exiting the compressor
while assuming an isentropic compression process. The syngas
thermodynamic properties (P12,syng, T12,syng) leaving the compressor are found similarly given that the temperature of the incoming
syngas is the same as the design heat exchanger output temperature and the pressure throughout the upstream process including
state 10 is assumed to be atmospheric. State 13 is found after performing an isobaric combustion simulation that denes the turbine
inlet temperature or T13. Finally the temperature at the turbine
exhaust (T14) is determined making use of the pressure ratio
assuming isentropic conditions.

where nH2 O;7 is the number of moles of water in the syngas leaving
the gasier. n_ H2 O;7 can be obtained from the gasication model and
n_ H2 O;10 can be calculated from Eq. (7). A mass balance process for
each element solves for the coefcients e, y and z. The actual global
reaction is dened as follows, with an equivalence ratio, u.

18



n_ H2 O;10
n_ H2 O;7

20

aH2 bCO cCO2 dCH4 f H2 O

! yCO2 zH2 O gO2

3:76N2

e
O2 3:76N2

21

_ 10 m
_ 12s is part of the results of the heat
The syngas ow rate m
_ 12 is found using Eq. (3)
exchanger model, and the air ow rate m
and isolating the actual fuel to air ratio. These ow rates are later
on used to determine the energy balance across each component.

 
 
_ 10
F
F
m

U
_ 12
A act:
A stoich:
m

22

3.5.2. Energy balance

A complete energy balance analysis is performed to optimize
the MGT by applying the rst law of thermodynamics on each
component such as compressor, combustor and turbine. It is
assumed that the compressor and turbine are adiabatic with the
surroundings. The analysis starts by nding specic enthalpies at
each state.
3.5.2.1. Compressor. The compressor is assumed to breath in dry air
at standard pressure and temperature (P11 = 101 kPa and
T11 = 298 K). A wide range of pressure ratios (cp = P12/P11) is examined and is treated as a given parameter to be optimized. Pr is a
function of temperature only, and therefore Pr11 is found with T11
[23]. In ideal Brayton cycle, Pr12 is found using the relationship,
Pr12 cp  Pr11 . Conversely, T12 is found from Pr12. Cantera can

78

P. Campo et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 93 (2015) 7283

calculate the thermodynamic properties of the syngas mixture

such as the enthalpies h10 , or h12syng .
3.5.2.2. Combustor. Because of the larger and more signicant presence of air in the combustion chamber, the temperature of the
combustion reactants are assumed to be the same that of state
12. Pressure and temperature at this point are set as the initial conditions of the combustion numerical model explained as part of the
MGT mass balance analysis. This model predicts the adiabatic
ame temperature using the energy balance [24].

Hreact Hprod
X

23

X


ni h
ni h
i
i

react

24

prod

 X 

X 
0 c T react  298
0 c T  298
ni h
ni h
p;i
p;i
ad
f ;i
f ;i
react

25

prod

 i is the standard specic enthalpy of the species i, h

 0 and cp;i
where h
f ;i
are the specic enthalpy of formation and specic heat of the species
at 298 K, respectively. The TIT is found as a fraction of the adiabatic
ame temperature based on the CFD analysis by Cadorin [14].
3.5.2.3. Turbine. Given that pressure losses have been neglected,
and combustion was assumed to be isobaric, the turbine inlet pressure, P13 is the same as P12 and the turbine exhaust releases the
working uid to atmospheric pressure. Similarly to the compression process, the turbine exhaust temperature is found using Pr14
(Pr14 c1
p  P r13 ). The working uid in this process is the combustion by products with a composition dened by the combustion
model obtained through Cantera.
With the exception of T12syng, all temperatures across the micro
gas turbine have been obtained, from which the remaining thermodynamic properties at these states can be found. The total work produced is computed as the difference between the wok output as part
of the turbine air expansion process (1314) and the work input
required to compress the combustion reactants (air and syngas, processes 1112 and 1012syng). The specic heat rate input is found
as the product of the syngas lower heating value and its ow rate.

_ net W
_ out  W in m
_ 13 h13  h14  m
_ 12 h12  h11
W


_ 12syng h12syng  h10
m

26

_ 10  LHV10
Q_ in m

27

The thermal efciency of the MGT or downstream efciency is

found as the ratio of the net work and heat input.

_
W

gdw _ net
Q in

_ out  W
_ in
W
_
Q in

28

3.5.2.4. Recuperator. It is common practice to have a recuperator

with micro gas turbines in order to increase the air temperature
prior to combustion; however in this system it is more benecial
to use the same thermal energy out of the turbine exhaust to heat
up the water incoming from a reservoir. This reduces the solar
requirements decreasing the infrastructure cost of the plant. The
amount of heat recovered by this process is given by:

_ 14 h14  h15
Q_ rec m

29

3.6. Overall plant energy balance

The overall plant efciency is quantied by an utilization factor
considering the heat recovered by the heat exchanger, solar heat

input and the power produced by the MGT. The plant energy input
is the summation of the required energy intake in the form heat
necessary to bring water from standard temperature and pressure
conditions to a design steam temperature (ranging between 800 C
and 1200 C) and the caloric value of the feedstock consumed.
_ 5 is found by meeting a design steam
First the water ow rate m
_ 6 . The lower
to biomass ratio (STBR) and biomass feeding rate m
heating value of the feedstock is that found in Table 1. The biomass
energy consumption rate is calculated as the product of the bio_ 6 ).
mass lower heating value and the feeding rate (E_ B LHV 6  m
Finally, the utilization factor for this CHP system is calculated by
the following expression.

eu

_ net
_ net
Q_ HX W
Q_ HX W

_
_
_
_6
Q s EB
Q s LHV6  m

30

4. Results and discussion

The plant performance is established on a reference electric
output of 20 kWe. Due to this the MGT denes the biomass and
water consumption rates as well as the upstream performance.
4.1. Upstream performance
This section evaluates several upstream system components
including the gasier, solar collector and heat recovery unit based
on the results for optimal operation of the MGT. In these results,
the biomass feeding rate and steam temperatures have been set
constant for each feedstock case as summarized in Table 4. Refer
to this table for specics on the overall system parameters. The
mere purpose of these results is to characterize how the gas production rate, water consumption rate, solar heat required and
upstream efciency change as a function of the steam to biomass
ratio (STBR). High STBR values have been considered in order to
dene a complete syngas composition spectrum of a steam gasication process. This implies increasing steam rates until the gas
output composition reaches steady levels. From the energetic point
of view, high STBR represent higher solar energy harvesting rates
which will decrease the overall coefcient of performance and
might not be reasonable for the trailer scale gasication plant presented in this work.
The gas production of gaseous fuels including H2, CO and CH4
are summarized in Fig. 3. It is important to note that CO2 and
H2O are also being sent to the MGT but are not accounted for in
these graphs as they are not combustible. These gaseous fuels are
important to analyze since they establish the upstream efciency
as shown in Eq. (18). The main trend shown in these graphs is that
H2 and CO have relatively low contribution at low STBR values and
increase until they reach a steady state usually with STBR values
larger than 6 except for rubber where steady conditions are
reached after a STBR of 14; CH4 on the other hand has a different
behavior, it starts with a high contribution at low STBR and
decreases as STBR increases.
CO2 has a considerable contribution on the total ow rate
reaching the MGT, its production rate is summarized in Fig. 4 for
all cases. It has been shown that similarly to H2 and CO, CO2 starts
with relatively low contribution at low STBR and increases steadily
until it reaches a steady condition at higher STBR values. When
comparing the magnitude of the gas production of other species
shown in Fig. 3, it is clear that CO2 has a much greater contribution
in general, however because this species is not considered combustible, it only decreases the heating value of the fuel therefore
reducing the performance of the MGT.
In order to maintain a sustainable system, it is important to
characterize how water consumption changes as a function of

79

P. Campo et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 93 (2015) 7283

18

18

Wood

14
12
CH4

10

H2

8
6
CO

Plastic

16

Gas Productio (kg/hr)

Gas Productio (kg/hr)

16

14
12
CH4

10

H2

8
6
CO

4
2

0
2

10

STBR

10

STBR

18

18

MSW

14

CH 4

12
10

H2

8
6
4
CO

Rubber

16

Gas Productio (kg/hr)

16

Gas Productio (kg/hr)

CH4

14
12
10

H2

8
6
4
CO

0
2

10

10

STBR

15

20

25

STBR

Fig. 3. Syngas composition reaching the MGT as a function of STBR for different feedstock.

100

Water Consumption rate (kg/hr)

80

CO2 Production (kg/hr)

80

60

40
Wood
Plastic
MSW
Rubber

20

70
60
50
40
30
Wood
Plastic
MSW
Rubber

20
10

0
5

10

15

20

25

STBR

10

15

20

25

STBR

Fig. 4. CO2 production rate sent to MGT for different feedstock.

Fig. 5. Water consumption rate as a function of STBR for different feedstock.

STBR; this is illustrated in Fig. 5. Water consumption is low with

low STBR and a maximum and steady condition is obtained at
higher STBR values. It is important to mention that the values presented in this gure are of relatively low magnitude considering
the STBR and biomass feeding rates presented in Table 4; this is

because of the condensation process which recycles most of the

water leaving the heat exchanger.
Fig. 6 illustrates the solar heat requirements as a function of the
STBR. It is clear that as the STBR increases, the ow rate through
the solar collector will increase therefore requiring more solar

P. Campo et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 93 (2015) 7283

0.8

140

2.5e-3
Wood
Plastic
MSW
Rubber
Vera et al. [5]

0.6

100

Mole fraction

Solar Power Required (kW)

120

80
60

1.5e-3
0.4
1.0e-3
0.2

40

5.0e-4

Wood
Plastic
MSW
Rubber

20

0.0

H2O

0
5

10

15

20

CO2

N2

NOx

0.0

25

STBR
Fig. 6. Solar power required as a function of STBR for different feedstock.

Fig. 8. Composition of main combustion products including nitrogen oxides for

steam gasication with various feedstock and an air blown gasication study by
Vera et al. [5].

4.2. Micro gas turbine performance

0.95

Upstream Efficiency (up)

2.0e-3

NOx mole fraction

80

0.90

0.85

0.80

Wood
Plastic
MSW
Rubber

0.75

0.70
2

10

12

14

STBR
Fig. 7. Upstream efciency as a function of STBR with a steam temperature of
1000 C.

energy to be harvested. From this diagram, it can be concluded that

in order to maintain a competitive and efcient system, it is important to have a low steam to biomass ratio.
The upstream thermodynamic efciency is shown in Fig. 7. Each
case starts off with low efciencies at low STBR and increases until
reaching the maximum before decreasing and reaching a steady
value. The peaks shown in this graph are not necessarily optimal
system parameters as the feedstock feeding rate is high under
these conditions. This is later discussed and several results illustrating the consumption rates at different STBR values are shown
in Figs. 11 and 12.

First we establish a baseline case found in the literature to serve

as a comparison point to determine the performance benets of
the plant currently being studied. The baseline case results
obtained from Vera et al. [5] differs from this work as it assesses
the performance of an air blown gasication process integrated
with a MGT clearly providing a reference to demonstrate the benets of high temperature steam gasication. The baseline case
which uses olive oil industrial solid waste such as tree leaves and
prunings as its main feedstock is compared to sample cases studied
in this work. The composition of this feedstock weighed on a dry
basis is 47.1% C, 6.18% H and 41.66% O which closely resembles
the feedstock studied in this work as can be shown in Table 1.
These cases analyze different feedstock with a set steam temperature of 1000 C and a steam to biomass ratio of 6 (except the case of
rubber, where a STBR of 14 has been set); This STBR values were
chosen since they represents the point where the syngas composition leaving the gasier stabilizes and further increase in such
value will not cause signicant changes. It has been assumed a heat
exchanger output temperature of 40 C in order to extract large
amounts of water from the syngas reaching the MGT. Table 2 summarizes the input information of this comparison analysis and
Fig. 8 illustrates the composition of the combustion products as
obtained by Cantera [17].
The result show that lower heating values prior to air mixing
are higher for syngas obtained with steam gasication although
the adiabatic ame temperature is only 2428% higher than that
obtained by air blow gasication, this is because the moment air
and syngas mix in the combustion chamber, large amounts of
nitrogen is introduced to the mixture therefore reducing its caloric value. Assuming an optimal MGT efciency of 12.5% as presented in the study by Vera et al. [5] the plant would require a
biomass consumption of 82 kg/h to produce 20 kWe which is

Table 2
System comparison on effects of air blown and steam gasication on combustor under stoichiometric conditions and a pressure ratio of 4. Incoming air and syngas mixture
assumed to be at room temperature (298 K).
Gasication process and syngas composition (% molar fractions)

H2

CO

CO2

CH4

H2O

N2

LHV(MJ/kg)

Ad. Flame temperature (K)

Air blow process with olive tree leaves and prunings (Cycle Tempo) [5]
Steam gasication with wood
Steam gasication with plastic
Steam gasication with MSW
Steam gasication with rubber

18.89
61.43
60.14
61.37
63.81

19.20
4.33
4.70
1.84
1.63

9.12
26.91
27.28
29.31
25.59

1.45
0
0
0
1.65

0
7.07
7.31
7.31
7.31

42.31
0
0
0
0

7.005
11.18
10.72
10.50
12.89

1722.9
2176.0
2166.1
2143.9
2192.6

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P. Campo et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 93 (2015) 7283

22

0.09
=1.0

20

=
0

16

.60

14

=0
.7

MGT Efficiency (dw)

=0
.7

18

50
0.

Wnet (kW)

0.08

=1.0

12
10

0.07
=
0

0.06
=
0

0.05

.60

.50

0.04
0.03

8
6

0.02
5

10

15

20

25

Pressure Ratio (p)

10

15

20

25

Pressure Ratio (p)

Fig. 9. Graphs representing the efciency and net electric output across the MGT as a function of pressure ratio at different equivalence ratios.

Table 3
Required biomass feeding rates and optimal pressure ratio for the cases presented in
Fig. 5.
Equivalence ratio u

_6
Biomass feeding rate m
(kg/h)

Optimal pressure ratio cp

1.00
0.75
0.60
0.50

41.5
44.5
50.5
56.5

13.5
10.0
8.0
6.5

stock under the optimal pressure ratio conditions. The tendency

shown in this graph demonstrates that biomass ow rate requirements increase exponentially as the equivalence ratio decreases.
Especially, reducing the equivalence ratio less than U = 0.60 causes
dramatic increment in the required biomass feeding. Because the
pressure ratio decreases linearly with the equivalence ratio, the
benet of decreasing pressure ratio is not as signicant as the rapid
increase in biomass feeding rates.
The amount of water reaching the combustor has low dependency on the STRB because large amounts of water is extracted
by condensation. Several cases shown in Fig. 11 demonstrate the
biomass feeding rate requirements as function of STBR with different feedstock and 1000 C steam. Fig. 12 shows the biomass feeding rate under different steam temperatures for woody biomass as
an example. The common trend noticed for all feedstock is that
decreasing steam temperature increases the biomass feeding rates.
The goal of the optimization process is to minimize feedstock
and water consumption rates and maximize the utilization factor
by reducing the solar heat required while keeping a constant reference electric output of 20 kWe. This process starts by establishing
the optimal equivalence ratio which has been set to 0.6. This determines a reasonable pressure ratio for a system of this scale which

220
Wood
Plastic
MSW
Rubber

200

Biomass Feeding Rate (kg/hr)

signicantly larger than the amount required by steam gasication processes as can be noted in the in optimal condition shown
in Table 4. Among other benets of steam gasication is the
reduction of pollutants and greenhouse gases, especially CO2
and nitrogen oxides. Fig. 8 illustrates the composition of the main
combustion products in the form of mole fractions; it has been
shown that the CO2 production rate can be reduced as much as
25% by volume in the steam gasication process relative to the
air gasication process. Also, the mole fraction of nitrogen oxides
is reduced about 50% in the case of the steam gasication
processes.
In order to demonstrate the behavior of the MGT, calculations
were performed using four types of feedstock. Fig. 9 summarizes
the net work and the efciency, gdw of the MGT as a function of
pressure ratio for different equivalence ratios when the woody biomass are used as the feedstock. The steam temperature was set to
1000 C with a STBR of 6 and a heat exchanger output temperature
of 40 C. It is found that decreasing the equivalence ratio from stoichiometric conditions across the gas turbine leads to a lower optimal pressure ratio and increases the biomass consumption
therefore reducing the thermal efciency of the MGT. The optimal
pressure ratio and the required biomass feeding rate for each case
is summarized in Table 3.
In order to optimize the equivalence ratio, two factors were
considered. First, lower pressure ratios are benecial as the infrastructure cost would be reduced. Second, a lower biomass feeding
rate is preferred in order to consume fewer resources for the same
electric output. Based on these factors and considering a steady
state composition of the syngas, the optimal equivalence ratio
was found to be around 0.60. Considering that stoichiometric conditions lead to the smallest ow rate required, the optimization
process involves minimizing the biomass feeding rate and the
pressure ratio. Fig. 10 illustrates how the biomass feeding rate
changes as a function of the equivalence ratio using different feed-

180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Equivalence Ratio ()
Fig. 10. Graph illustrating the required biomass feeding rate as function of the
system equivalence ratio. STBR was set to 6 when consuming wood, plastic and
MSW; and 14 for rubber. Steam temperature 1000 C.

82

P. Campo et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 93 (2015) 7283

Table 4
Optimum operating conditions for the CHP system using steam gasication syngas
obtained from different feedstock. Equivalence ratio (U): 0.6, steam temperature:
800 C. Heat exchanger and recuperator hot ow output temperatures 40 C and 60 C
respectively.

Biomass Feeding Rate (kg/hr)

120
Wood
Plastic
MSW
Rubber

100

80

60

40

20

0
2

10

CHP system parameter

Wood

Plastic

MSW

Rubber

Net electrical power (kW)

MGT efciency (%)
Fuel to air ratio
Water recovery fraction
Thermal energy recovered (kW)
Solar energy required (kW)
Heat recovered from recuperator (kW)
Utilization factor (%)
Turbine inlet temperature, TIT (K)
Optimum pressure ratio
STBR
_ (kg/h)
Biomass consumption, m5
_ (kg/h)
Water consumption rate, m1

20.0
7.62
0.162
0.726
77.1
13.7
25.4
33.3
804
8.20
2.00
52.2
28.6

20.0
7.58
0.170
0.588
64.8
26.9
25.4
30.1
801
8.20
2.50
42.0
43.3

20.0
8.00
0.135
0.952
94.7
24.5
20.6
42.6
792
9.30
2.00
63.0
6.02

20.0
8.30
0.098
0.738
54.3
31.3
20.4
30.5
808
9.4
4.00
23.8
24.9

STBR
Fig. 11. Graphs illustrating biomass consumption rate as a function of STBR for
different feedstock and a steam temperature of 1000 C.

62

Biomass Feeding Rate (kg/hr)

T5

800C
1000C
1200C

60

5. Conclusions

58
56
54
52
50
48
2

appropriate feedstock. If capital investment is to be minimized and

the heating requirements of the solar collector need to be reduced,
wood is the most suitable feedstock because of the low STBR and
water consumption rate required.

10

STBR
Fig. 12. Graphs illustrating wood biomass consumption rate as a function of STBR
for different steam temperatures.

varies slightly depending on the biomass feedstock and the steam

temperature. An important trend is that increasing the steam temperature has a negative effect on the system performance as it
increases the solar heat required, the water consumption rate
and the optimal pressure ratio. Although the biomass feeding rate
decreases with higher steam temperatures, such reduction is not
signicant enough to overcome the negative effects. The optimal
steam temperature therefore has been set to 800 C. Also, from
the various results discussed, primary trends indicate that low
STBR values are better to obtain low water consumption rates
and low solar power, while higher STBR are necessary to reduce
biomass consumption rates. These competing effects have been
analyzed prioritizing the reduction of feedstock consumption.
The optimal system parameters are summarized in Table 4.
Although all cases lead to utilization factors of similar magnitudes,
several statements can be made based on circumstantial conditions of the plant and the biomass to be consumed. If water consumption is to be prioritized, MSW would be the most
appropriate feedstock for consumption; however its lower heating
value implies a larger feeding rate. Conversely, if biomass consumption is to be prioritized, rubber and plastic would be the most

The main goal of this work is to demonstrate the benets of

solar assisted high temperature steam gasication in a combined
heat and power system. Optimal system conditions have been proposed to minimize the biomass feeding rate requirements and
maximize the utilization factor while maintaining a xed reference
electric output. The solar energy, which is reduced by a recuperator
of the turbine and the main syngas cooling heat exchanger, can
produce steam to reach a design temperature. Solely considering
solar power as the main input, the ratio between the required solar
energy and the electric output is around 1:1, which is a signicant
improvement relative to the state-of-the-art photovoltaic (PV) efciency ranging close to 45%. The overall performance was quantied by a utilization factor that accounts for the solar input and
the caloric value of the biomass.
Different feedstock led to slightly different system requirements caused mainly by the different moisture content in the syngas of each case. Plastic and rubber, the feedstock with the least
amount of moisture, led to lower utilization factors as the heat
recovered is lower because of the lesser amount of latent heat
available. Rubber however, because of its higher syngas heating
value, required less feedstock and water consumption to produce
the same amount of electricity. Wood and MSW on the other hand,
because of their high moisture content, led to higher utilization
factors but the biomass consumption was also higher especially
in the case of MSW as its moisture content is close to 15%. This,
however, greatly reduced the water consumption. In order to
reduce the optimal pressure conditions while maintaining reasonable biomass consumption, the equivalence ratio was set to 0.6.
This led to fuel to air ratios in the range of 0.90.17.
The thermodynamic efciency of the upstream process is higher
than 80% for most cases although STBR values lower than 2 led to
lower efciencies. The thermal efciency of the micro gas turbine
was shown to be relatively low, ranging between 7% and 9%. Air
blown gasication processes lead to lower efciencies because of
the lower syngas heating values due to N2 dilution; this results
in higher feedstock consumption rates. Also, air blown gasication
was shown to emit 25% more CO2 and twice as much nitrogen oxides on a molar basis relative to air blown gasication. The biomass
and water consumption have been minimized. Particularly water

P. Campo et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 93 (2015) 7283

consumption is greatly reduced by the condensation process. Having a low heat exchanger output temperature, not only reduces the
water consumption but it increases the heating value of the syngas.
Also, condensation of vapor implies that the heat transferred in the
heat exchanger is much higher due to the phase change and the
latent heat recovered. These performance benets are summarized
by a high utilization factor, which under optimal conditions ranges
between 30% and 43%.
Acknowledgment
This research was partially supported by the Andrew H. Hines,
Jr./Progress Energy Endowment Fund.
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