Application of Producer Gas from South Sumatera, Indonesia, Low Rank Coal Gasification on Spark Ignition Engine or Gasoline Engine

The substitution of oil fuel to coal continued to increase by the government of Indonesia that has been implemented on energy mix program. In this study, the low rank coal of South Sumatera, Indonesia was converted to producer gas, using gasification process. The gasification process was carried out on the downdraft gasifier equipped with a cleaning system. The equivalent ratio of the gasification process was in the range of 0.24 to 0.25. Combustible gas produced was very stable from the beginning to the end of the process. The producer gas was used to drive a spark ignition engine on dual fuel operations. The study was conducted using a maximum electrical load of 1 kW. The results of the study showed, the gasoline consumption rate was increased from 0.53 L/h to 0.68 L/h with increasing of electrical load in dual fuel operation. The maximum and the average of gasoline savings were 16.6 % and 15.3%, respectively. The specific gasoline consumption rate decreased from 1.83 L/kWh to 0.68 L/kWh.