Dr. Kumar joined the department in June of 2009. His research involves thermochemical conversion of biomass for biofuel production. The main focus of his research is gasification of biomass to generate producer gas suitable for fermentation to ethanol. Primary research goals include improving gas composition, decreasing the tar level, increasing overall efficiency, and developing mathematical models to reliably predict the product composition. Kumar uses both experimental and modeling approaches to develop more efficient and predictable gasification processes for a wide variety of feedstocks. Some of the current projects include study of the effects of gasification operating conditions, evaluation of in-bed and secondary-bed catalysts, and investigation of gasification reaction kinetics.
