Heavy metal contaminated energy crops as a local energy carrier – fixed bed gasification process of the pretreated feedstock Sebastian WERLE 1* , Łukasz ZIÓŁKOWSKI 1 , Daniel BISORCA 2 , Daniela BURNETE 2 , Marta POGRZEBA 3 , Jacek KRZYŻAK 3 , Izabela RATMAN-KŁOSIŃSKA 3 1 Institute of Thermal Technology, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland 2 Institutul de Studii si Proiectări Energetice, Bucharest, Romania 3 Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, Katowice, Poland *corresponding author: Sebastian.Werle@polsl.pl ABSTRACT In the work experimental analysis of the fixed bed gasification (FBG) of the heavy metal contaminated (HMC) samples of energy crops Miscanthus x giganteus, Sida hermaphrodita and Spartina pectinata was presented. The samples were taken from HMC arable land located in Bytom (southern part of Poland, Silesian Voivodship). The land was a subject of the remediation process. During the plots harvesting, the following options were analysed: (1) control samples plots harvested from soil without additives, (2) samples taken from the soil with N, P and K fertilizer addition and (3) samples taken from land with the microbial inoculum addition to stimulate biomass growth and minimize the negative effect of pathogens. The gasification experiment was carried out using a fixed bed facility. In this study a number of gasification experiments were done by varying the air ratio from 0.12 to 0.27. The influence of the type of the feedstock pre-treatment method (control/NPK addition/inoculum addition) and the type of the feedstock on the gasification gas parameters (the Lower Heating Value, LHV) and temperature distribution in gasifier was analysed. Results show that LHV was found to be low and it starts to rise until the optimum air ratio of 0.18 and later drops for higher air ratio. The best effect of the LHV increment is visible for NPK addition effect for, Sida hermaphrodita sample. KEYWORDS: remediation; inoculum and fertilizer application; energy crops; heavy metals; gasification; fixed bed installation. INTRODUCTION Remediation of contaminated soils has become a long-term challenge as it addresses both scientific and technical aspects as well as social issues (rehabilitation of former industrial sites in ecodistricts, restoration of ecosystem services, etc.) and economic issues (markets of soil rehabilitation; production of plant biomass for feedstock on contaminated soils integrated in the biobased-knowledge for bioeconomy) [1]. In spite of the importance of management options for sustainable and safe use of heavy metal contaminated (HMC) soils, little has been investigated on combining the production of energy crops on the contaminated areas with phytoremediation of these sites. Whereas HMC soils are unsuitable for food production, energy crops can allow the commercial exploitation of these soils by establishing biofuel feedstock production systems. In addition, the cultivation of plants offers opportunities for site stabilization and phytoremediation of contaminated soils [2]. There is a number of typical energy crop species available on the market which have also been tested with success for phytoremediation effect on HMC arable land. They, however, need further tests for different heavy metals to prove their robustness for large scale applications. 0077-1