A small electro-fluidic reactor, 5 cm in diameter was constructed and brought to successful operation. Using the reactor, steady-state experimental data were obtained on the gasification of carbon by steam in a resistively-heated fluidized-bed at temperatures in the range 900 to 1000 degrees c. A mathematical model, based upon the bubbling-bed model of Kato and Wen [88], was developed to explain the steady-state behaviour of the gasifier. The parameters of the model were estimated from the

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... imental data using hybrid computing techniques. The bubbling-bed model was found to be more satisfactory in explaining the experimental results than either the plug-flow or perfect-mixing models. This result suggests that the bubbling-bed model gives good insight into the operation of the electro-fluidic gasifier. However the use of the model in design calculations is restricted by the need to experimentally determine model parameters. The lines for further development of the model to make it more suitable for design calculations, for example in scale-up from laboratory reactors to pilot-scale reactors, is pointed out. In a series of dynamic gasification experiments, the responses of the reactor-bed temperature to step changes in the bed-electrode power, were recorded. Working from first principles, a simple dynamic model of the electro-fluidic gasifier was constructed to explain these responses. Using data sampled from the experimental response curves, and hybrid-computing techniques, the parameters of the dynamic model were estimated using both the quasilinearization . . .