Hydrogen production from biomass gasification with Ni/MCM-41 catalysts: Influence of Ni content

Abstract The steam pyrolysis-gasification of biomass, wood sawdust, was carried out with a Ni/MCM-41 catalyst for hydrogen production in a two-stage fixed bed reaction system. The wood sawdust was pyrolysed in the first reactor and the derived products were gasified in the second reactor. The synthesised MCM-41 mesoporous catalyst supports were impregnated with different Ni loadings (5, 10, 20 and 40 wt.%), which were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), temperature programmed reduction (TPR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO). NiO particles were homogeneously dispersed inside the pores of 5, 10, and 20 wt.% Ni/MCM-41 catalysts; however, more bulkly NiO particles (up to 200 nm particle size) were detected outside the pores with an increase of the Ni loading up to 40 wt.%. Gas production was increased from 40.7 to 62.8 wt.%, hydrogen production was increased from 30.1 to 50.6 vol.% of total gas composition when the Ni loading was increased from 5 to 40 wt.% during the pyrolysis-gasification of wood sawdust. This work showed low coke deposition (from 0.5 to 4.0 wt.%) with valuable bio-oil by-products using the Ni/MCM-41 catalyst. The highly efficient conversion of renewable biomass resource to hydrogen and bio-oil with very low coke deposition indicates that biomass gasification on Ni/MCM-41 catalysts via two-stage reaction is a promising method for the development of the biorefinery concept.

[1]  Julius Scherzer,et al.  Hydrocracking Science and Technology , 1996 .

[2]  Takeo Kimura,et al.  Catalytic performance of supported Ni catalysts in partial oxidation and steam reforming of tar derived from the pyrolysis of wood biomass , 2006 .

[3]  Ming Zhao,et al.  Mesoporous supported cobalt catalysts for enhanced hydrogen production during cellulose decomposition , 2010 .

[4]  Nicholas H. Florin,et al.  The influence of supported Ni catalysts on the product gas distribution and H2 yield during cellulose pyrolysis , 2009 .

[5]  D. Świerczyński,et al.  Steam reforming of tar from a biomass gasification process over Ni/olivine catalyst using toluene as a model compound , 2007 .

[6]  A. Tsutsumi,et al.  Comparison of Co/MgO and Ni/MgO catalysts for the steam reforming of naphthalene as a model compound of tar derived from biomass gasification , 2005 .

[7]  J. Klinowski,et al.  OPTIMAL PARAMETERS FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF THE MESOPOROUS MOLECULAR SIEVE SI-MCM-41 , 1997 .

[8]  R. Mark Bricka,et al.  Biomass Gasification: Catalytic Removal of Tars over Zeolites and Nickel Supported Zeolites , 2010 .

[9]  Ram B. Gupta,et al.  Hydrogen Production by Methanol Reforming in Supercritical Water: Suppression of Methane Formation , 2005 .

[10]  Takeo Kimura,et al.  Development of Ni catalysts for tar removal by steam gasification of biomass , 2006 .

[11]  Jesús Arauzo,et al.  Catalytic steam reforming of model compounds of biomass pyrolysis liquids in fixed bed: Acetol and n-butanol , 2009 .

[12]  M. Dietenberger,et al.  Vision of the U.S. Biofuel Future: A Case for Hydrogen-Enriched Biomass Gasification , 2007 .

[13]  J. G. Mesu,et al.  Synthesis and characterisation of MCM-41 supported nickel oxide catalysts , 2001 .

[14]  Bruce E Logan,et al.  Hydrogen production in a single chamber microbial electrolysis cell lacking a membrane. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[15]  Liejin Guo,et al.  Hydrogen production by biomass gasification in supercritical water over Ni/γAl2O3 and Ni/CeO2-γAl2O3 catalysts , 2010 .

[16]  Paul T. Williams,et al.  Hydrogen production by steam gasification of polypropylene with various nickel catalysts , 2009 .

[17]  J Swithenbank,et al.  Tar reduction in pyrolysis vapours from biomass over a hot char bed. , 2009, Bioresource technology.

[18]  Paul T. Williams,et al.  Investigation of Ni-Al, Ni-Mg-Al and Ni-Cu-Al catalyst for hydrogen production from pyrolysis–gasification of polypropylene , 2009 .

[19]  Gao Qing Lu,et al.  A Comprehensive Study on Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane over Ni/γ-Al2O3 Catalysts , 1999 .

[20]  Paul T. Williams,et al.  Investigation of coke formation on Ni-Mg-Al catalyst for hydrogen production from the catalytic steam pyrolysis-gasification of polypropylene , 2010 .

[21]  J. Hill,et al.  Comparison of reducibility and stability of alumina-supported Ni catalysts prepared by impregnation and co-precipitation , 2006 .

[22]  M. Gazzano,et al.  Preparation and thermal reactivity of nickel/chromium and nickel/aluminium hydrotalcite-type precursors , 1991 .

[23]  Paul T. Williams,et al.  Influence of NaOH, Ni/Al2O3 and Ni/SiO2 catalysts on hydrogen production from the subcritical water gasification of model food waste compounds , 2010 .

[24]  Young-Sam Oh,et al.  Methane reforming over Ni/Ce-ZrO2 catalysts: effect of nickel content , 2002 .

[25]  Jie Chang,et al.  Hydrogen-Rich Gas Production from Biomass Catalytic Gasification , 2004 .

[26]  Jan Brandin,et al.  The technical feasibility of biomass gasification for hydrogen production , 2005 .

[27]  I. Kiricsi,et al.  Synthesis and characterization of Ni-MCM-41 materials with spherical morphology and their catalytic activity in toluene hydrogenation , 2007 .

[28]  K. Murata,et al.  Hydrogen production by gasification of cellulose over Ni catalysts supported on zeolites , 2006 .

[29]  Paul T. Williams,et al.  Influence of alkali catalysts on the production of hydrogen-rich gas from the hydrothermal gasification of food processing waste , 2010 .

[30]  R. Mark Ormerod,et al.  The oxidative chemistry of methane over supported nickel catalysts , 1998 .

[31]  J. Yi,et al.  Preparation of Mesoporous Catalyst Supported on Silica with Finely Dispersed Ni Particles , 2002 .

[32]  Jo‐Shu Chang,et al.  The steam reforming of naphthalene over a nickel-dolomite cracking catalyst. , 2005 .

[33]  Takeo Kimura,et al.  Promoting effect of the interaction between Ni and CeO2 on steam gasification of biomass , 2007 .

[34]  I. Saito,et al.  High-Yield Hydrogen Production by Steam Gasification of HyperCoal (Ash-Free Coal Extract) with Potassium Carbonate: Comparison with Raw Coal , 2005 .

[35]  F. Ateş,et al.  Evaluation of the Role of the Pyrolysis Temperature in Straw Biomass Samples and Characterization of the Oils by GC/MS , 2008 .

[36]  M. Asadullah,et al.  Promoting effect of Pt addition to Ni/CeO2/Al2O3 catalyst for steam gasification of biomass , 2008 .

[37]  Tharapong Vitidsant,et al.  A highly efficient catalyst for tar gasification with steam , 2005 .

[38]  Xenophon E. Verykios,et al.  Production of hydrogen for fuel cells by steam reforming of ethanol over supported noble metal catalysts , 2003 .

[39]  Y. Richardson,et al.  In situ generation of Ni metal nanoparticles as catalyst for H2-rich syngas production from biomass gasification , 2010 .

[40]  Paul T. Williams,et al.  Ni/CeO2/ZSM-5 catalysts for the production of hydrogen from the pyrolysis–gasification of polypropylene , 2009 .