Hydrogen-rich gas from catalytic steam gasification of municipal solid waste (MSW): Influence of steam to MSW ratios and weight hourly space velocity on gas production and composition

Abstract The present work deals with a study coupling experiments and modeling of catalytic steam gasification of municipal solid waste (MSW) for producing hydrogen-rich gas or syngas (H2 + CO) with calcined dolomite as a catalyst in a bench-scale downstream fixed bed reactor. The influence of steam to MSW ratios (S/M) on gas production and composition was studied at 900 °C over the S/M range of 0.39–1.04, for weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) in the range of 1.22–1.51 h−1. Over the ranges of experimental conditions examined, calcined dolomite revealed better catalytic performance at the presence of steam. H2 and CO2 contents increased with S/M increasing, while CO and CH4 contents decreased sharply, the contents of CH4, C2H4 and C2H6 were relatively small, and the influence of S/M was insignificant. The highest H2 content of 53.22 mol %, the highest H2 yield of 42.98 mol H2/kg MSW, and the highest H2 potential yield of 59.83 mol H2/kg MSW were achieved at the highest S/M level of 1.04. Furthermore, there was a good agreement between the experimental gas composition and that corresponding to thermodynamic equilibrium data calculated using GasEq model. Consequently, a kinetic model was proposed for describing the variation of H2 yield and carbon conversion efficiency with S/M during the catalytic steam gasification of MSW. The kinetic model revealed a good performance between experimental results and the kinetic model.

[1]  Bo Xiao,et al.  Syngas production from catalytic gasification of waste polyethylene: Influence of temperature on gas yield and composition , 2009 .

[2]  A. Gordon,et al.  Steam gasification of tars using a CaO catalyst , 1999 .

[3]  X. L. Zhang,et al.  Experimental study on air-stream gasification of biomass micron fuel (BMF) in a cyclone gasifier. , 2009, Bioresource Technology.

[4]  The gasification of wet biomass using Ca(OH)2 as CO2 absorbent: The microstructure of char and absorbent , 2008 .

[5]  Andrew Porteous,et al.  Energy from waste incineration — a state of the art emissions review with an emphasis on public acceptability , 2001 .

[6]  Anna Björklund,et al.  Hydrogen as a transportation fuel produced from thermal gasification of municipal solid waste: an examination of two integrated technologies , 2001 .

[7]  Stefania Casu,et al.  Steam gasification of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) : Influence of process temperature on yield and product composition , 2006 .

[8]  K. Sumathy,et al.  Potential of renewable hydrogen production for energy supply in Hong Kong , 2006 .

[9]  P. Foscolo,et al.  CO2 capture by means of dolomite in hydrogen production from syn gas , 2008 .

[10]  Tharapong Vitidsant,et al.  Promotional Effects of Al2O3 Addition to Co/SiO2 Catalysts for Fischer−Tropsch Synthesis , 2006 .

[11]  Sanjeev Maken,et al.  Environmental aspects of gasification of Korean municipal solid waste in a pilot plant , 2006 .

[12]  Changhou Liu,et al.  Steam gasification of biomass for hydrogen-rich gas in a free-fall reactor , 2007 .

[13]  A. K. Dalai,et al.  Production of hydrogen and/or syngas (H2 + CO) via steam gasification of biomass-derived chars , 2003 .

[14]  Gaetano Iaquaniello,et al.  Integration of biomass gasification with MCFC , 2006 .

[15]  Bo Xiao,et al.  Development of nano-niO/Al2O3 catalyst to be used for tar removal in biomass gasification. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[16]  Liejin Guo,et al.  Hydrogen production from glucose used as a model compound of biomass gasified in supercritical water , 2003 .

[17]  N. Abatzoglou,et al.  Thermal and catalytic dry reforming and cracking of ethanol for hydrogen and carbon nanofilaments' production , 2008 .

[18]  Dimitrios P. Tassios,et al.  Solid waste plasma gasification: Equilibrium model development and exergy analysis , 2006 .

[19]  Toshiyuki Suda,et al.  Distinctive effects of CaO additive on atmospheric gasification of biomass at different temperatures , 2005 .

[20]  S. Hamel,et al.  Hydrogen energy from coupled waste gasification and cement production—a thermochemical concept study , 2006 .

[21]  Koichi Hirota,et al.  Application of electron beam for the reduction of PCDD/F emission from municipal solid waste incinerators. , 2003, Environmental science & technology.

[22]  K. Sumathy,et al.  AN OVERVIEW OF HYDROGEN PRODUCTION FROM BIOMASS , 2006 .

[23]  Anastasia Zabaniotou,et al.  Syngas production from olive tree cuttings and olive kernels in a downdraft fixed-bed gasifier , 2008 .

[24]  B. Xiao,et al.  Gasification characteristics of biomass micron fuel (BMF): study on steam gasification for hydrogen-rich gas production. , 2008 .

[25]  D. Y. Goswami,et al.  An experimental study of hydrogen production by gasification of biomass in the presence of a CO2 sorbent , 2007 .

[26]  Kunio Yoshikawa,et al.  Distributed gasification and power generation from solid wastes , 2005 .

[27]  Shaoping Xu,et al.  Steam gasification of apricot stones with olivine and dolomite as downstream catalysts , 2006 .

[28]  Fan Gao,et al.  Hydrogen-rich gas production from biomass steam gasification in an updraft fixed-bed gasifier combined with a porous ceramic reformer , 2008 .

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

[30]  Jinwon Park,et al.  Vitrification of MSWI fly ash using Brown's gas and fate of heavy metals , 2005 .

[31]  Fan Yang,et al.  Hydrogen-rich gas from catalytic steam gasification of municipal solid waste (MSW): Influence of catalyst and temperature on yield and product composition , 2009 .