Pyrolysis-catalytic steam reforming of agricultural biomass wastes and biomass components for production of hydrogen/syngas

The pyrolysis-catalytic steam reforming of six agricultural biomass waste samples as well as the three main components of biomass was investigated in a two stage fixed bed reactor. Pyrolysis of the biomass took place in the first stage followed by catalytic steam reforming of the evolved pyrolysis gases in the second stage catalytic reactor. The waste biomass samples were, rice husk, coconut shell, sugarcane bagasse, palm kernel shell, cotton stalk and wheat straw and the biomass components were, cellulose, hemicellulose (xylan) and lignin. The catalyst used for steam reforming was a 10 wt.% nickel-based alumina catalyst (NiAl₂O₃). In addition, the thermal decomposition characteristics of the biomass wastes and biomass components were also determined using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The TGA results showed distinct peaks for the individual biomass components, which were also evident in the biomass waste samples reflecting the existence of the main biomass components in the biomass wastes. The results for the two-stage pyrolysis-catalytic steam reforming showed that introduction of steam and catalyst into the pyrolysis-catalytic steam reforming process significantly increased gas yield and syngas production notably hydrogen. For instance, hydrogen composition increased from 6.62 to 25.35 mmol g^?1 by introducing steam and catalyst into the pyrolysis-catalytic steam reforming of palm kernel shell. Lignin produced the most hydrogen compared to cellulose and hemicellulose at 25.25 mmol g^?1. The highest residual char production was observed with lignin which produced about 45 wt.% char, more than twice that of cellulose and hemicellulose.     

Aromatic fuel oils produced from the pyrolysis-catalysis of polyethylene plastic with metal-impregnated zeolite catalysts

Pyrolysis-catalysis of high density polyethylene (HPDE) was carried out in a fixed bed, two stage reactor for the production of upgraded aromatic pyrolysis oils. The catalysts investigated were Y-zeolite impregnated with transition metal promoters with 1 wt% and 5 wt% metal loading of Ni, Fe, Mo, Ga, Ru and Co to determine the influence on aromatic fuel composition. Pyrolysis of the HDPE took place at 600 °C in the first stage of the reactor system and the evolved pyrolysis gases were passed to the second stage catalytic reactor, which had been pre-heated to 600 °C. Loading of metals on the Y-zeolite catalyst led to a higher production of aromatic hydrocarbons in the product oil with greater concentration of single ring aromatic hydrocarbons produced. The single ring aromatic compounds consisted of mainly toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes, while the 2-ring hydrocarbons were mainly naphthalene and their alkylated derivatives. There was a reduction in the production of multiple ring aromatic compounds such as, phenanthrene and pyrene. The addition of the promoter metals appeared to have only a small influence on aromatic oil content, but increased the hydrogen yield from the HDPE. However, there was significant carbon deposition on the catalysts in the range 14–22 wt% for the 1% metal-Y-zeolite catalysts and increased to 18–26 wt% for the 5 wt% metal-Y-zeolite catalysts.