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Ultra High Temperature Gasification
Investigators: Rafal Buczyński, Kriengsak Sangtong-Ngam, Jakub Gmurczyk


Overview

High Temperature Steam Gasification of solid waste is used to produce hydrogen-rich syngas with minimized emission of pollutants.  Through the process of gasification a significant amount of mass reduction can be achieved, usually about 80-99%, depending on the conditions.  By controlling temperature and steam/feedstock ratio ideal conditions for hydrogen production with minimum emissions can be found.

 

Experimental Facility


The facility is used to gasify solid samples in the presence of any gasifying agent of interest.  In the present configuration hydrogen/oxygen combustion is used to produce high temperature steam, which is then passed into an electrically heated furnace where it interacts with the sample of interest.  The steam temperature is adjusted by changing the power input into the furnace and it typically ranges from 700 ºC to 1200 ºC.  The steam to feedstock ratio can be controlled by the flow rate of steam or by the amount of sample in the reactor.
Once the moisture and particulates are removed, the produced syngas is analyzed with a gas chromatograph.




Simulations

A set of simulations was done with the use of EQUIL, a part of Chemkin Collection Package, which is a commercial equilibrium code.  The simulations show a strong dependence of the product composition on temperature and steam/feedstock ratio.




Results

                                   Woodchips




                                          Paper

Recently, H2 in excess of 65% has been obtained for biomass fuels.
The hydrogen-rich sungas is transformed to pure hydrogen in the laboratory scale reactor.





 

Last Edited: May 13, 2006