Effective syngas cleanup and reforming using Ni/γ-Al_(2)O_(3) catalyst

This work reports the performance of a selective Ni-based catalyst in tar removal and syngas reforming.Benzene was used as the model tar to optimize catalytic reaction conditions.Parameters investigated were reaction temperature(700℃ to 900℃),gas residence time(0.1 s to 1.1 s),and catalyst loadings(3%to 21%of the weight of γ-Al_(2)O_(3) support).On the basis of the benzene test,a reaction temperature of 800℃,catalyst loading of 15wt%,and residence time of 0.3 s were chosen as optimum reaction conditions.Testing of these conditions showed that the Ni/γ-Al_(2)O_(3) catalyst removed more than 99%of tars in syngas in the downdraft gasifier and 98%in the updraft gasifier.Concentrations of combustible compounds of syngas also increased significantly.H_(2) concentration increased from 19.96%to 51.78%in the downdraft gasifier and from 23.97%to 37.39%in the updraft gasifier;CO concentration increased from 16.26%to 21.10%in the downdraft gasifier and from 22.95%to 25.64%in the updraft gasifier.The results indicate that the Ni/γ-Al_(2)O_(3) catalyst and associated catalytic conditions could not only effectively eliminate tars but also improve the quality of syngas in biomass gasification.