Hydrogen Production From Crude Bio-oil and Biomass Char by Electrochemical Catalytic Reforming

We reports an efficient approach for production of hydrogen from crude bio-oil and biomass char in the dual fixed-bed system by using the electrochemical catalytic reforming method. The maximal absolute hydrogen yield reached 110.9 g H2/kg dry biomass. The product gas was a mixed gas containing 72%H2, 26%CO2, 1.9%CO, and a trace amount of CH4. It was observed that adding biomass char （a by-product of pyrolysis of biomass） could remarkably increase the absolute H2 yield （about 20%-50%）. The higher reforming temperature could enhance the steam reforming reaction of organic compounds in crude bio-oil and the reaction of CO and H20. In addition, the CuZn-Al2O3 catalyst in the water-gas shift bed could also increase the absolute H2 yield via shifting CO to CO2.

Direct reduction of iron ore by biomass char

By using thermogravimetric analysis the process and mechanism of iron ore reduced by biomass char were investigated and compared with those reduced by coal and coke. It is found that biomass char has a higher reactivity. The increase of carbon-to-oxygen mole ratio （C/O） can lead to the enhancement of reaction rate and reduction fraction, but cannot change the temperature and trend of each reaction. The reaction temperature of hematite reduced by biomass char is at least 100 K lower than that reduced by coal and coke, the maximum reaction rate is 1.57 times as high as that of coal, and the final reaction fraction is much higher. Model calculation indicates that the use of burden composed of biomass char and iron ore for blast furnaces can probably decrease the temperature of the thermal reserve zone and reduce the CO equilibrium concentration.

Studies of Gas Emissions and Performance of Stoves Using Biomass

In this article,we evaluated the energy performance parameters and gas emissions to identify which of the stoves studied performs best,and the biomass char briquettes with less emission.Biomass char briquettes from peanut shells,cashew nut shells,and corn cobs were produced using wheat flour as a binder.The binder rate was set at 9%and 10%.Based on the energy performance parameters,it was highlighted that the char briquette from corn cob with 9%binder(Char_CC_9%)has the best energy performance,followed by the char briquette from peanut shells with 9%binder(Char_PNS_9%),and lastly,the char briquette from cashew nut shells with 10%binder(Char_CNS_10%).The average energy efficiency of the“jambar”stove was 15.68%,while that of the“Malgache”stove was 12.41%.The average specific fuel consumption of the“jambar”stove was 0.12 kg of fuel per kilogram of water while that of the“Malgache”stove was 0.15 kg of fuel per kilogram of water.In terms of gaseous emissions,CO(carbon monoxide)concentrations were very high for char briquettes from corn cobs,with a CO emission factor of 0.40 g/min and NOx emission factor of 9.79 mg/min.For char briquettes from cashew nut shells,CO and NOx emission factors were respectively 0.30 g/min and 5.32 mg/min.The lowest average concentrations were obtained with char briquettes from peanut shells with a CO emission factor of 0.25 g/min and NO_(x) 3.98 mg/min.

Non-isothermal study of gasification process of coal char and biomass char in CO_2 condition

Non-isothermal method was used to study gasification characteristics of three coal chars and one biomass char.Four chars were made from anthracite coal（A）,bituminous coal（B）,lignite coal（L）,and wood refuse（W）,respectively.The gasification process was studied by random pore model（RPM）,unreacted core model（URCM）and volumetric model（VM）.With an increase in metamorphic grade,the gasification reactivity of coal char decreased,and the gasification reactivity of biomass char was close to that of low metamorphic coal char.With an increase in heating rate,the gasification of all samples moved towards high temperature zone,and the whole gasification time decreased.It was concluded from kinetics analysis that the above-mentioned three models could be used to describe the gasification process of coal char,and the RPM fitted the best among the three models.In the RPM,the activation energies of gasification were193.9,225.3 and 202.8 kJ/mol for anthracite coal char,bituminous coal char and lignite coal char,respectively.The gasification process of biomass char could be described by the URCM and VM,while the URCM performed better.The activation energy of gasification of wood refuse char calculated by the URCM was 282.0 kJ/mol.

In-situ study on structure evolution and gasification reactivity of biomass char with K and Ca catalysts at carbon dioxide atmosphere

The structural evolution and gasification reactivity of biochar prepared from the pyrolysis of wheat straw were investigated by in-situ Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis.The Raman spectra consisted of a combination of four Lorentzian bands(D1,D2,D4,G)and one Gaussian band(D3)in the first-order region.The experimental results showed that the addition of catalysts or the presence of ash could improve the CO_(2) gasification reactivity of biochar and result in a larger ID1/IG ratio and a lower IG/IALL ratio,meaning that the carbon structure was less ordered,and there were also more active sites such as amorphous carbon and cross-linked structures;Ca-based catalysts and K-based catalysts changed the evolution of biochar structure in a different way in CO_(2) atmosphere,the ID3/ID1 of Ca-based biochar was close to the value of non-catalyst biochar and decreased slowly,indicating that the Ca-based catalysts can stabilize the aromatic rings,while the IG/IALL of K-based biochar decreases significantly and the ID3/ID1 increased significantly,indicating the increase of carbon structure defects and the cracking of large aromatic rings in bio-char into small ones;a scheme of K and Ca reaction with biochar in CO_(2) gasification process was proposed.