H₂-enriched gaseous fuel production via steam-gasification of biomass by using lime-based sorbents

Abstract

The main objective of the present study was to compare the catalytic activity of selected limestones (Göynük, Dikmen, Polatlı Yolu, Kınık Tüneli and Köserelik) in terms of H₂-rich syngas production from biomass gasification. In order to achieve this goal, an ASPEN plus-based model for biomass gasification integrated with carbonation reaction was developed. Tar formation was also considered and the gasification process was carried out based on Gibbs free energy minimization. A combined effect of temperature (600-710 °C), steam/biomass ratio, S/B (0.58-1.58), and limestone/biomass ratio, L/B (0-2.0) on gas composition, H₂ yield (HY) and gas yield (GY) was also studied. An increase in both S/B and L/B was beneficial for H₂ enrichment. The CO₂ content declined sharply from 16.83 vol% to 10.28 vol% with increasing L/B from 0 to 1.5; however, a marginal reduction in CO₂ content was observed with further increase in L/B. The highest HY (51.01 g/kg) was produced with Dikmen followed by Göynük, Polatlı Yolu, Kınık Tüneli and Köserelik. The results also showed that the limestone samples with high CaO content in general exhibits a better H₂ production capacity than limestones with low CaO content. To the best of our knowledge, no simulation study has been presented to compare the catalytic activity of different limestones in terms of H₂ production.

Keywords:

• Biomass
• gasification
• limestone
• simulation
• ASPEN plus

Authors’ contributions

Yan Cao: Writing, model development, literature research; Yu Bai: Writing, validation and data analysis; Jiang Du: Writing, review the results and literature review.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This paper was supported by Science Popularization Special Fund Project of Shaanxi Science and Technology Association (Grant: GJ2021-34), International Joint Research Center for Electromechanical Engineering and Precision Manufacturing, Research Project on Postgraduate Education and Teaching Reform of Xi’an University of Technology (Grant: XAGDYJ210203), Xi’an Science and Technology Project (Grant: 2020KJRC0032), Research and Practice Project of Comprehensive Reform of Postgraduate Education in Shaanxi Province (Grant: YJSZG2020075), Science and Technology Planning Project of Shaanxi Province (2020KW-017), Shaanxi Innovation Capability Support Plan (Grant: 2022PT-02), and Shaanxi Key Research and Development Plan (Grant: 2020GY-147).