Hydrogen-rich gas production from soybean straw via microwave pyrolysis under CO₂ atmosphere

ABSTRACT

The experiments on microwave pyrolysis of soybean straw are studied to produce hydrogen-rich gas under CO₂ atmosphere in this paper. The microwave power has an important effect on the temperature. The final temperature increases and the time to obtain the highest temperature is shortened with the power increasing. The gas yield, H₂ yield and potential H₂ yield increase rapidly with the power increasing, and the gaseous yield at CO₂ atmosphere is up to 55.70% at 1000 W, and it is higher than N₂ atmosphere. The main components of microwave pyrolysis gas product are H₂ and CO, the content of syngas (H₂+ CO) at CO₂ atmosphere is 84.19% at 1000 W, which is more than N₂ atmosphere. However, H₂/CO ratio is about 0.80 at CO₂ atmosphere, which is lower than N₂ atmosphere, and H₂/CO ratio at CO₂ atmosphere is not suitable for the requirements of chemical synthesis. If it is used to synthesize liquid fuels, H₂/CO ratio must be adjusted.

KEYWORDS:

• Hydrogen
• biomass
• microwave
• pyrolysis
• carbon dioxide

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [21376084];Hubei Science and Technology Department Project [2017CFB370];Hubei Key Laboratory of Industrial Fume & Dust Pollution Control, Jianghan University [HBIK2018-02].