Steam catalytic gasification of municipal solid waste for producing tar-free fuel gas

• Published in: International journal of hydrogen energy Vol. 34; no. 23; pp. 9341 - 9346
• Main Authors: Guan, Yanwen, Luo, Siyi, Liu, Shiming, Xiao, Bo, Cai, Lei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Catalysis; Catalysts; Drying; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Fuels; Gasification; Gasified; Installations for energy generation and conversion: thermal and electrical energy; Municipal solid waste (MSW); Other installations: mhd power plants, fuel cell plants, incineration plants, etc; Reactors; Solid wastes; Steam gasification; Tar-free fuel gas; Municipal solid waste (MSW); Tar-free fuel gas; Steam gasification; Methane; Hydrogen; Urban waste; Gasification; Carbon monoxide; Water vapor; Catalyst; Operating conditions
• ISSN: 0360-3199; 1879-3487
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2009.09.050

In the paper, a two-region municipal solid waste (MSW) steam catalytic gasification process was proposed. The gasifier was composed of two individual reactors: one is the gasification reactors and the other is the catalytic reactor. The MSW was initially gasified and the produced tar was gasified in the gasification reactor, and further, the tar not gasified entered the catalytic reactor together with the fuel gas and was catalytically decomposed to fuel gas. The influences of the catalysts, steam and temperature on the content of tar, dry gas yield and composition, and carbon conversion efficiency were studied. The results indicated that under the optimum operating conditions, the dry gas yield can be up to 1.97 Nm 3/kg MSW and the tar in the product can be completely eliminated. The concentration of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane in the fuel gas produced was 50.8%, 9.32% and 13.3%, respectively.