An Experimental Study of Steam Gasification of Biomass over Precalcined Copper Slag Catalysts

Abstract

Biomass gasification was separated from catalytic pyrolysis in a two-stage fixed bed reactor with precalcined copper slag catalysts placed in a secondary reactor. The effects of gasification temperature (720-950°C), steam to biomass (S/B) mass ratio (0-2g/g), precalcined copper slag to biomass (C/B) mass ratio (0-2g/g) and copper slag precalcined at different temperatures (800-1000°C) on characteristics of biomass gasification were investigated. The experimental results show that the increase of gasification temperature, S/B mass ratio, C/B mass ratio and precalcination temperature are all favorable for raising gasification efficiency and enhancing the H2 production. With copper slag precalcined at 1000°C for 5 hours as catalyst under the experimental conditions examined, the H2 content, the hydrogen yield, the gas yield and the gasification efficiency reach the maximum of 59.16%, 0.72 Nm3/kg, 1.22 Nm3/kg and 77.56%,respectively.