Synthesis of Activated Carbon from Coal for Enhancing Hydrogen Content in Syngas from Co-Gasification of Rice Husk and Coal

Abstract

Hydrogen-rich syngas either from nonrenewable or renewable sources plays a key role for fulfilling the future energy demand. The CO2 sorbent, activated carbon, synthesized from coal was studied and introduced into the process of co-gasification rice husk with coal. The research was conducted in the continuous gasification reactor with a capacity of 5 kg/h. The raw material used was rice husk and coal while the mass concentration of rice husk was varied at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. The steam as a gasification agent was maintained at temperatures of 400°C and 500°C. The effect of coal, steam temperature, and activated carbon to enrich hydrogen in the syngas was disclosed. The synergistic effect of enhancing hydrogen content in the syngas from the co-gasification was found the mass concentration of coal around 50%. This paper found also the characteristic of activated carbon to increase the concentration of hydrogen in the syngas and the suggestions for improving them were proposed.