Hydrogen energy production from disposable chopsticks by a low temperature catalytic gasification

This study investigates the comparison of various mineral catalysts on the enhancement of energy yield efficiency with low temperature catalytic gasification of disposable chopsticks. The experiments were carried out in a fluidized bed reactor by controlling the temperature and keeping it within the range of 600 degrees C-800 degrees C. The mineral catalysts, such as aluminum silicate, zeolite and calcium oxide (CaO) were used as the experimental catalysts for enhancing energy yield in this research. According to the experimental results, the gasification temperature is a critical factor for improving the gas yield and quality. In general, a higher temperature provides more favorable conditions for thermal cracking and enhances the gas yield and quality. The hydrogen content produced from the tested biomass gasification by various catalysts slightly increased from 11.77% to 14.57%. Furthermore, the lower heating value of synthesis gas increased from 9.28 MJ/Nm(3) to 9.62 MJ/Nm(3), when the fluidized bed reactor temperature operated at 600 degrees C and the tested catalysts addition. That is, the catalytic gasification has good energy yield performance for enhancing higher energy content of synthesis gas in a lower-temperature catalytic fluidized bed reactor. Compared with the hydrogen production efficiency, the addition of a calcium based catalyst can reduce bed agglomeration tendency, but it also improves the energy yield in this research. Copyright (C) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.