An integrated process for hydrogen-rich gas production from cotton stalks: The simultaneous gasification of pyrolysis gases and char in an entrained flow bed reactor

An integrated process (pyrolysis, gas-solid simultaneous gasification and catalytic steam reforming) was utilized to produce hydrogen-rich gas from cotton stalks. The simultaneous conversion of the pyrolysis products (char and pyrolysis gases) was emphatically investigated using an entrained flow bed reactor. More carbon of char is converted into hydrogen-rich gas in the simultaneous conversion process and the carbon conversion is increased from 78.84% to 92.06% compared with the two stages process (pyrolysis and catalytic steam reforming). The distribution of tar components is also changed in this process. The polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) of tar are converted into low-ring compounds or even chain compounds due to the catalysis of char. In addition, the carbon deposition yield over NiO/MgO catalyst in the steam reforming process is approximately 4 times higher without the simultaneous process. The potential H-2 yield increases from 47.71 to 78.19 g/kg cotton stalks due to the simultaneous conversion process. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.