5 - Challenges of hydrogen production from biomass gasification

Abstract

With the development of alternative energy sources, biomass gasification for hydrogen production technology has attracted high attentions from researchers. This chapter introduces three main aspects: biomass gasification for hydrogen production technology, enhancement strategies for hydrogen production from biomass gasification, and hydrogen purification technology. The physical and chemical processes of hydrogen production from traditional biomass gasification, the effects of various key parameters on the performance of hydrogen production from biomass gasification, and the advantages and disadvantages of existing hydrogen purification technologies are introduced in details. Although the technology of hydrogen production from biomass gasification has been studied for many years, there are still challenges that hinder the commercialization and industrialization of hydrogen production technology from biomass gasification. The challenges including the detailed gasification evolution mechanisms of biomass, the gasification interactions between biomass components, the development of new catalysts and purification technologies, and the antiaging of catalytic and purification materials have been proposed in this chapter. In particular, there is a lack of precise and detailed descriptions of the gasification evolution mechanism of biomass macromolecules, catalytic and deactivation mechanisms of catalysts, which provide a theoretical basis for precise manipulation of the direction of hydrogen production reactions from biomass gasification. Finally, it is hoped that by overcoming the challenges presented, the technical barriers of hydrogen production from biomass gasification can be broken through, and the hydrogen production technology from biomass gasification can be commercialized and industrialized.