Chapter 8 - Valorization of waste biomass for hydrogen-enriched gas production

Abstract

This chapter presents hydrogen production through the valorization of biomass. The different hydrogen production routes from biomass were discussed. They are classified as follows: biological and thermochemical conversion routes. The comparative advantages of the two routes were discussed in the chapter. It was noted that although the biological routes are less energy-intensive, they offer lower hydrogen production rates and yields than the thermochemical routes. Gasification, pyrolysis, and supercritical water gasification were identified as the three main methods for biomass-based hydrogen production via the thermochemical route. Gasification is identified as the most important route for biomass-based hydrogen production and hence, a significant part of this chapter focused on hydrogen production from the gasification technology. The chapter also discussed sorbent-enhanced gasification techniques for hydrogen production and presented the conventional CO2 sorbent materials and alternative sorbents for hydrogen enrichment in the gasification process.