Development of a nano-Ni-La-Fe/Al2O3 catalyst to be used for syn-gas production and tar removal after biomass gasification

Abstract

The objective of this study was to develop a supported tri-metallic catalyst (nano-Ni-La-Fe/γ-Al2O3) for tar removal in biomass steam gasification, to significantly enhance the quality of the produced gas. For this purpose, the supported tri-metallic catalysts were prepared by a deposition-precipitation (DP) method. Different analytical approaches were used to characterize the synthesized catalysts. The results showed that the prepared tri-metallic catalysts had an egg-shell structure with a specific surface area of 214.7 m2/g. The activity of the catalysts for gas production and tar removal in the process of biomass gasification was also investigated using a bench-scale combined fixed bed reactor. The experiments indicated that the tar yield after adding catalyst was reduced significantly and the efficiency of tar removal reached 99% for the biomass steam gasification at 800oC, while the gas yield after adding catalysts increased markedly and less coke was found over the catalyst. Meanwhile, the compositions of gas products before and after adding catalyst in the process also changed significantly; in particular, the content of hydrogen in catalytic steam gasification was improved by over 10 vol%. Therefore, using the prepared tri-metallic catalyst in biomass gasification can significantly improve the quality of the produced gas and efficiently eliminate the tar generation, preventing coke deposition on the catalyst surfaces, thus demonstrating a long lifetime of the catalyst.