Effectiveness of K 2CO 3 and Ni as catalysts in steam gasification

Abstract

The catalytic steam gasification of 34 coals ranging from anthracite to peat was conducted in a thermobalance at 1023 K. When the difference in the reactivities of coals with and without catalyst is taken as a measure of the catalyst efficacy, that of K 2CO 3 was found to be extremely large and almost independent of coal rank. The effectiveness of Ni depends on the coal type to a great extent and it was very large for several low rank coals. SEM observation and EDAX analysis showed that the K 2CO 3 catalyst was finely dispersed over the char and such a good dispersion was common for all the coals examined. The dispersion state of Ni catalysts depends on the coal type, Ni catalysts were well dispersed over low rank coal chars which showed high reactivity in the Ni-catalysed gasification.