Gasification of Miscanthus X Giganteus in Catalytic Conditions: Production of Syngas, Preliminary Results

Abstract

The continuous increase in CO2 content in the atmosphere, mainly due to the combustion of fossil fuels, is predicted to lead to the global warming. Biomass is considered as a promising renewable energy source. The conventional method for the production of synthesis gas from biomass is gasification. The gasification of biomass provides the most attractive solution for the introduction of biomass in decentralised power production. Conversion of biomass to synthesis gas becomes more and more important in terms of renewable energy sources. Moreover, in the different processes of gasification, the main problems remain the total removal of tars and light hydrocarbons like methane formed during the thermal treatment. In fact, it is necessary to obtain a very pure and stoichiometric mixture of CO and H2 that can be used for the preparation of hydrocarbons via the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. To solve this problem, beside temperature reaction process, it is also necessary to select an appropriate and efficient catalyst. Among the factors affecting the activity of the tar decomposition reactions, the positive catalytic role of iron has been demonstrated 1,2 . This good catalytic behaviour is exhibited by olivine, an iron-containing mineral, in a systematic study of bed inventories for the biomass gasification process. As reported extensively in the literature, biomass steam gasification (performed in main cases in fluidised bed reactors) results in the conversion of carbonaceous materials to permanent gases (H2, CO, CO2, CH4, and light hydrocarbons), chars and tars 1 . The addition of steam water as gasifying agent and catalyst in gasification process makes it possible to obtain high-grade product 3 .