Steam-Iron process as an alternative to Water Gas Shift reaction in biomass gasification

Abstract

The Steam-Iron process has been studied in a set of fixed bed reactors at 800 °C. Iron oxides are inside the reactors, and the gas feed stream alternates between syngas from biomass gasification as reducing stream and water steam as oxidizing stream. The process has been modeled with Aspen Plus® simulation software, and an economic evaluation has been performed to determine the production cost of hydrogen via Steam-Iron process. Steam-Iron process may be an alternative to Water Gas Shift reaction with syngas from biomass gasification, but further research is needed to determine if it can be feasible with a carbon capture step, or with syngas from a different source.