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Factor effects and interactions in steam reforming of biomass bio-oil

  • Joshua O. IghaloEmail author
  • Adewale George Adeniyi
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

One of the current methods of converting pyrolysis oil and its aqueous phase into more useful biofuels with higher heating value is by the steam reforming technique. In this study, a thermodynamic model for the steam reforming of the aqueous phase of biomass bio-oil was developed. The optimal values of the process parameters for the steam reforming of the aqueous phase of biomass bio-oil are reforming temperature of 773 °C, reforming pressure of 1 atm and steam-to-oil ratio of 20 kg/kg. The synthesis gas obtained at optimal conditions has a hydrogen gas content of 76%, carbon dioxide content of 22%, carbon monoxide content of 2% and only trace quantities of methane. For a theoretical feed of 100 kg/h bio-oil, a water flow rate of 2000 kg/h will be required. Simulation showed that overall gas yield under such feed rate at optimal conditions will generate 131.3 kg/h synthesis gas (with 76% H2 content) and 1968.7 kg/h of condensate water. The interaction of the factors with regard to all chemical species was also extensively investigated.

Keywords

Interactions Bio-oil Steam reforming Hydrogen Biomass Thermodynamics 

Abbreviations

G

Gibbs free energy (kJ/mol)

T

Temperature (°C or K)

P

Pressure (bar and atm)

\( n_{i} \)

Number of moles of species i (mol)

K

Total number of chemical species in the reaction mixture

R

Gas constant (J/mol K)

\( \mu_{i} \)

Chemical potential of species i (kJ/mol)

\( y_{i} \)

Mole fraction of species i

\( \Delta G_{i}^{0} \)

Standard Gibbs free energy of the formation of species i (kJ/mol)

N

Total number of moles of all species in the gas mixture (mol)

\( a_{li} \)

Number of gram atoms of element l in 1 mol of species i

\( b_{l} \)

Total number of gram atoms of element l in the reaction mixture

M

Total number of atomic elements

\( {\text{STOR}} \)

Steam-to-oil mass ratio (kg/kg)

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Notes

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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© Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering and TechnologyUniversity of IlorinIlorinNigeria

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