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Catalytic cracking of tars from biomass gasification

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Abstract

An experimental setup was designed to test the performances of three catalysts on cracking tars produced from a downdraft gasifier. The three catalysts were: alumina extrudes, dolomite, and olivine. In addition, experimental runs using silica microcrystals were used as a control. Tar collected from earlier gasification tests was vaporized in flowing nitrogen and reacted over these catalysts at various temperatures and flow rates. Alumina was tested at a lower temperature ranging between 300 and 500 °C and with a gas flow rate of 0.5–2.4 L/min. Dolomite, olivine and silica were tested between 400–800 °C and 0.5–2.4 L/min. Dolomite and olivine catalysts showed higher cracking rates than alumina or silica. Under optimum conditions, at 800 °C and 0.5 L/min, the dolomite catalyst cracked 92 % (±3 %) of all tars. The olivine catalyst also achieved optimum performance at 800 °C and 0.5 L/min, cracking approximately 89 % (±4 %) of all tars. In comparison, the alumina extrude catalyst showed only 71 % tar cracking efficiency, but at a significantly lower temperature of 400 °C. Silica had a maximum tar cracking efficiency of only 66 %, at 800 °C. All three catalysts showed no observable deactivation in the life runs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Louisiana State University and LSU AgCenter, 161 EB Doran Bldg, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Adam Dassey, Bijeet Mukherjee, Ron Sheffield & Chandra Theegala

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  1. Adam Dassey
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  2. Bijeet Mukherjee
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  3. Ron Sheffield
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  4. Chandra Theegala
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Correspondence to Chandra Theegala.

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Dassey, A., Mukherjee, B., Sheffield, R. et al. Catalytic cracking of tars from biomass gasification. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 3, 69–77 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-012-0063-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-012-0063-1

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