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Developing an adsorption-based gas cleaning system for a dual fluidized bed gasification process

Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery volume 11, pages 85–94 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Biomass has the potential to make a major contribution to a renewable future economy. If biomass is gasified, a wide variety of products (e.g., bulk chemicals, hydrogen, methane, alcohols, diesel) can be produced. In each of these processes, gas cleaning is crucial. Impurities in the gas can cause catalyst poisoning, pipe plugging, unstable or poisoned end products, or harm the environment. Aromatic compounds (e.g., benzene, naphthalene, pyrene), in particular, have a huge impact on stable operation of syngas processes. The removal of these compounds can be accomplished by wet, dry, or hot gas cleaning methods. Wet gas cleaning methods tend to produce huge amounts of wastewater, which needs to be treated separately. Hot gas cleaning methods provide a clean gas but are often cost intensive due to the high operating temperatures and catalysts used in the system. Another approach is dry or semi-dry gas cleaning methods, including absorption and adsorption on solid matter. In this work, special focus was laid on adsorption-based gas cleaning for syngas applications. Adsorption and desorption test runs were carried out under laboratory conditions using a model gas with aromatic impurities. Adsorption isotherms, as well as dynamics, were measured with a multi-compound model gas. Based on these results, a temperature swing adsorption process was designed and tested under laboratory conditions, showing the possibility of replacing conventional wet gas cleaning with a semi-dry gas cleaning approach.

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Data availability

Not applicable

Abbreviations

AC:

Activated carbon

BET:

Brunnauer-Emmet-Teller method

BJH:

Barrett, Joyner, and Halenda procedure

BTX:

Benzene, toluene, and xylene

db:

Dry base

DFB:

Dual fluidized bed

FAU:

Faujasite zeolite

FID:

Flame ionization detector

GC/MS:

Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry

GoBiGas:

Gothenburg biogas plant

PAH:

Polyaromatic hydrocarbons

RME:

Rapeseed methyl ester/biodiesel

SCD:

Sulfur chemiluminescence detector

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

STP:

Standard temperature and pressure (273.15 K, 105 Pa)

TGA:

Thermogravimetric analysis

TSA:

Temperature swing adsorption

b(T):

Langmuir coefficient

∆H ads :

Adsorption enthalpy

m AC :

Mass AC

m AC, in :

Mass AC at beginning of adsorption experiment

m AC, out :

Mass AC after adsorption experiment

p i :

Partial pressure

R :

Gas constant

t BT :

Breakthrough time

X ads :

Adsorption capacity

X BT :

Adsorption capacity at the tar breakthrough point

X mon :

Monomolecular loading

Y(t)ads :

Adsorbed amount of tar in dependency to the time

Y in :

Tar inlet concentration

Y(t)out :

Tar outlet concentration in dependency to the time

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Funding

The research leading to these results received funding from the COMET program managed by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency under grant number 869341. The program was co-financed by the Republic of Austria and the Federal Provinces of Lower Austria, Styria and Vienna. Co-funding from the industry partners is highly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BEST–Bioenergy and Sustainable Technologies, Inffeldgasse 21b, 8010, Graz, Austria

    J. Loipersböck & G. Weber

  2. Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, TU Wien, Getreidemarkt 9/166, 1060, Vienna, Austria

    J. Loipersböck & H. Hofbauer

  3. Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Biological Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Engler-Bunte-Ring 1, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    R. Rauch

Authors
  1. J. Loipersböck
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  2. G. Weber
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  3. R. Rauch
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  4. H. Hofbauer
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Correspondence to J. Loipersböck.

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Loipersböck, J., Weber, G., Rauch, R. et al. Developing an adsorption-based gas cleaning system for a dual fluidized bed gasification process. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 11, 85–94 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-00999-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-00999-1

Keywords

  • Gas cleaning
  • Tar removal
  • Adsorption
  • Synthesis
  • Temperature swing adsorption