Abstract
The possibilities to upgrade raw gas with the use of a manganese oxide have been investigated in an application for secondary tar cleaning of biomass-derived gas. Experiments were conducted in a reactor system where a novel technique that combines tar cleaning with catalyst regeneration is applied. Raw gas from the Chalmers non-catalytic steam biomass gasifier—containing roughly 32 gtar/Nm 3gas —was fed to the tar cleaning reactor. The tar reforming qualities of the manganese oxide were evaluated in the reactor system using a mixture of 23 wt.% catalysts in silica sand at the temperatures 700 and 800°C. Experiments showed that the catalyst was continuously regenerated from carbon deposits and that the total amount of tars was decreased by as much as 44.5 % at a gas residence time of 0.4 s in the bed. The catalyst showed activity in water–gas shift reaction and the H2/CO ratio increased from 0.6 in the raw gas to a peak value of 1 in the reformed gas at 800°C. Only a slight decrease in methane and acetylene content was observed for both operating temperatures.
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Acknowledgments
This work has been financially supported through the Era-Net program, E.ON Sverige AB and by Svenskt Förgasningscentrum SFC. The operation of the gasifier has been possible by support from Göteborg Energi, Metso, Akademiska Hus and Swedish Energy Agency. The authors also acknowledge KTH for the tar analysis and research engineer Rustan Marberg for his work with the experimental equipment.
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Lind, F., Israelsson, M., Seemann, M. et al. Manganese oxide as catalyst for tar cleaning of biomass-derived gas. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 2, 133–140 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-012-0042-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-012-0042-6