Waste glycerol gasification to syngas in pure DC water vapor arc plasma

In this experimental study, the conversion of waste glycerol, derived from industrial bio-diesel production process, to syngas in water vapor DC thermal arc plasma was carried out. Pure water vapor was used as a gasifying agent, a heat carrier and a plasma-forming gas. This enabled to avoid undesirable ballast products, such as nitrogen oxide, and obtain higher hydrogen and carbon monoxide concentration. It was found that a higher process efficiency (the concentration of H-2 57.9 vol% and CO 21 vol%, the H-2/CO ratio 2.76, the yield of H-2 70 mol.% and CO 37 mol.%, the tar content 0.822 g/m3, the carbon conversion efficiency 68%, the energy conversion efficiency 39.5%) with a lower specific energy requirement (227.8 kJ/mol) was obtained at the highest H2O/C3H8O3 ratio of 1.9 (or water vapor flow rate of 14.76 kg/h, waste glycerol content of 7.88 kg/h, and the plasma torch power of 57 kW). This study is expected to provide an effective and advanced waste-to-energy solution. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC.

Automated summary

In this experimental study, waste glycerol from industrial bio-diesel production was converted to syngas using water vapor DC thermal arc plasma. Pure water vapor was used as a gasifying agent to avoid unwanted byproducts and obtain higher concentrations of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The study found that the highest process efficiency and lower specific energy requirement were achieved at the H2O/C3H8O3 ratio of 1.9.