Gasification of torrefied cassava rhizome with Ni/MCM-41 catalyst derived from illite waste

In this work, torrefaction of cassava rhizome (CR) under nitrogen gas (N-2) and a simulated flue gas (CO2 (15 vol.%) and O-2 (5 vol.%) in N-2 balance) atmosphere was examined in a downflow reactor at 260 degrees C for a residence time of 60 min to produce a superior solid fuel for subsequent 5Ni/MCM-41 catalytic gasification of CR utilization. Mesoporous molecular sieves (MCM41 zeolite) was synthesized from illite waste as a silica source. The MCM-41 synthesis was carried out by hydrothermal and post-synthesis for Ni loading. Various characterization techniques, such as XRD, SEM, and BET were employed to thoroughly characterize catalyst. High surface area (737.88 m(2)/g) and a typical type IV pattern of hysteresis loop (0.25 -0.40) obtained 5Ni/MCM-41 catalyst is calculated by N-2 adsorption-desorption technique. Catalyst characterization and discussion of results are presented in this work. 5Ni/MCM-41 catalyst strongly enhances the H2 and CO production from gasification of torrefied CR at a temperature of 700 degrees C. Carbon and hydrogen conversions were 80.17% and 27.39%, respectively while liquid yield was lower than 10 wt%. The syngas from the conversion maintained H2/CO ratio of 0.55 with the highest gaseous efficiency of 49.35%. Obviously, synergy of synthesized 5Ni/MCM-41 catalyst and torrefied CR with gasification is valuable useful as potential renewable energy generation process. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Tmrees, EURACA, 2020.