Char Formation Mechanism in Supercritical Water Gasification Process: A Study of Model Compounds

Char is one of the undesirable products in the supercritical water gasification of biomass, causing a reduction in carbon gasification efficiency. 5-HMF (5-hydroxymethylfurfural) is believed to be an intermediate in the char formation pathway. In this Article, the rate of formation of char particles obtained from experiments using glucose (a biomass model compound) was compared to that from experiments using 5-HMF (Chuntanapum and Matsumura, 2009). The glucose experiments were conducted in a temperature range of 300-400 degrees C, at 25 MPa, and for a residence time up to 70 s. The initial concentration of glucose was varied from 1.5 to 3 wt % (i.e., 0.083 to 0.167 M). Glucose was found to produce char particles 2 orders of magnitude faster than 5-HMF feedstock. The copresence of the other glucose decomposition products is thought to cause the difference in the char formation mechanism (i.e., the side reaction between 5-HMF and the other decomposition products) from that of 5-HMF alone. FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy of the solid products was carried out.