Syngas production from catalytic gasification of waste polyethylene: Influence of temperature on gas yield and composition

The catalytic steam gasification of waste polyethylene (PE) from municipal solid waste (MSW) to produce syngas (H-2 + CO) with NiO/gamma-Al2O3 as catalyst in a bench-scale downstream fixed bed reactor was investigated. The influence of the reactor temperature on the gas yield, gas composition, steam decomposition, low heating value (LHV), cold gas efficiency and carbon conversion efficiency was investigated at the temperature range of 700-900 degrees C, with a steam to waste polyethylene ratio of 1.33. Over the ranges of experimental conditions examined, NiO/gamma-Al2O3 catalyst revealed better catalytic performance as a view of increasing product gas yield and of decreasing char and liquid yields in the presence of steam. Higher temperature resulted in more H2 and CO production, higher carbon conversion efficiency and product gas yield. The highest syngas (H2 + CO) content of 64.35 mol%, the highest H-2 content of 36.98 mol%, and the highest CO content of 27.37 mol%, were achieved at the highest temperature level of 900 degrees C. Syngas produced with a H-2/CO molar ratio in the range of 0.83-1.35, was highly desirable as feedstock for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for the production of transportation fuels. (C) 2008 international Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved