Pilot-Scale Demonstration of Oxy-SER steam Gasification: Production of syngas with Pre-Combustion CO2 capture

The SER gasification process is an allothermal DFB steam gasification process in which the necessary heat for the endothermic gasification is provided by circulating bed material. Due to the low gasification temperatures of 660 degrees C and the use of limestone as bed material, in-situ CO2 capture is possible, leading to a hydrogen-rich, carbon-lean and nitrogen-free syngas. When operating the regeneration reactor in oxy-fuel mode, a high CO2 concentration of >90 vol-%(dry) can be produced, what makes the Oxy-SER process a promising CCS technology. In this paper the Oxy-SER process is demonstrated and the effect of the oxy-fuel regeneration on the gasification process shown. The experiments showed, that a stable operation of this process is possible and that the operation mode of the regeneration reactor has only little effect on the gasification reactor. In the experiments a syngas with a high hydrogen concentration of 70 vol-% dry and a suitable stoichiometry for methanation processes was produced. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.