Hydrogen production from high temperature steam catalytic gasification of bio-char

Hydrogen production from the catalytic steam gasification of bio-char derived from the pyrolysis of sugar cane bagasse has been investigated in relation to gasification temperature up to 1050 degrees C, steam flow rate from 6 to 25 ml h(-1) and type of Nickel catalyst. The catalysts used were Ni-dolomite, Ni-MgO and Ni-Al2O3, all with 10% nickel loading. The hydrogen yield in the absence of a catalyst at a gasification temperature of 950 degrees C was 100.97 mmol g(-1) of bagasse char. However, the presence of the Ni-MgO and Ni-Al2O3 catalysts produced significantly improved hydrogen yields of 178.75 and 187.25 mmol g(-1) of bagasse char respectively at 950 degrees C. The hydrogen yield from the char with the Ni-dolomite only showed a modest increase in hydrogen yield. The influence of gasification temperature showed that the optimum temperature to obtain the highest hydrogen yield was 950 degrees C. Increase in gasification temperature from 750 to 950 degrees C significantly increased hydrogen yield from 45.30 to 187.25 mmol g-1 of bagasse char at 950 degrees C, but was followed by a decrease in yield at 1050 degrees C. The influence of steam flow rate showed that with the increase in steam flow rate from 6 to 15 ml h(-1) hydrogen yield was increased from 187.25:to 208.41 mmol g(-1) of bagasse char. Further increase in steam flow rate resulted in a decrease in hydrogen yield. (C) 2015 Energy Institute. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.