Pulsed corona discharges for tar removal from biomass derived fuel gas

To supply combustion engines or gasturbines with fuel gas obtained from biomass gasification, it is necessary to clean the fuel gas. Also the production of chemicals by processes such as Fisher-Tropsch requires a high gas quality. Especially heavy aromatic hydrocarbons ("tars") must be removed. In this work, we give an overview of our investigations on tar removal by pulsed corona discharges as an alternative approach to catalytic or thermal tar cracking. Experimental results (at a gas temperature of 200degreesC) are reported for the removal of various model tar components in synthetic fuel gas. In order to identify the major reaction pathways, experiments were also done on tars in individual fuel gas components. The results show that tar removal by pulsed corona processing is possible. The process for tar removal is mainly via oxidation. Also termination reactions by CO play an important role.