140gH2/kg biomass d.a.f. by a CO-shift reactor downstream from a FB biomass gasifier and a catalytic steam reformer

The effect of adding a Co-shift reactor downstream from a fluidized bed biomass gasifier and a steam reforming catalytic reactor is studied in this paper. The upstream gasifier was of small pilot plant scale, 10 kg biomass/h. Therefore, the downstream catalytic reactors, steam reformer and CO-shift, operated under a real gasification gas. The gasifying agent used was H2O-O-2 mixtures. The CO-shift catalytic reactor used had one high (HT) and one low temperature (LT) adiabatic beds. Two commercial catalysts were used throughout the process. CO-conversions (eliminations) were higher than 90% and a H-2-content as high as 73 vol%, dry basis, were obtained by the CO-shift system. This H-2 content is equivalent to a yield of 140 g H-2/kg biomass d.a.f. The CO conversion and the increase (up to 14 vol%) of the H-2 content, correlate well with the molar steam/CO ratio in the gasification gas at the inlet of the HT bed. (C) 2008 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.