Novel catalysts for gasification of biomass with high conversion efficiency

We have developed catalysts for the gasification of biomass with much higher energy efficiency than the conventional methods (noncatalyst, dolomite, and commercial steam reforming Ni catalyst). In our investigation, the Rh/CeO2 gave high yields of syngas for cellulose gasification using a fluidized-bed reactor with batch feeding of cellulose. However, the catalyst was deactivated because of sintering of CeO2 during the reaction. To prevent the CeO2 sintering, we have further improved the catalyst and found that Rh/CeO2/SiO2 was quite stable for the gasification of cellulose. It was demonstrated that Rh/CeO2/SiO2 gave almost complete gasification of real biomass (wood powder) at 873 K. These results indicate that the combination of this kind of catalyst and fluidized-bed reactor can realize the energy-efficient biomass gasification.