Ni-based catalysts for steam reforming of tar model derived from biomass gasification

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
² School of Environmental Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Kompleks Pusat Pengajian Jejawi 3, 02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: tuanamran@utm.my

Abstract

Tar formation during biomass gasification is a major barrier to utilise the produced syngas, which clogs processing equipment. In the present study, steam reforming of gasification-derived tar (phenol, toluene, naphthalene, and pyrene) was catalysed by Ni/dolomite, Ni/dolomite/Al2O3, Ni/dolomite/La2O3, Ni/dolomite/CeO2, and Ni/dolomite/ZrO2 for hydrogen production. The steam reforming experiment was conducted in a fixed bed reactor at 700 °C and the steam-to-carbon molar ratio of 1 under atmospheric pressure. After the catalytic test, the spent catalysts were characterised by thermogravimetric analysis and variable-pressure scanning electron microscope. The aim of this study is to investigate the catalytic activity of Ni-based catalysts in terms of tar conversion and their deactivation characteristic. The current results revealed that all the catalysts showed almost full conversion of tar (98.8%-99.9%) and considerably low amount of coke deposited in the form of amorphous and filamentous carbon (15.9-178.5 mg g_cat^-1). Among the catalysts studied, Ni/dolomite/La2O3 gave the highest catalytic activity for steam reforming of gasified biomass tar and lowest coke formation.