Hydrogen production from biomass gasification with Ni/MCM-41 catalysts: Influence of Ni content

C. Wu Chunfei, L. Wang Leizhi, Paul T. Williams*, J. Shi Jeffrey, Jun Huang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

201 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The steam pyrolysis-gasification of biomass, wood sawdust, was carried out with a Ni/MCM-41 catalyst for hydrogen production in a two-stage fixed bed reaction system. The wood sawdust was pyrolysed in the first reactor and the derived products were gasified in the second reactor. The synthesised MCM-41 mesoporous catalyst supports were impregnated with different Ni loadings (5, 10, 20 and 40. wt.%), which were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), temperature programmed reduction (TPR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO). NiO particles were homogeneously dispersed inside the pores of 5, 10, and 20. wt.% Ni/MCM-41 catalysts; however, more bulkly NiO particles (up to 200. nm particle size) were detected outside the pores with an increase of the Ni loading up to 40. wt.%. Gas production was increased from 40.7 to 62.8. wt.%, hydrogen production was increased from 30.1 to 50.6. vol.% of total gas composition when the Ni loading was increased from 5 to 40. wt.% during the pyrolysis-gasification of wood sawdust. This work showed low coke deposition (from 0.5 to 4.0. wt.%) with valuable bio-oil by-products using the Ni/MCM-41 catalyst. The highly efficient conversion of renewable biomass resource to hydrogen and bio-oil with very low coke deposition indicates that biomass gasification on Ni/MCM-41 catalysts via two-stage reaction is a promising method for the development of the biorefinery concept.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6-13
Number of pages8
JournalApplied Catalysis B: Environment and Energy
Volume108-109
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Oct 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Biomass
  • Gasification
  • Ni/MCM-41
  • Pyrolysis
  • Two-stage fixed bed reactor

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Catalysis
  • General Environmental Science
  • Process Chemistry and Technology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Hydrogen production from biomass gasification with Ni/MCM-41 catalysts: Influence of Ni content'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this