Andries J. Burger

Thermodynamic modelling of supercritical water gasification: investigating the effect of biomass composition to aid in the selection of appropriate feedstock material.

A process model developed in Aspen Plus®, was used for the thermodynamic modelling of supercritical water gasification (SCWG) using a wide variety of biomass materials as feedstock. The influence of the composition of the biomass material (in terms of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen content) on various performance indicators (such as gas yields, cold gas efficiency, calorific value of product gas and heat of reaction), were determined at various temperatures (600, 700 and 800°C) and biomass feed concentrations (5, 15 and 25wt.%). Generalised contour plots, based on the biomass composition, were developed for these performance indicators to provide the thermodynamic limits at various operating conditions. These plots can aid in the selection or screening of potential biomass materials and appropriate operating conditions for SCWG prior to conducting experimental work.

Catalytic supercritical water gasification of primary paper sludge using a homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyst: experimental vs thermodynamic equilibrium results.

H2, CH4, CO and CO2 yields were measured during supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of primary paper waste sludge (PWS) at 450°C. Comparing these yields with calculated thermodynamic equilibrium values offer an improved understanding of conditions required to produce near-equilibrium yields. Experiments were conducted at different catalyst loads (0-1g/gPWS) and different reaction times (15-120min) in a batch reactor, using either K2CO3 or Ni/Al2O3-SiO2 as catalyst. K2CO3 up to 1g/gPWS increased the H2 yield significantly to 7.5mol/kgPWS. However, these yields and composition were far from equilibrium values, with carbon efficiency (CE) and energy recovery (ER) of only 29% and 20%, respectively. Addition of 0.5-1g/gPWS Ni/Al2O3-SiO2 resulted in high H2 and CH4 yields (6.8 and 14.8mol/kgPWS), CE of 84-90%, ER of 83% and a gas composition relatively close to the equilibrium values (at hold times of 60-120min).

Supercritical water gasification of Eucalyptus grandis and related pyrolysis char: Effect of feedstock composition.

Eucalyptus grandis (E. grandis) wood and char products derived from pyrolysis of E. grandis wood, were gasified in supercritical water at 450°C - with and without the use of a homogeneous (K2CO3) and heterogeneous (Ni/Al2O3-SiO2) catalyst. Gas yields and gasification efficiencies were measured experimentally and compared to calculated thermodynamic equilibrium values, specifically considering the effects of the O/C ratio and volatile matter content of the feed material. Thermodynamically, feed material with lower O/C ratios (0.22) typically resulted in higher CH4 yields (30mol/kgfeed,dry) and gasification efficiencies (188%). However, experimentally, feed material with lower O/C ratios and lower volatile matter resulted in the lowest CH4 yields and gasification efficiencies. Furthermore, a linear relationship between the carbon efficiency (CE) and both the volatile matter content and O/C ratio of the feed material was found to hold true in both catalytic and non-catalytic experiments.