(582c) Development of a Catalytic Reactor for Conditioning of Biomass Generated Producer Gas and Evaluation of Selected Commercial Catalysts

Gasification of biomass is one of the promising conversion technologies to produce fuels, chemicals and power from renewable resources. Removal of tar is one of the most challenging barriers for commercial-scale use of producer gas generated from gasification of biomass. Tar can be reduced to an acceptable level by cracking in presence of catalysts at high-temperature. This method can also increase carbon monoxide and hydrogen compositions which are low in biomass generated producer gas. In this project, we have designed and developed a catalytic reactor specifically for evaluating commercially-available catalysts for conditioning producer gas which is supplied from a lab-scale gasifier with a biomass feedrate of 3-7 kg/h. In our prior study, selected commercially-available catalysts were evaluated in decomposing toluene as a model tar compound. In this project, the catalysts and reaction conditions will be further evaluated using producer gas with tar generated by gasification of switchgrass as the feedstock. Results are expected to show the effects on selected catalysts, shape of catalysts, and reactor temperature on reducing tar and improving producer gas composition.