(583ft) Syngas Production Through Glycerol Gasification Using Microwave Plasma Torch

Glycerol which is a byproduct of biodiesel production is considered as a potential feedstock for syngas production with the increase of biodiesel demand. The objective of this study is to characterize the glycerol gasification under the microwave plasma torch with oxygen and steam supply conditions. Experiments were conducted with an O₂/fuel ratio of 0-1.2, a steam/fuel ratio of 0-2.4, and a microwave power of 1-1.8 kW. From the result, it was shown that the gasification efficiency and syngas heating value increased with supplied microwave power while the increase of oxygen and steam led to lower gasification performance. To achieve high carbon conversion and cold gas efficiency in the microwave plasma gasification of glycerol, O₂/fuel ratio should be kept at 0-0.4. The gasification performance of glycerol atomizing toward plasma flame showed better performance than other feeding methods. In conclusion, these results indicated that the fuel droplet size and the mixing effect and retention time inside plasma flames is a critical factor influencing the product gas yield and gasification efficiency. This study verified that syngas with a high content of H₂ and CO can be used as a feedstock for fuel cells, and chemicals production can be effectively produced from glycerol through microwave plasma gasification.