Affiliations 

  • 1 Centre for Biofuel and Biochemical Research, Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak, Malaysia
  • 2 Centre for Biofuel and Biochemical Research, Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak, Malaysia. Electronic address: drsuzana_yususf@utp.edu.my
  • 3 Department of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of Sharjah, 27272 Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Bioresour Technol, 2017 Oct;241:284-295.
PMID: 28575792 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.05.119

Abstract

Catalytic steam gasification of palm kernel shell is investigated to optimize operating parameters for hydrogen and syngas production using TGA-MS setup. RSM is used for experimental design and evaluating the effect of temperature, particle size, CaO/biomass ratio, and coal bottom ash wt% on hydrogen and syngas. Hydrogen production appears highly sensitive to all factors, especially temperature and coal bottom ash wt%. In case of syngas, the order of parametric influence is: CaO/biomass>coal bottom ash wt%>temperature>particle size. The significant catalytic effect of coal bottom ash is due to the presence of Fe2O3, MgO, Al2O3, and CaO. A temperature of 692°C, coal bottom ash wt% of 0.07, CaO/biomass of 1.42, and particle size of 0.75mm are the optimum conditions for augmented yield of hydrogen and syngas. The production of hydrogen and syngas is 1.5% higher in the pilot scale gasifier as compared to TGA-MS setup.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.