Novel low energy plasma/catalytic gas cleaning process to deliver high quality syngas from the gasification of waste biomass

Completed

Renewable Energy Sources(Bio-Energy, Production of transport biofuels (incl. Production from wastes))

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Physics)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Chemical Engineering)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Professor P Williams
Energy Resources Research Unit
University of Leeds

Standard

EPSRC

01 January 2015

31 August 2018

44 months

£911,539

Energy

Yorkshire & Humberside

Energy : Energy

Professor P Williams, Energy Resources Research Unit, University of Leeds

Dr S Gu, School of Engineering, Cranfield University
Dr X Tu, Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool
Dr M Wang, Engineering, University of Hull

Project Contact, Process Systems Enterprise Limited
Project Contact, Future Blends Ltd
Project Contact, Thermitech Solutions Ltd
Project Contact, Alstom Ltd (UK)
Project Contact, C-Tech Innovation Limited

The gasification of biomass wastes represents a major thermochemical route to produce a high energy value syngas from a source which is renewable and CO2-neutral. However, one of the major issues in the gasification process is contamination of the product syngas with tar. Tar is the key problem for biomass gasification and is a complex mixture of condensable hydrocarbons. The formation of tar causes major process and syngas end-use problems, including tar blockages, plugging and corrosion in downstream fuel lines, filters, engine nozzles and turbines.This proposal seeks to develop a novel gas cleaning process based on low temperature plasma/catalytic technology to produce a clean, high quality syngas from the gasification of waste biomass. Gasification of the biomass will be investigated in an existing small-pilot scale fluidised bed gasifier, modified to include a downstream plasma/catalytic syngas cleaning process. Experimental and detailed analytical work developing the coupled biomass gasification-gas cleaning process will enable a mechanistic understanding of the tar reduction process and will be extended by CFD modelling of model tar compounds. Process modelling and simulation of the combined biomass gasification-plasma/catalytic gas clean-up sytem will build a foundation for process analysis, optimal design and operation to facilitate exploitation of this innovative technology development.

16/07/15