Dissertation Char Kezhen
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PROPERTIES OF GASIFICATION-DERIVED CHAR AND ITS UTILIZATION FOR CATALYTIC TAR REFORMING By KEZHEN QIAN Bachelor of Engineering in Thermal and Power Engineering Chongqing University Chongqing, China 2009 Master of Engineering in Thermal and Power Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China 2012 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May, 2015 PROPERTIES OF GASIFICATION-DERIVED CHAR AND ITS UTILIZATION FOR CATALYTIC TAR REFORMING Dissertation Approved: Dr. Ajay Kumar Dissertation Adviser Dr. Danielle Bellmer Dr. Mark Wilkins Dr. Hailin Zhang ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The accomplishment of this dissertation would not have been done without help from many wonderful people at Oklahoma State University. Here, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all individuals. I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my research advisor, Dr. Ajay Kumar. Without his enthusiasm in mentorship and academic support over the past several years, I would not be able to finish this dissertation. His unwavering guidance helps improve my academic performance, especially on academic writing and research skills. I would like thank my research advisory committee members, Dr. Krushna N. Patil, Dr. Mark Wilkins, Dr. Danielle Bellmer and Dr. Hailin Zhang. They provided excellent suggestions for improving my research work. I acknowledge Mr. Mark Gilstrap for sharing his immense knowledge of lab skills and lab safety and for assistance with all the analytical equipment. I also appreciate the support of research BAE workshop team, Mr. Wayne R. Kiner, Mr. Mike Veldman, and Mr. Jason Walker for developing and building the necessary experimental facilities for this research. I would like to take this opportunity to thank graduate students Madhura Sarkar, Cody Collins, Zixu Yang, Shaswat Dixit, Deepak Padaliy, Mohit Dobhal and Karthikragunath Mariyappan, for their help in conducting experiments. This work would not have been done without their hard work and continuous involvement. I appreciate the support of Pushpak Bhandari, Dr. Prakash Bhoi and Dr. Ashokkumar M Sharmar for sharing their knowledge regarding experiment design and technical details. I am deeply indebted to my parents for their support and love. I also appreciate my whole family for their blessings and support during my graduate school period. iii Acknowledgements reflect the views of the author and are not endorsed by committee members or Oklahoma State University. I also want to give my thanks to Nancy Rogers and BAE administrative staff for their support and services. To all these people and many more whom I may have missed out, my thanks goes out to you: iv Acknowledgements reflect the views of the author and are not endorsed by committee members or Oklahoma State University. Name: KEZHEN QIAN Date of Degree: MAY, 2015 Title of Study: PROPERTIES OF GASIFICATION-DERIVED CHAR AND ITS UTILIZATION FOR CATALYTIC TAR REFORMING Major Field: BIOSYSTEMS AND AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING Abstract: Char is a low-value byproduct of biomass gasification and pyrolysis with many potential applications, such as soil amendment and the synthesis of activated carbon. The overall goal of the proposed research was to develop novel methods to use char derived from gasification for high-value applications in syngas conditioning. The first objective was to investigate effects of gasification condition and feedstock on properties of char derived from fluidized bed gasification. Results show that the surface areas of most of the char were 1–10 m 2/g and increased as the equivalence ratio increased. Char moisture and fixed carbon contents decreased while ash content increased as equivalence ratio increased. The next objective was to study the properties of sorghum and red cedar char derived from downdraft gasifier. Red cedar char contained more aliphatic carbon and o- alkyl carbon than sorghum char. Char derived from downdraft gasification had higher heating values and lower ash contents than char derived from fluidized bed gasification. The gasification reactivity of red cedar char was higher than that of sorghum char. Then, red cedar char based catalysts were developed with different preparation method to reform toluene and naphthalene as model tars. The catalyst prepared with nickel nitrate was found to be better than that with nickel acetate. The nickel particle size of catalyst impregnated with nickel nitrate was smaller than that of catalyst impregnated with nickel acetate. The particle size of catalyst impregnated with nickel acetate decreased by hydrazine reduction. The catalyst impregnated with nickel nitrate had the highest toluene removal efficiency, which was 70%-100% at 600-800 °C. The presence of naphthalene in tar reduced the catalyst efficiency. The toluene conversion was 36-99% and the naphthalene conversion was 37%-93% at 700-900 °C. Finally, effects of atmosphere and pressure on catalytic reforming of lignin-derived tars over the developed catalyst were investigated. An increase in reaction temperature led to an increase in removal of most tar components except naphthalene. High pressure promoted the catalytic conditioning of lignin tar. Hydrogen promoted the conversion of lignin into non-condensable gas . v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW: RECENT ADVANCES IN UTILIZATION OF BIOCHAR ........................................................................................ 1 1.1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 3 1.2. Biochar Production .................................................................................................. 4 1.2.1. Pyrolysis ............................................................................................................ 5 1.2.2. Gasification ....................................................................................................... 5 1.2.3. Hydrothermal Carbonization............................................................................. 6 1.3. Applications of Biochar ........................................................................................... 6 1.3.1. Biochar as A Precursor for Making Catalyst ..................................................... 7 1.3.1.1. Catalyst for Syngas Cleaning ...................................................................... 7 1.3.1.2. Catalyst for Conversion of Syngas into Liquid Hydrocarbons ................... 9 1.3.1.3. Solid Acid Catalyst for Biodiesel Production ........................................... 10 1.3.2. Biochar as Soil Amendment .............................................................................11 1.3.2.1. Mitigate Greenhouse Gas Emission .......................................................... 11 1.3.2.2. Increase Soil Quality ................................................................................. 12 1.3.3. Biochar as A Sorbent for Contaminant Reduction in Soil and Water ............. 13 1.3.4. Biochar as Gas Adsorbents ............................................................................. 14 1.3.5. Biochar in Fuel Cell Systems .......................................................................... 16 1.3.6. Biochar Based Supercapacitor ........................................................................ 18 1.3.7. Biochar as A Raw Material for Making Activated Carbon ............................. 19 1.4. Biochar Properties and Advanced Characterization Techniques ........................... 19 1.5. Perspectives on Biochar Applications .................................................................... 24 1.6. Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 25 1.7. Objectives .............................................................................................................. 26 1.8. References .............................................................................................................. 27 2. EFFECTS OF BIOMASS FEEDSTOCKS AND GASIFICATION CONDITIONS ON THE PHYSIOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CHAR ................................................. 37 2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 39 2.2. Materials and Methods ........................................................................................... 40 2.2.1. Material ........................................................................................................... 40 2.2.2. Fluidized Bed Gasification.............................................................................. 41 2.2.3. Property Analysis of Biomass and Biochar .................................................... 41 vi Chapter Page 2.3. Results and Discussion .......................................................................................... 43 2.3.1. Physical and Chemical Properties ................................................................... 43 2.3.1.1. Proximate Analysis ................................................................................... 43 2.3.1.2. Heating Value and BET Surface Area ...................................................... 46 2.3.1.3. SEM Morphology ..................................................................................... 47 2.3.2. Elemental Analysis .........................................................................................