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Biomass steam gasification kinetics: relative impact of char physical properties vs. inorganic composition

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Abstract

During biomass gasification, both the char physical properties and the biomass inorganic composition are known to have a significant influence on the reaction kinetics. However, the impact of the inorganic content is more pronounced than the impact of the char features, though no clear explanations have been found in the literature yet. In order to clarify this point, two biomass species with significant inorganic composition differences were gasified under steam and the chars obtained at various conversion values were characterized. Both the char physicochemical properties (chemical composition, carbon structure, porosity, and surface chemistry) and the gasification kinetic behavior were analyzed. A particular focus on the inorganic elemental composition and inorganic compound nature were performed. Experimental results were compared with simulation results at thermodynamic equilibrium obtained with the FactSage 7.2 software. The results showed that the physical properties of the carbon matrix do not have a strong influence on the gasification reactivity. In contrast, the inorganic composition could explain the differences between the gasification kinetic behaviors of the two investigated chars (obtained starting from two different biomass sources).

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Abbreviations

C i char :

mass fraction of element i in the char

C i raw :

mass fraction of element i in the raw biomass

m(t):

mass of char measured at time t

m f :

mass of char measured at the end of gasification (remaining ash)

m i char :

measured mass of element i in the char

m i calc char gas :

calculated mass of element i in the gas phase for the char

m ichar :

mass of char before gasification (at the time of steam injection)

r :

gasification rate

V i char :

volatilization yield of element i in the char

V i calc char :

calculated volatilization yield of element i in the char

X :

gasification solid conversion

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Maguelone Grateau from CEA for her help in producing the chars in the pyrolysis furnace, Laurent Van De Steene from CIRAD for the setup of the macro-thermogravimetric reactor at USTH and Stéphanie Pouget from CEA for her assistance with P-XRD analysis. Raman, nitrogen adsorption, and TPD–MS measurements were performed on the technical platforms of IS2M. The authors are very grateful to Simon Gree, Cyril Vaulot, Joseph Dentzer, Bénedicte Réty, and Adrian Beda for their contribution.

Funding

This research was funded by the Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Energie.

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Correspondence to Mejdi Jeguirim.

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Dahou, T., Defoort, F., Nguyen, H.N. et al. Biomass steam gasification kinetics: relative impact of char physical properties vs. inorganic composition. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 12, 3475–3490 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-00894-9

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