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Dipl. Ing. Matthias Mayerhofer Technische Universität München ...

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Biomass Gasification 13<br />

Mechanical and Physical Methods of tar elimination:<br />

These methods are used for the simultaneous elimination of tar and particles from the product gas.<br />

Dry gas cleaning: it is applied prior to gas cooling where temperature is greater than 200°C and<br />

partly below 500°C after gas cooling (Wang,2008).Usually, a heat exchanger cools the gas from<br />

850-900°C to 160-180°C and then a fabric filter is used to separate particles and some tars from<br />

the product gas. The residuals can be returned into the combustion zone in the gasifier (Villot,2012).<br />

Wet gas cleaning: After gas is cooled down, typically at temperatures about 20-60°C by using a wet<br />

scrubber. The wet scrubber liquid is saturated with tar and the condensate is vaporized and fed for<br />

thermal disposal into the combustion zone (Villot,2012).<br />

Tar is then present as vapor but it can be removed from the gas as liquid droplets following condensation<br />

so it can be removed as tar condenses on the particulates.<br />

In-Gasifier Bed material<br />

In the fluidized bed gasifiers the use of solid additives as bed materials is common due to their<br />

catalytic effect during the gasification procedure. There is a big variety of additives which differ in<br />

structure and surface area. The most widely used are raw dolomites, raw olivine sintered olivine<br />

and nickel on olivine (Corella,2004).<br />

Raw Olivine ((Mg,Fe)2SiO4): It is known for its great mechanical strength even at high<br />

temperatures, so it reacts better in fluidized bed environment than dolomite (Abu El-<br />

Rub,2004). It also has the ability to decrease the tar content from 43 g/ Nm³ with sand to<br />

2.4 g/Nm³. It has been reported that olivine is resistant to attrition and of course is low<br />

priced (Courson,2000).<br />

Sintered Olivine (Corella,2004): It is also hard so the most important advantage is that it<br />

does not generate many particulates in the gasification gas. But it does not have actually<br />

any significant activity in tar elimination due to the absence of internal surface area.<br />

Dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2): It is a calcium magnesium ore and is known for its high tar conversion,<br />

around 95%, it can decrease the tar content of the tar from 43 g/ Nm³ with sand to<br />

0.6 g/Nm³ (Courson,2000). According to Simell et al. CaO in dolomite is responsible for its<br />

high activity in tar conversion. So it is commonly used as a guard bed prior to the catalyst<br />

bed. It can be used in situ which is cheap but less effective, or downstream the gasifier in a<br />

secondary reactor which results in higher costs but in higher tar reduction also (Abu El-<br />

Rub,2004).<br />

The use of dolomite increases the hydrogen content and the H2/CO ratio which favors the<br />

tar cracking and reforming (Xu,2010). Unfortunately, dolomite erodes a lot so it must be fed<br />

continuously in amounts of around 3 wt% of the total biomass flow rate (Corella,2004). Also<br />

its friability is high and it disintegrates into fines. In comparison to olivine dolomite is fragile<br />

at high temperatures. Another problem is that the chlorine content in biomass may react<br />

with calcium oxide to give calcium chloride which can cause the consumption of the catalyst<br />

(Nordgreen,2006). When it is integrated on Ni-catalysts it enhances sintering at high<br />

temperatures and encourages coke formation (Zhang,2007).<br />

Calcinated Dolomites: During calcination the carbonate mineral is being decomposed,<br />

eliminating CO2 to form MgO-CaO. They are inexpensive and disposable and can be used<br />

both in situ and in secondary fixed bed, downstream the gasifier. However, the calcination<br />

reduces the surface area and makes them more friable. In addition, it loses its activity under<br />

conditions where CO2 partial pressure is greater than the equilibrium decomposition<br />

pressure of dolomite. Because it is not very robust, prone to attrition and erodes it can’t be<br />

used for fluidized bed reactors (Dayton,2002).<br />

2.4.3 Catalysts for cracking and decomposition of tars<br />

Tar elimination mainly occurs due to a series of reactions during which tar reacts with steam or<br />

carbon dioxide (dry reforming) and forms lower carbon species that are not considered tars. Catalysts<br />

can be applied in situ or in a separate reactor downstream the gasifier.

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