As an abundant source of renewable energy, biomass can be converted to a wide range of end-use fuels and value-added chemicals, playing an important role in combating the energy crisis and climate change. In recent years, interests are increasing in developing dedicated approaches for efficient conversion of biomass into fuels or chemicals. Syngas, a mixture of CO and H2, has been paid increasing attention due to its high calorific value and wide application as a platform feedstock for the production of a variety of liquid biofuels via the Fischer-Tropsch process. Most researches to date have focused on H2 production from biomass, however, effective approaches to utilize carbon in the biomass are lacking. Therefore, upon introduction of the calcium oxide (CaO) carbonation-decarbonation loop, we proposed a two-stage thermochemical conversion approach to separate the production of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO), and importantly, intensify the utilization of carbon in the biomass through recovering the CO-rich syngas. In the process, the CO2 generated during biomass pyrolysis at the first stage is captured and stored in the form of CaCO3, and is then released at higher temperatures (the second stage) to gasify the char for CO production. Taking sewage sludge as a model, under the conditions investigated in this study, the proposed process could produce 284.7 NmL/gdry sludge of syngas from sludge in the presence of CaO, almost 4.9 times as high as the syngas production from raw sludge. We conclude that the proposed process offers an efficient option for the production of syngas from biomass with significantly intensified carbon utilization.

Waste-to-energy conversion of biomass using a new two-stage sorption-enhanced thermochemical technology

2019 Fall National Meeting

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