Utilization of CO2 and biomass char derived from pyrolysis of Dunaliella salina: the effects of steam and catalyst on CO and H2 gas production

Abstract

Biomass char, by-product of Dunaliella salina pyrolysis at a final pyrolysis temperature of 500°C, was used as feedstock material in this study. The reactions of biomass char with CO(2) were performed in a fixed-bed reactor to evaluate the effect of temperature and steam on the CO(2) conversion, CO yield and gas composition. The CO(2) conversion and CO yield without steam and catalyst reached about 61.84% and 0.99mol/(mol CO(2)) at 800°C, respectively. Steam and high temperature led to high CO(2) conversion. A new approach for improving H(2) was carried out by using biomass char and Au/Al(2)O(3) catalyst, which combined steam gasification of biomass char and water gas shift reaction, and the H(2) concentration was 1.8 times higher than without catalyst. The process not only mitigated CO(2) emission and made use of residual biomass char, but also created renewable source.