Activity of mesoporous alumina particles for biomass steam reforming in a fluidized-bed reactor and its application to a dual-gas-flow two-stage reactor system

Pulverized sugar cane bagasse (SCB) and cedar sawdust (CSD) were rapidly pyrolyzed and reformed in situ with steam in a laboratory-scale fluidized-bed reactor at temperature of 973-1123 K and steam-to-biomass mass ratio (S/B) of 0-3.5. A substantial portion of the nascent tar was converted into coke over fluidized mesoporous y-alumina (MPGA) used as the bed material. The coke was sufficiently active to completely eliminate tar except for BTX (benzene, toluene, xylene) and naphdialene derivatives. Experimental results were used for simulating a dual-gas-flow two-stage gasification in which MPGA circulates through the reformer for producing syngas and the combustor for producing heat by burning the coke and char. The simulation predicted maximum cold gas efficiencies over 0.8 on an LHV basis for both SCB and CSD at temperature of 1073-1123 K and S/B of 0.7-0.8.