Novel low energy plasma/catalytic gas cleaning process to deliver high quality syngas from the gasification of waste biomass

The gasification of biomass wastes represents a major thermochemical route to produce a high energy value syngas from a source which is renewable and CO2-neutral. However, one of the major issues in the gasification process is contamination of the product syngas with tar. Tar is the key problem for biomass gasification and is a complex mixture of condensable hydrocarbons. The formation of tar causes major process and syngas end-use problems, including tar blockages, plugging and corrosion in downstream fuel lines, filters, engine nozzles and turbines. This proposal seeks to develop a novel gas cleaning process based on low temperature plasma/catalytic technology to produce a clean, high quality syngas from the gasification of waste biomass. Gasification of the biomass will be investigated in an existing small-pilot scale fluidised bed gasifier, modified to include a downstream plasma/catalytic syngas cleaning process. Experimental and detailed analytical work developing the coupled biomass gasification-gas cleaning process will enable a mechanistic understanding of the tar reduction process and will be extended by CFD modelling of model tar compounds. Process modelling and simulation of the combined biomass gasification-plasma/catalytic gas clean-up sytem will build a foundation for process analysis, optimal design and operation to facilitate exploitation of this innovative technology development.