Title: Performance of a water gas shift unit processing tar-rich product gas from a commercial biomass steam gasification plant operating at partial load

Authors: Michael Kraussler; Matthias Binder; Hermann Hofbauer

Addresses: Bioenergy2020+ GmbH, Wienerstrasse 49, 7540 Guessing, Austria ' Bioenergy2020+ GmbH, Wienerstrasse 49, 7540 Guessing, Austria ' Institute of Chemical Engineering, TU Wien, Getreidemarkt 9, 1060 Wien, Austria

Abstract: In this paper, the performance of a water gas shift unit processing product gas from a commercial dual fluidised bed biomass steam gasification plant is studied. The experiments were carried out during a partial load operation of the gasification plant. In order to investigate a water gas shift process, a water gas shift unit, located at the site of the gasification plant in Oberwart, Austria, was used. The water gas shift unit consisted of three reactors in series filled with a commercial Fe'Cr-based catalyst and was operated with tar-rich product gas. No performance decrease of the water gas shift unit was observed during the partial load operation of the gasification plant. Furthermore, a CO conversion of 92% and a GCMS tar reduction of about 30% were reached. In addition, it was found that partial load operation of the gasification plant did not negatively affect the performance of the water gas shift unit. [Received: December 23, 2015; Accepted: April 24, 2016]

Keywords: biomass; steam gasification; dual fluidised bed; DFB; hydrogen; water gas shift; WGS; partial load operation; partial loads; tar-rich product gas; commercial Fe/Cr-based catalyst; iron; chromium; Austria; combined heat and power; CHP plant; tar reduction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2017.081098

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2017 Vol.14 No.1/2, pp.32 - 48

Received: 26 Dec 2015
Accepted: 24 Apr 2016
Published online: 21 Dec 2016 *

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