CO[sub.2]-Assisted Sugar Cane Gasification Using Transition Metal Catalysis: An Impact of Metal Loading on the Catalytic Behavior

To meet the increasing needs of fuels, especially non-fossil fuels, the production of “bio-oil” is proposed and many efforts have been undertaken to find effective ways to transform bio-wastes into valuable substances to obtain the fuels and simultaneously reduce carbon wastes, including CO[sub.2]. This work is devoted to the gasification of sugar cane bagasse to produce CO in the process assisted by CO[sub.2]. The metals were varied (Fe, Co, or Ni), along with their amounts, in order to find the optimal catalyst composition. The materials were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and electron diffraction, and were tested in the process of CO[sub.2]-assisted gasification. The catalysts based on Co and Ni demonstrate the best activity among the investigated systems: the conversion of CO[sub.2] reached 88% at ~800 °C (vs. 20% for the pure sugarcane bagasse). These samples contain metallic Co or Ni, while Fe is in oxide form.