Reforming sewage sludge pyrolysis volatile with Fe-embedded char: Minimization of liquid product yield

[Display omitted] •Fe2(SO4)3 is added in sewage sludge to produce pyrolysis char (SSC) embedded with Fe.•Fe-embedded SSC is utilized to reform the same source volatile to produce high quality syngas and avoid liquid products.•More gas is produced with raised H2 content as Fe concentration elevated in the Fe-embedded SSC.•Total liquid product and its oily fraction decreased greatly after reformed with Fe-embedded SSC. Obtaining high quality syngas from sewage sludge (SS) means transferring a low-grade SS into a high-grade fuel or raw materials for chemical products. In this study, Fe is added to SS in form of Fe2(SO4)3 to produce an effective and self-sufficient catalyst in order to obtain more syngas and minimize liquid products from SS pyrolysis. The Fe-embedded sewage sludge chars (SSCs) were used as catalysts for volatile reforming at 600°C. It has been found that the gas yield increases from 15.9 to 35.8wt% of the SS and that of liquids decreases from 31.9 to 10.2wt% after volatile reforming with Fe-embedded SSC when Fe was added equal to 7 % in the dried SS. In addition, the content of nitrogen-containing compounds in the oily products decreased. After reforming with Fe-embedded SSC, the molar fractions of syngas combustible components, including H2, CH4 and CO, increase, and the higher heating value of the syngas increased to 17.0MJ/Nm3 from the original 12.5MJ/Nm3 obtained from SS pyrolysis at 550°C. Moreover, the volatile reforming seems to reduce the level of some important syngas pollutants, like H2S, HCl and HCN, even though it was also observed an increase of the contents of SO2, NH3, NO2, HCNO and N2O.