Investigation of an Intensified Thermo-Chemical Experimental Set-Up for Hydrogen Production from Biomass: Gasification Process Performance—Part I

Biomass gasification for energy purposes has several advantages, such as the mitigation of global warming and national energy independency. In the present work, the data from an innovative and intensified steam/oxygen biomass gasification process, integrating a gas filtration step directly inside the reactor, are presented. The produced gas at the outlet of the 1 MWth gasification pilot plant was analysed in terms of its main gaseous products (hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane) and contaminants. Experimental test sets were carried out at 0.25–0.28 Equivalence Ratio (ER), 0.4–0.5 Steam/Biomass (S/B), and 780–850 °C gasification temperature. Almond shells were selected as biomass feedstock and supplied to the reactor at approximately 120 and 150 kgdry/h. Based on the collected data, the in-vessel filtration system showed a dust removal efficiency higher than 99%-wt. A gas yield of 1.2 Nm3dry/kgdaf and a producer gas with a dry composition of 27–33%v H2, 23–29%v CO, 31–36%v CO2, 9–11%v CH4, and light hydrocarbons lower than 1%v were also observed. Correspondingly, a Low Heating Value (LHV) of 10.3–10.9 MJ/Nm3dry and a cold gas efficiency (CGE) up to 75% were estimated. Overall, the collected data allowed for the assessment of the preliminary performances of the intensified gasification process and provided the data to validate a simulative model developed through Aspen Plus software.