Supercritical water gasification of landfill leachate for hydrogen production in the presence and absence of alkali catalyst

•Gasification of landfill leachate in supercritical water to produce hydrogen.•Temperature, feed concentration, retention time and alkali catalysts impact syngas.•Hydrogen GC, GY and Cg could exhibit up to 55.6%, 107.15 mol kg−1 and 71.96%.•Effect of parameters on COD, TOC and TN removal efficiency was investigated.•Hydrogen GC maximized at 5 wt% NaOH loading and descended as NaOH ＞ KOH ＞ Na2CO3 ＞ K2CO3. Gasification of landfill leachate in supercritical water using batch-type reactor is investigated. Alkali such as NaOH, KOH, K2CO3, Na2CO3 is used as catalyst. The effect of temperature (380–500 °C), retention time (5–25 min), landfill leachate concentration (1595 mg L−1–15,225 mg L−1), catalyst adding amount (1–10 wt%) on hydrogen mole fraction, hydrogen yield, carbon gasification rate, COD, TOC, TN removal efficiency are investigated. The results showed that gaseous products mainly contained hydrogen, methane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide without addition of catalyst. However, the main gaseous products are hydrogen and methane with addition of NaOH, KOH, K2CO3, Na2CO3. In the absence of alkali catalyst, the effect of temperature on landfill leachate gasification is positive. Hydrogen mole fraction, hydrogen yield, carbon gasification ratio increase with temperature, which maximum value being 55.6%, 107.15 mol kg−1, 71.96% is obtained at 500 °C, respectively. Higher raw landfill leachate concentration leads to lower hydrogen production and carbon gasification rate. The suitable retention time is suggested to be 15 min for higher hydrogen production and carbon gasification rate. COD, TOC and TN removal efficiency also increase with increase of temperature, decrease of landfill leachate concentration. In the presence of catalyst, the hydrogen production is obviously promoted by addition of alkali catalyst. the effect of catalysts on hydrogen production is in the following order: NaOH ＞ KOH ＞ Na2CO3 ＞ K2CO3. The maximum hydrogen mole fraction and hydrogen yield being 74.40%, 70.05 mol kg−1 is obtained with adding amount of 5 wt% NaOH at 450 °C, 28 MPa, 15 min.