Author: Norbert Miskolczi (University of Pannonia) - The utilization of different wastes is one of the most important question of sustainable energy development and circular economy. Hydrogen looks suitable for clean energy production and raw material for green chemistry. Biomass has a great potential for energy generation and hydrogen production. The conventional way for biomass sourced hydrogen production is the gasification in which the cellulosic compounds of biomass transformed into syngas (mixture of hydrogen and carbon-monoxide) and hydrocarbons. The hydrogen yield can be increase by water shift (WGS) reaction (CO+H2O→CO2+H2). The WGS reaction is catalytic reaction, in which iron based or cupper based catalysts are used to increase the hydrogen yield and set the proper H2/CO ratio. The biomass gasification needs high temperature (>800°C) and considerable amount of CO2 generates in the process. Therefore the CO2 reduction during the gasification is widely investigated. The CO2 in the products of biomass gasification can be reduced by both in-situ and post-situ ways. In this work waste biomass gasification combined with CO2 reduction was investigated using sorption enhanced water gas shift reaction. Gasification reactions have been performed in a laboratory scale reactor at 800°C, while the WGS reactions at 400-500°C. To achieve higher hydrogen yield CaO based catalysts containing red mud was used. Catalysts had been pre-treated by different ways. It was found, that the iron content of red mud can increase the hydrogen yield due to WGS reaction, and the amount of produced CO2 can be efficiently reduced by CaO.
