Effects of Composite Iron–Sodium Catalyst on Coal Pyrolysis and Gasification

Effects of composite iron¨Csodium catalyst on coal pyrolysis and gasification

Qingxi Cao^a,b, Maohong Fan^b,[1], Drayson Bratt^b, Xin Huang^b, Hui Liu^a

^aHarbin Institute of Technology, 92 West Dazhi Street, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China

^bDepartment of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Wyoming, 1000 E Univ. Ave., Laramie WY 82071, United States

Abstract: The objective of this research is to study the effect of an environmentally-friendly, inexpensive composite catalyst, FeCO₃¨CNa₂CO₃, on pyrolysis and gasification of a low-sulfur sub-bituminous Wyodak coal from the Powder River Basin (PRB) of Wyoming. The catalytic effects of the composite catalysts were evaluated by comparing the produced gas compositions and carbon conversion kinetics to those achieved from raw coal. All of the evaluation works are being conducted in a fixed bed gasifier at atmospheric pressure. N₂ is used as the protected gas for pyrolysis while CO₂ is used as the gasification agent. The composite catalyst is designed to be active during both pyrolysis and gasification process and it could considerably increase the carbon conversion rate constants at low temperatures. In addition, compared to raw coal without use of catalyst, the composite catalyst is expected to be able to significantly increase the yield of H₂ during coal pyrolysis and enhance the yield of CO during char gasification. The catalytic effect of the composite catalyst is also being quantitatively evaluated using shrinking core and random pore models.

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[1] Corresponding author at: Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Wyoming, 1000 E Univ. Ave., Laramie WY 82071, United States. Email address: mfan@uwyo.edu (M. Fan).