Contaminant Tolerant Water-Gas-Shift Catalyst for Coal-Biomass-to-Liquids Process

Gasification technologies convert coal and biomass into synthesis gas feed streams that can be used as a chemical feedstock to Coal-Biomass-to-Liquids (CBTL) processes.  The CBTL process can produce transportation fuels and value added chemicals. It uses domestic feedstock, has a greenhouse gas footprint better than conventional coal or petroleum fuels, and is projected to be economical at world oil price significantly below the existing level of $82 per barrel (IEC, November 2009). 

The commercialization of the CBTL technologies requires the development of clean-up and purification processes that can virtually eliminate the contaminants from the synthesis gas feed stock. While the gas clean-up is vital to protect the catalysts, it will also increase the cost of the CBTL process, and the more stringent the removal requirements are, the more the gas clean-up will cost.  Therefore, it is desirable to develop catalysts that can resist poisoning to reduce the extent and severity of the gas clean-up process.

The water-gas-shift catalyst is tolerant to the contaminants in the synthesis gas streams generated by coal and biomass co-gasification. We will present the results from our contaminant tolerant catalyst development efforts in the meeting.