The complete utilization of rice husk for production of synthesis gas

Abstract

Rice husk was completely used for synthesis gas production. The pyrolysis volatiles (gas and bio-oil) of rice husk were used as raw materials to produce synthesis gas and the bio-char from the rice husk pyrolysis was used as the catalyst for catalytic reforming of pyrolysis volatiles of rice husk. We investigated the role of catalysts in gas and bio-oil catalytic reformation under different reaction conditions and the interaction between gas and bio-oil. The results indicated that 0.1Ni–0.1Co/RHPC (rice husk pyrolysis carbon) exhibited favorable selectivity and high conversion for rice husk pyrolysis volatiles. In particular, H₂ and CO contents from bio-oil were 56% and 18%, respectively, 37% and 36% from gas, respectively. Moreover, the content of H₂ is 32%, while that of CO is 22% after catalytic reforming from the mixture of gas and bio-oil. The Co–Ni/RHPC catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, FT-IR, NH₃-TPD, H₂-TPR and N₂ adsorption and desorption. BET results showed that adding Co and Ni can effectively enhance the BET surface from 4 m² g⁻¹ to 96 m² g⁻¹. XRD results showed the active parts of the Ni and Co diffraction peaks remained evident after reaction.