Chapter 7: Advances in Gasification for Biofuel Production
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Published:17 Aug 2011
C. R. Shaddix, in Chemical and Biochemical Catalysis for Next Generation Biofuels, ed. B. A. Simmons and L. Peter, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2011, ch. 7, pp. 136-155.
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Of all of the conversion processes of biomass into fuels, the gasification process gives the widest breadth of potential products, ranging from gaseous fuels, such as hydrogen or syngas, to liquid fuels such as methanol, ethanol, dimethylether (DME), gasoline, or diesel. The gasification process is also one of the most flexible conversion processes in terms of acceptable feed material. The key ingredients of this fuel production route include the gasifier, where one or more oxidizing agents are reacted with the biomass feedstock at elevated temperatures in a fuel-rich environment, the syngas cleanup stage, where harmful contaminants of the gasifier product gas are removed or converted to acceptable chemical species, and the fuel synthesis step, where cleaned, compressed syngas is converted to liquid fuels by reacting over an appropriate catalyst. This chapter summarizes the current status and prospective areas for improvements in the biomass gasification process itself. The gasification process is a key component of a wide range of production routes for both gaseous and liquid biofuels. Improvements in the efficiency, capital effectiveness, and availability of the gasification process will have important impacts on the overall cost effectiveness of these thermochemical routes of biofuels production and may therefore play a significant role in the anticipated expansion of biofuels production in the future. The chapter begins with a discussion of the diverse range of biomass feedstocks appropriate for use in gasification processes and then progresses to the core topic∶ the current state-of-the-art in biomass gasification.