The role of hydrogen in microwave plasma valorization of producer gas
Mateusz Wnukowski, Piotr Jamróz, Łukasz Niedźwiecki
Abstract
Plasma methods are given significant attention in the context of conditioning the producer gas derived from biomass gasification. The goal of this work is to present the impact of hydrogen on the other producer gas compounds during microwave plasma valorization. These compounds include main producer gas components (CO, CO2, CH4, N2) and minor impurities (tar compounds, H2S and NH3). The results prove a beneficial impact of hydrogen addition on the conversion of CH4 and toluene, increasing it from ca. 68%–95% and ca. 97%–100%, respectively. Additionally, the presence of hydrogen changes the distribution of the products, inhibiting soot and aromatics production and promoting C2 compounds. In the case of CO2, the conversion increases from ca. 18%–63% when compared to nitrogen plasma, with CO being the resulting product. The presence of hydrogen inhibits H2S conversion and does not affect CO and NH3