Combining autothermal and plasma-assisted tar reforming

生物质和废物气化产生的原料气通常包括焦油(分子量超过78克/摩尔的可凝聚碳氢化合物)和其他较轻的碳氢化合物，在生产合成气(一氧化碳和氢气)之前必须去除这些碳氢化合物，以便进一步升级，例如避免下游催化剂结垢。焦油重整过程可以通过几种不同的方法来实现，但通常涉及到能量和氧化物种的输入。添加水蒸气和/或氧气的目的是通过部分氧化来提高原料气的温度，以启动焦油的热分解，但也要达到在第二催化区将所有碳氢化合物转化为所需合成气分子所需的气体温度。在这个项目中，将研究使用自热重整和等离子体辅助工艺相结合的潜在效益。APLAS有限公司正在为包括生物质气化和固体废物处理在内的各种热化学转化工艺开发等离子体技术。焦油物种的出现是这些应用中的一个问题，APLAS有限公司认识到有必要进行基础研究，如本文提出的研究在实际转化炉几何形状中发生的流体力学和化学现象之间的耦合。

The raw product gas produced through gasification of biomass and waste often includes tars (condensablehydrocarbons with molecular weight above 78 g/mol) and other lighter hydrocarbons that must be removedprior to producing a syngas (CO and H2) for further upgrading, for instance to avoid fouling of downstreamcatalysts. This tar reforming process can be achieved through several different ways, but an input of energy andof oxidizing species is generally involved. The addition of steam and/or oxygen aims at increasing thetemperature in raw product gas by partial oxidation to initiate thermal decomposition of tars but also to achievea gas temperature needed for converting all hydrocarbons to the desired syngas molecules in the secondarycatalytic zone. In this project, the potential benefit of using a combination of autothermal reforming andplasma-assisted processes will be investigated.Aplas Ltd. is developing plasma technologies for a wide range of thermochemical conversion processes,including biomass gasification and solid waste treatment. The occurrence of tar species is a problem in severalof these applications and Aplas Ltd. recognizes the need for fundamental research such as that proposed herethat investigates the coupling between fluid mechanics and chemical phenomena taking place in practicalreformer geometries.