Thermodynamic analysis of methanation of palm empty fruit bunch (PEFB) pyrolysis oil with and without in situ CO<sub>2</sub> sorption

Hafizah Abdul Halim Yun; Valerie Dupont; Hafizah Abdul Halim Yun; Valerie Dupont

doi:10.3934/energy.2015.4.774

AIMS Energy

2015, Volume 3, Issue 4: 774-797. doi: 10.3934/energy.2015.4.774

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Thermodynamic analysis of methanation of palm empty fruit bunch (PEFB) pyrolysis oil with and without in situ CO₂ sorption

Energy Research Institute, School of Chemical and Process Engineering, The University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

Received: 14 June 2015 Accepted: 08 November 2015 Published: 13 November 2015

Thermodynamic equilibrium analysis for conversion of palm empty fruit bunch (PEFB) bio-oil to methane using low-temperature steam reforming (LTSR) process was conducted by assuming either isothermal or adiabatic condition, with and without sorption enhancement (SE-LTSR), with CaO_(S) or Ca(OH)_2(S) as CO₂ sorbent. Temperatures of 300-800 K, molar steam to carbon (S/C) ratios of 0.3-7.0, pressures of 1-30 atm and molar calcium to carbon ratios (Ca:C) of 0.3-1.0 were simulated. For reasons of process simplicity, the best conditions for CH₄ production were observed for the adiabatic LTSR process without sorption at S/C between 2.5 and 3 (compared to the stoichiometric S/C of 0.375), inlet temperature above 450 K, resulting in reformer temperature of 582 K, where close to the theoretical maximum CH₄ yield of 38 wt % of the simulated dry PEFB oil was obtained, resulting in a reformate consisting of 44.5 vol % CH₄, 42.7 vol % CO₂ and 12.7 vol % H₂ and requiring only moderate heating mainly to partially preheat the reactants. Temperatures and S/C below these resulted in high risk of carbon by-product.
- palm empty fruit bunch bio-oil,
- low-temperature steam reforming,
- CO₂ sorption,
- methanation,
- thermodynamics,
- energy
Citation: Hafizah Abdul Halim Yun, Valerie Dupont. Thermodynamic analysis of methanation of palm empty fruit bunch (PEFB) pyrolysis oil with and without in situ CO2 sorption[J]. AIMS Energy, 2015, 3(4): 774-797. doi: 10.3934/energy.2015.4.774

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Abstract

Thermodynamic equilibrium analysis for conversion of palm empty fruit bunch (PEFB) bio-oil to methane using low-temperature steam reforming (LTSR) process was conducted by assuming either isothermal or adiabatic condition, with and without sorption enhancement (SE-LTSR), with CaO_(S) or Ca(OH)_2(S) as CO₂ sorbent. Temperatures of 300-800 K, molar steam to carbon (S/C) ratios of 0.3-7.0, pressures of 1-30 atm and molar calcium to carbon ratios (Ca:C) of 0.3-1.0 were simulated. For reasons of process simplicity, the best conditions for CH₄ production were observed for the adiabatic LTSR process without sorption at S/C between 2.5 and 3 (compared to the stoichiometric S/C of 0.375), inlet temperature above 450 K, resulting in reformer temperature of 582 K, where close to the theoretical maximum CH₄ yield of 38 wt % of the simulated dry PEFB oil was obtained, resulting in a reformate consisting of 44.5 vol % CH₄, 42.7 vol % CO₂ and 12.7 vol % H₂ and requiring only moderate heating mainly to partially preheat the reactants. Temperatures and S/C below these resulted in high risk of carbon by-product.

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