Biomass conversion into hydrogen-rich gas via pyrolysis technology

The literature on thermochemical conversion of biomass into hydrogen was summarised, and the experiments on pyrolysis of biomass in the fixed-bed reactor for hydrogen production under catalytic conditions was presented. Several types of catalysts including metal oxides, carbonates and chlorides were used in the lab. The results indicate that the addition of catalyst obviously influences the total gas yield and also hydrogen-containing gas yield. Catalyst load is important when its value is less than 0.3 kg/kg biomass used, however it becomes negligible when its value is larger than 0.3 kg/kg biomass used. Catalysts exert different extent of catalytic effect on rice straw and sawdust under the same operating parameters.