The Critical Role of Phenolics on Gasification of Biomass Hydrolysate

The study was designed to solubilize sorghum by water extraction and investigate the effect of phenolics depending on the time in sorghum hydrolysate for hydrogen gas production by aqueous-phase reforming. The Folin-Ciocalteau method was used to determine the total water soluble phenolics of the sorghum hydrolysate. There were no significant changes in the total amount of phenolic compounds during the first weeks. It was observed that the total amount of water soluble phenolic compounds of sorghum hydrolysates showed changes monthly (300-400 ppm). The gas volume produced reached up to 40-50 mL was obtained when the hydrolysates were gasified. APR of biomass hydrolysates in the presence of a reforming catalyst (Pt 5% on activated carbon) produced various amount of gas mixture which consisted of H2, CH4 and CO2 gases. The results showed that the decrease in total water soluble phenolics of sorghum hydrolysate had no significant effect on gasification, depending on the time.