Fe-doped olivine and char for in-bed elimination of gasification tars in an air-blown fluidised bed reactor coupled with oxidative hot gas filtration

Gasification experiments were carried out in a pilot scale fluid bed reactor operated under allothermal mode and low fluidisation regime with iron-doped olivine and char as catalyst for in-situ tar abatement.

The catalyst combination resulted in a reduction of 50% in the overall tar yield with respect to the reference values. Furthermore, the integration of an oxidative Hot Gas Filtration unit downstream the gasification reactor led to a further reduction in overall tar yield and relatively clean gas was obtained (approx. 1 g/Nm³, benzene-free). The tar dew point of the resulting producer gas was estimated to 80 °C, only 40 °C above the threshold value recommended for its valorisation in standard internal combustion engines. Moreover, catalyst elutriation and char hold-up took place to a large extent inside the reactor. The analysis of catalyst samples at different Time-On-Stream (TOS) revealed: (i) a considerable loss of iron oxides during the first hour of test because of the interparticle mechanical attrition (mostly surface abrasion) and partial reduction of hematite to magnetite and wustite but, stable composition at higher TOS, (ii) the loss of the iron oxide coverage of Fe/olivine particles and the formation of agglomerates with increasing TOS and, (iii) the amount of carbon deposited in the surface of the Fe/olivine particles increased with TOS, but in any case, these carbon deposits can be completely oxidized above 650 °C.