Syngas

Abstract

Syngas produced from biomass and biowaste gasification is a versatile renewable fuel and feedstock for chemical synthesis or heat and power production. Bio-syngas can be produced from different biomass feedstock (e.g. lignocellulosic biomass, pyrolysis oil, bioethanol, biogas) through thermal and/or catalytic reforming and gasification processes. The typical components of raw syngas can be classified into three groups: non-condensable gases (e.g. H2, CO, CH4 and CO2), condensable gases (e.g. H2O and tars) and impurities (e.g. HCl, NH3, H2S and particulates). Depending on the application, raw syngas may need to be cleaned of impurities and conditioned to adjust the H2/CO ratio in order to meet the requirements of environmental regulations and downstream processes respectively. Hence, an accurate characterization of the syngas chemical composition, at the different processing stages, is important to control and optimize the process efficiency. In this chapter, various methods and equipment for sampling, preconditioning and analyzing the three groups of syngas components will be discussed. Analyses of the equipment detection limits, gas matrix sensitivity, and overall accuracy will also be made.