- Title
- Promoting the production of hydrogen during steam pyrolysis of Victorian brown coal using a pressurized entrained flow reactor
- Creator
- Oliveira, Joshua
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2021
- Description
- Masters Research - Master of Philosophy (MPhil)
- Description
- Brown coal is an abundant and low cost resource with inherent properties which are superior to higher ranked coals in the thermal processing of solid fuels to tar and gaseous fuels. Brown coals contain low levels of ash and high levels of volatile matters, leading to a highly porous material which is suitable for the rapid generation of H₂ rich gases. Producing H₂ rich fuels is an emerging step in the thermal treatment of low grade materials leading to the development of more cost effective and efficient technologies. The current pilot scale technologies are equipped with pressurized fixed bed reactors and gasification systems, primarily for CH₄ production, slurry-based treatments and H₂ assisted pyrolysis with supercritical fluids as there have been advancements in laboratory–scale settings with H₂-rich donors. However, the high operating costs, exceedingly high temperatures and low selectivity to product yields are current issues for large scale industrial applications. The application of a continuous pressurized steam pyrolysis system was implemented in this research to produce H₂ rich tar and gas which is proposed as a combined steam pyrolysis and gasification system to enhance the H₂ gas yield. The aim of the research was to determine the feasibility of employing Victorian brown coal as a low cost precursor for producing high value products under a specified set of operating conditions using an entrained–flow reactor. Significant increases in the poly aromatic hydrocarbons in the tar were found with increased pressures and a 1 mL/min steam flow rate. The interaction of the steam in pressurized pyrolysis pressures were significant compared to results without steam. The composition of char was reduced significantly at 2 MPa and 4 MPa. The micro gas chromatography results showed a maximum H₂ fraction of 98.8 vol% at 900 °C and 1 Mpa with steam, approximately 15 vol% higher than without steam. H2 of 2.9 g/kg H2 in the gas was achieved. Steam significantly in the CH₄, CO and CO₂ in the produced gas.
- Subject
- pressurised pyrolysis; steam pyrolysis; hydropyrolysis; brown coal; production of hydrogen; entrained–flow pyrolysis
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1509848
- Identifier
- uon:56319
- Rights
- Copyright 2021 Joshua Oliveira
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 239 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |