Catalytic pyrolysis and gasification of Miscanthus Giganteus: Haematite (Fe2O3) a versatile catalyst

The present work describes the catalytic steam gasification and pyrolysis of Miscanthus × Giganteus pellets. Alone or in combination, pyrolysis and gasification catalytic processes lead nowadays to promising methods for the production of energy and chemicals from various biomass. In our best conditions, steam gasification at 850 °C in the presence of 3 wt.% haematite, leads to 94.8 wt.% of gases and 5.2 wt.% liquids in 20 min. The gases composition (vol%) was: H2—45.7, CO—34.1, CO2—14.7, CH4—4.2 and others—1.3. In the presence of steam, haematite an iron oxide used as catalyst is active in the gasification and hydrogen production, is able to breakdown the tar produced during the thermal degradation of the biomass and leads to the partial oxidation of phenols. The influence of catalyst in pyrolysis is limited and only a decrease in liquids yields is observed.