Compressed hydrogen-rich fuel gas (CHFG) from wet biomass by reforming in supercritical water

Aqueous condensate produced from biomass by flash pyrolysis is a clean feedstock for gas production by reforming at supercritical water conditions of 600–650∘C and 28–30 MPa. Low concentrations of soda ash in the condensate reduce the CO content of the reformer gas to about 2% and proportionally increase the hydrogen content. This lean-CO gas appears as a primary candidate for upgrading to CHFG quality. Desk studies, reported in this paper, concern the design of a conceptual gas conditioning process and reveal interesting potential for production of CHFG, free of CO and CO2CO2, a hydrogen content of 50% with a pressure of 30 MPa, without the need for gas compression. The high processing pressure provides for small equipment size and low energy consumption.