An experimental approach aiming the production of a gas mixture composed of hydrogen and methane from biomass as natural gas substitute in industrial applications

This work presents an experimental approach aiming the production of a gas mixture composed of H2 and CH4, which should serve as natural gas substitute in industrial applications. Therefore, a lab-scale process chain employing a water gas shift unit, scrubbing units, and a pressure swing adsorption unit was operated with tar-rich product gas extracted from a commercial dual fluidized bed biomass steam gasification plant. A gas mixture with a volumetric fraction of about 80% H2 and 19% CH4 and with minor fractions of CO and CO2 was produced by employing carbon molecular sieve as adsorbent. Moreover, the produced gas mixture had a lower heating value of about 15.5 MJ·m−3 and a lower Wobbe index of about 43.4 MJ·m−3, which is similar to the typical Wobbe index of natural gas.