Abstract:
The main purpose of this research are to evaluate the performance of nickel/alumina catalysts modified by basic oxides on tar cracking and also to investigate the effect of calcination temperature and preparation method of catalysts on the catalytic activity and stability of the catalysts in steam gasification of biomass. Experiments were carried out using a drop tube fixed bed reactor. Rice husk was used as a biomass sample. Gas product was analyzed by gas chromatograph in order to observe the performance of modified catalysts activity in steam gasification of biomass on yield of gas product and its composition. From the experimental result, the nickel-based catalyst modified by magnesium, prepared by sequential impregnation method and calcined at 950 ℃, showed good catalytic activity and stability on tar cracking. This is contributable to MgAl2O4 layer in NiO-MgO/Al₂O₃ catalyst that can effectively suppress the phase transformation of Ni to NiAl₂O₄. The MgAl2O4 on the support of Ni catalysts contribute high catalytic activity with excellent stability under reaction conditions. The high sintering-resistance ability and low acidity of MgAl₂O₄ compared to γ-Al₂O₃ might be responsible for high activity and resistant to coking and sintering. Catalyst preparation by the sequential impregnation method was found to be more active than that prepared by the co-impregnation method. The calcinations temperature of 950 ℃ was found to be suitable for preparing Ni-catalysts with Mg and Ca additions, in term of catalyst performance in tar cracking.