Characterisation of tar produced in the gasification of biomass with in situ catalytic reforming

This paper concerns the cleaning of the hot gas produced by steam gasification of biomass in a fluidized bed. The cleaning takes place in a catalytic filter candle device placed directly in the freeboard of the bed. Such integration results in a compact processing unit and increased thermal efficiency; the result of the cleaning being carried out directly at the reactor outlet temperature. It thus lends itself to exploitation in distributed power generation systems utilizing renewable energy sources. Results are reported for runs performed in a bench scale fluidized bed steam gasifier fitted with a single full-size catalytic candle filter. Tar and particulates in the product gas were sampled in accord with technical specification CEN/TS 15439 with analysis by UV and fluorescence spectroscopy. Copyright © 2010 The Berkeley Electronic Press.