Investigation of Absorption Enhanced Reforming
Energy can be produced from special agricultural crops, animal waste and other types of biomass. This is preferable to energy production from the combustion of fossil fuels since biomass can be regenerated and there are fewer pollutants emitted to the atmosphere. Scientists are striving to optimise the conversion processes in order to obtain the maximum benefit from biomass. The Centre for Solar and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) in Germany experimented with Absorption Enhanced Reforming (AER). A special absorbent in the AER reactor together with steam reforming serves to remove CO2 and produce gas with a significantly higher H2 content. ZSW successfully demonstrated the potential of AER in the laboratory environment using methane as a test fuel. H2 content surpassed 95% while residual CO and CO2 content was maintained below 2%. Experimentation with process temperature, space velocity, the steam/carbon ratio and the catalyst/absorbent ratio resulted in the acquisition of knowledge regarding the relative influence of these parameters on performance. Further financial support is necessary to extend the existing prototype to the industrial scale. These developments are of interest to companies involved in biomass production, hydrogen energy, fuel cell research and electricity production.
