Bio-hydrogen production by sorption enhanced steam reforming of biomass derived compounds Mobile researcher: María Victoria Gil, Spain

The work to be carried out during the mobility stay is related to the H2 production from biomass derived compounds by sorption enhanced steam reforming (SESR), as an effective and promising route for direct catalytic conversion of biomass to H2 with high efficiency and high selectivity, without CO2 emissions. Therefore, it is a process which has negative carbon emissions, due to CO2 derived from the use of biomass is considered as neutral. The SESR process for H2 production can be directly applied to diff erent types of biomass, such as gas phase feedstocks (syngas from biomass gasification), liquid phase fuels (bio-liquids from biomass pyrolysis, glycerol, bioethanol, and aqueous solutions of sugars, such as gluclose and xylose), as solid lignocellulosic biomasses (sawdust). The proposed work plan includes the shythesis and characterisation of the hydrotalcite derived Ni-Co catalyst which will be used in the process. A comparative study of the sorption enhanced steam gasification of different biomass deri ved products will be carried out in order to maximize hydrogen selectivity and yield. Furthermore, the modelling of the reactors used for the sorption enhanced steam gasification process will be established in order to calculate the equilibrium compositio ns, which can be then compared to the experimental results. Since the applicant has worked in the production of hydrogen-rich syngas by co-gasification of coal and biomass, this stay will supply useful training and experience that will contribute to the d evelopment of her future career. Due to the common and complementary research subjects of both groups, the stay is expected to mean the establishment of a new collaboration between both groups.