Hydrogen-rich gas production via CaO sorption-enhanced steam gasification of rice husk: a modelling study

Gasification is a thermochemical process in which solid or liquid fuels are transformed into synthesis gas through partial oxidation. In this paper, a kinetic model of rice husk gasification has been developed, which is interesting for the applications of the syngas produced. It is a zero-dimensional, steady-state model based on global reaction kinetic, empirical correlation of pyrolysis and is capable of predicting hydrogen yield in the presence of sorbent CaO. The model can also be used as a useful tool to investigate the influence of process parameters including steam/biomass ratio, CaO/fuel ratio (CaO/Fuel), and gasification temperature on hydrogen efficiency, CO2 capture ratio (CCR), and average carbonation conversion (Save). Similar to hydrogen formation, CCR also increases with increasing CaO/Fuel, but an opposite trend is exhibited in Save. Model predictions were compared with available data from the literature, which showed fairly good agreement.