[Bioconversion] Carbon Arc Steam Reforming of biomass

[Peter Singfield]

At 07:31 PM 6/23/2007 +0000, tombreed at comcast.net wrote:
>Dear All:
>So we know a lot about high temperature processes that have worked in the
past and now need to be modernized.
>
>Yours truly,]
>
>TOM REED   (in Beaverton, OR)
>

HYDROGEN PRODUCTION FROM HIGH MOISTURE CONTENT BIOMASS IN SUPERCRITICAL WATER

http://www.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/25315hh.pdf

That is from some years back -- if that url no longer works -- well -- I
can send it to you Tom to "mount" --

Your absolutely right you know -- and this is the path to that mountain --
bar no others!!

(Bar = "pun" -- and is intended!!)

Peter/Belize

************abstract****************

Abstract

By mixing wood sawdust with a corn starch gel, a viscous paste can be
produced that is easily delivered to a supercritical flow reactor by means
of a cement pump. Mixtures of about 10 wt wood sawdust with 3.65 wt% starch
are employed in this work,which we estimate to cost about $0.043 per lb.
Significant reductions in feed cost can be achieved by increasing the wood
sawdust loading, but such an increase may require a more complex pump. When
this feed is rapidly heated in a tubular flow reactor at pressures above
the critical pressure of water (22MPa), the sawdust paste vaporizes without
the formation of char. A packed bed of carbon catalyst in the reactor
operating at about 650 °C causes the tarry vapors to react with water,
producing hydrogen, carbon dioxide,and some methane with a trace of carbon
monoxide. The temperature and history of the reactor's wall influence the
hydrogen-methane product equilibrium by catalyzing the methane steam
reforming reaction. The water effluent from the reactor is clean. Other
biomass feedstocks, such as the waste product of biodiesel production,
behave similarly. Unfortunately, sewage sludge does not evidence favorable
gasification characteristics and is not a promising feedstock for
supercritical water gasification.