Abstract:Lignin is an abundant component in biomass that can be used a feedstock for producing several value-added products, including biofuels. However, lignin is a complex molecule (involving in its structure three types of phenylpropane units: coumaryl, coniferyl and sinapyl), which is difficult to implement in any process simulation task. The lignin from softwood is formed mainly by coniferyl units; therefore, in this work the use of the guaiacol molecule to model softwood lignin in the simulation of the syngas process (H2 + CO) is proposed. A Gibbs reactor in ASPEN PLUS ® was feed with ratios of water and guaiacol from 0.5 to 20. The pressure was varied from 0.05 to 1.01 MPa and the temperature in the range of 200-3200 °C. H2, CO, CO2, CH4, O2 and C as graphite were considered in the output stream. The pressure, temperature and ratio water/guaiacol conditions for syngas production for different H2/CO ratio are discussed. The obtained results allow to determine the operating conditions to improve the syngas production and show that C as graphite and water decomposition can be avoided.
OPEN ACCESSEnergies 2015, 8 6706
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