Dry-bed
adsorptive desulfurization of biomass-based syngas with
low to medium sulfur content using ZnO was investigated as an alternative
to the conventional wet scrubbing processes. The technical feasibility
of ZnO-based desulfurization was studied in laboratory-scale H2S breakthrough experiments. The experiments were set up to
utilize realistic H2S concentrations from gasification
and therefore long breakthrough times. Experiments were performed
in a steam-rich model biosyngas in varying conditions. The long-term
breakthrough experiments showed apparent ZnO utilization rates between
10 and 50% in the tested conditions, indicating intraparticle mass-transfer
resistances partly due to space velocity and particle size constraints
as well as the most likely product-layer resistances as evidenced
by the large spent adsorbent surface area decrease. An empirical deactivation
model to estimate full breakthrough curves was fitted to the laboratory-scale
experimental data. Breakthrough experiment in tar-rich syngas was
also performed with the conclusion that ZnO performance is not significantly
affected by hydrocarbons despite carbon deposition on the particle
surfaces.
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