H2 and COx generation from coal gasification catalyzed by a cost-effective iron catalyst Original Research Article

The objective of this research is to study the effect and mechanism of FeCO3-based catalytic gasification of a low-sulfur sub-bituminous Wyodak coal from the Powder River Basin (PRB) of Wyoming. The catalytic effect was evaluated by comparing the gas compositions and carbon conversion kinetics with and without of FeCO3, which was realized by gasifying the coal with a fixed-bed laboratory gasifier within steam environment at atmospheric pressure. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Mössbauer spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to study the involved catalytic mechanism through characterization of the iron species and oxidation states of the catalyst and the composition of tar released during pyrolysis.