Hydrogen rich gas production via nano-catalytic gasification of bagasse in supercritical water

Ru/Al2O3 nano-catalysts were prepared with impregnation and microemulsion techniques. The supercritical water gasification reaction was performed at 400oC and 5-60 min. Within the tested operation conditions, the reaction residence time of 15 min was the optimum to maximize the H2 yield. It was observed that using microemulsion technique increases the total gas yield significantly. Using microemulsion technique for preparation of Ru/Al2O3 nanocatalyst with water to surfactant ration of 0.5, increased the hydrogen yield to 17.6 (mmol of H2/ g of bagasse), CO yield to 14.2 (mmol of CO/g of bagasse) and light gaseous hydrocarbons to 1.4 (mmol of light gaseous hydrocarbons/g of bagasse). It was observed that using micro emulsion technique increases the catalyst specific activity by a factor of 1.7 which considerably can enhance the economic aspects of the bagasse super critical water gasification technology.