(487g) Comparison Of Several Glycerol Reforming Methods For Hydrogen and Syngas Production Using Thermodynamic Analysis

Glycerol, which is obtained as byproduct of biodiesel production, represents an expressive candidate source for hydrogen and syngas production that is renewable. Even with different industrial applications have already been implemented the developments of new technologies for the recovery of glycerol is essential. Among the most promising technologies is the conversion of glycerol into high value added gases, like as hydrogen and syngas using different reforming processes. Among these processes are the steam reforming, partial oxidation autothermal reforming, dry reforming and the supercritical water gasification. All these processes exhibit unique characteristics and the study of the better operational conditions is necessary. This paper focuses on the comparison of different glycerol reforming technologies aimed to hydrogen and syngas production. The reactions of steam reforming, partial oxidation, autothermal reforming, dry reforming and supercritical water gasification were analyzed. For this, the Gibbs energy minimization method was used in combination with the virial equation of state. The validation of the model were made comparing the simulations of the proposed model and results from the literature, either simulated or experimental data, for the different analyzed reactions. The GAMS^® 23.1 software and the CONOPT solver were used in the resolution of the proposed problems. The effects of modifications in the operational temperature, operational pressure and reactants composition were analyzed with regard to composition of the products. The effect of coke formation was discussed too. Generally, at higher temperatures and lower pressures resulted in higher hydrogen and syngas production. All cases demonstrated to be feasible for use in the production of hydrogen or syngas. The model showed good predictive ability and low computational time (close to 1 s) to perform the predictions of the combined chemical and phase equilibrium in all systems analyzed here.