(619a) Gasification of Maize Cob Catalyzed By Modified Iron-Rich Red Mud Extract

Gasification of biomass gives the synthesis gas which may either be further processed to give Fischer-Tropsch diesel fuel or burn for electricity. At present, one of the most used kinds of catalysts for the biomass gasification are alkali metals, such as iron, potassium and sodium, which facilitates the formation of gaseous production especially hydrogen, and also promotes the release of gases tended to happen at a lower temperature. However, whether the catalyst was added in an impregnation way or dry mix way, the recovery is difficult, which increases the cost of gasification. The Bayer red mud is a highly available iron-containing material with low or no cost, but there are few reports about using the red mud extract as the catalysts of gasification. In this paper, different ratios of modified red mud extract were impregnated into the maize cob, and the oxygen was used as gasifying agent in a fixed bed gasifier. The catalytic effect caused by the extract came from same amount of red mud with maize cob was same as the nitrate iron in 5 wt%.The modifications of the red mud with acid improving its surface area activity and changing its compositions might be the possible reason. Using red mud extract as catalyst will be a great way both to improve gasification of biomass and to handle hazardous red mud.