Novel Process for Production of H₂-Rich Nitrogen-Free Syngas from Coal Using a Cu/Fe-Alumina Catalyst and Steam

A novel catalytic process to produce a H2-rich syngas stream free of nitrogen from coal is described. In this process, the reaction of coal and steam was performed in the presence of a catalyst consisting of Cu/FeAl2O4 to produce H2 and CO2/CO. This process is different from traditional catalytic gasification because the catalyst is not an additive to the coal feed but rather a physical medium that resides in the reactor bed. The H2-rich syngas stream produced in this process does not contain N2, eliminating the need for an expensive air separation unit. The Cu/FeAl2O4 catalyst was stable during the multiple coal additions followed by steam reaction, indicating the stability of the catalyst. H2-rich syngas production rates in this novel catalytic process were significantly faster than that with coal -steam gasification without the catalyst under similar reaction conditions. The best gasification performance was observed with lignite coal and sub-bituminous coals, and high rank bituminous coals had the worst performance. Continuous syngas production maintaining a high syngas production rate was demonstrated with increasing amounts of coal in a fluidized bed reactor.