Continuous coke management with Ni and Ni-Co catalysts for bio-syngas tar steam reforming – The Switch-SRCG unit

The Switch-SRCG (SR: Steam reforming and CG: Coke gasification) dual-bed design provides continuous on-stream catalyst regeneration by coke gasification following steam reforming of biomass gasification tars. The potential of the cyclic regeneration scheme was demonstrated with both Ni and NiCo catalysts at relevant model conditions (bio-syngas = 10/35/25/25% CH4/H2/CO/CO2, tar model = 20 g/Nm3 toluene, temperature = 700 °C, steam-to-hydrocarbon ratio = 3.0). The best performance was obtained with the NiCo system, attributed to a better balance between coke deposition and coke gasification rates (compared to Ni). The Switch-SRCG regeneration scheme represents a novel approach to net low-coking bio-syngas tar reforming with Ni-based catalysts.