Part of the book: Hydrogen Energy
Rich combustion of biogas inside an inert porous media reactor was investigated to evaluate hydrogen and syngas production. Temperature, velocities, and product gas composition of the combustion waves were analysed, while varying its filtration velocity, for a range of equivalence ratios (φ) from φ = 1.0 to φ = 3.5. A numerical model based on comprehensive heat transfer and chemical mechanisms was found to be in a good qualitative agreement with experimental data. Partial oxidation products of biogas (H2 and CO) were dominant on rich combustion. Different gas mixtures of methane and carbon dioxide, which simulated synthetic biogas, and the addition of a varying fraction of water steam were experimentally analysed. It was observed that an increasing steam to carbon ratio (S/C) improved hydrogen and syngas production. The non-catalytic process investigated results in an effective biogas upgrading, and to be essentially higher than under natural gas filtration combustion.
Part of the book: Anaerobic Digestion
During the last years, hybrid porous media reactors have been developed aiming to partially oxidize solid and gaseous fuels to produce reducing gases. The gases produced are mainly composed of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide, among other products of gasification. This hybrid process combines inert porous media (IPM) combustion and gasification of solid fuels by replacing a fraction of the inert solid volume with a solid fuel. The gaseous mixture is produced from carbon-rich reactants exposed to the high temperatures of filtration combustion. Experimental results from different solid fuels (coal, biomass, and others) and gaseous fuels (natural gas (NG), propane, and others) are presented, with detailed analysis of high temperatures (between 900 and 1800 K), velocities, and product gas composition of the combustion waves, which is able to produce [H2]/[CO] ratios from 0.2 to 10.
Part of the book: Sustainable Alternative Syngas Fuel