Non-catalytic conversion of wheat straw, walnut shell and almond shell into hydrogen rich gas in supercritical water media

Agricultural wastes as lignocellulosic biomasses are known as the major resources of bioenergy. These valuable resources can be converted into useful environmental friendly fuels and chemicals. Wheat straw, walnut shell and almond shell are the main agricultural wastes in Kurdistan province, Iran. This study investigates the hydrogen-rich gas production via gasification of these biomasses in supercritical water media. Experiments were performed first, in the base case condition using a stainless steel batch micro reactor system. Then, the effect of reaction time on the total gas yield and yield of hydrogen, were investigated. It was seen that the total gas yields and gasification efficiencies increased by increasing the reaction time to 30 min and then the total gas yield was approximately remained constant. Among three used feed stocks, wheat straw with higher amount of cellulose and lower amount of lignin had the highest total gas and hydrogen yields in shorter reaction times. The maximum hydrogen yields of 7.25, 4.1 and 4.63 mmol per gram of wheat straw, almond shell and walnut shell occurred at 10, 15 and 20 min of reaction time, respectively. (C) 2016 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.