Enhancement of H2 production via catalytic steam gasification of food waste as feedstock and its ash as a support and promoter for Ni catalyst.

A novel Ni-based catalyst was prepared with 5% and 10% loading of Ni on food waste ash, and then it was characterized using various physico-chemical methods. Thereafter, the steam gasification experiments were conducted at 850 °C and a steam flow rate (SFR) of 0.75 mL/min in a downdraft fixed bed gasifier. The gasification results showed that a 5% Ni-loaded catalyst was more effective than 10% in enhancing the syngas production with a high hydrogen fraction. It was found that the use of this catalyst increased the syngas yield significantly to 1.8 m3/kg on increasing the catalyst content in feedstock to 50%. Additionally, the hydrogen fraction in syngas increased to 71% which, together with higher syngas yield, increased the hydrogen yield by almost 100%. Furthermore, the performance parameters for gasification, such as carbon conversion efficiency (CCE) and cold gas efficiency (CGE), were also found to be highest at 50% catalyst content of 5% Ni-loaded catalyst in the feedstock. • Food waste was used as feedstock and its ash as support and promoter for Ni catalyst. • 5% and 10% loading of Ni on food waste ash was used. • 0, 25, 50, and 75% catalyst content (wt %) was used. • 5% Ni loading with 50% catalyst content was found to be most suitable combination. • 100% increase in Hydrogen yield (1.3 m3/kg) was obtained by this combination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]