Production of high-pure hydrogen by an integrated catalytic process: Comparison of different lignocellulosic biomasses and three major components

This work demonstrated an integrated catalytic process for the production of high-pure hydrogen by different lignocellulosic biomasses and three major components. The process involved in steam reforming (SR) of biomass, the water gas shift (WGS) and removal of CO2. The results show lignin provided the highest hydrogen yield of 16.6 gH2/(100 gbiomass) with the H2 purity of 99.93 vol%, which was close to theoretical yield of 17.5 gH2/(100 gbiomass). The actual hydrogen yields for three major components of biomasses decreased in the order: lignin > hemicellulose > cellulose. The yield of hydrogen derived from different biomass feedstocks (like rice husk, sawdust and sugarcane bagasse) mainly depended on their oxygen content, the contents of lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose and the reaction conditions. The high hydrogen yield and high purity of hydrogen obtained were attributed to that almost all of carbon-containing species were effectively converted to H2 and CO2 via coupling the SR with the WGS in the integrated process.