Evaluation of Sugar Beet Waste in the Production of Hydrogen-Rich Gas

Among renewable energy sources, biomass is increasingly gaining tremendous attention due to its feedstock diversity and the way for waste management. The objective of this work is to explore the potential of the pulp, which is the waste of the sugar factory, as alternative energy for conventional energy sources through gasification technologies. Dry air was used as an oxidizing agent for the production of producer gas. Gasification experiments were carried out using different operating parameters including various temperatures (650 degrees C, 750 degrees C and 850 degrees C), without catalyst and with alkali catalysts (K2CO3 , Na2CO3). The producer gas generated from the gasification process was identified through Micro Gas Chromatography (mu-GC) system. From the results obtained, the highest hydrogen yield is found to be 5.730 mol H-2/kg biomass in the absence of a catalyst, at 850 degrees C with 2 L/h dry air flow rate and 15 min. reaction time. Besides, it also revealed that K2CO3 is more effective than Na2CO3, and the maximum hydrogen yield (5.199 mol H-2/kg biomass) was achieved when K2CO3 used at 650 degrees C with 2 L/h dry air flow rate and 15 min. reaction time.