H₂-rich syngas produced from steam gasification of municipal solid waste: a modeling approach

Steam gasification is considered as a clean route to produce H₂-rich syngas and other energy products such as methanol. However, environmental issues and technical problems related to tar formation have become serious challenges in commercialization of biomass gasification. In the present study, an ASPEN plus^® model was developed to convert the municipal solid waste (MSW) into a H₂-rich syngas in the presence of steam as gasification agent. Different operation conditions, temperatures (750–900 °C) and steam flow rates (SFRs) (0.138–0.312 kg/h) were studied for their effects on the gas compositions, product yields and gasifier performances. The results indicated that the H₂ content increased by increasing the gasification temperature. When the temperature was raised from 750 to 900 ℃, the gas yield rose by 29.8% due to the enhanced endothermic reactions. Furthermore, with the increase in gasification temperature, the tar yield declined with respect to the tar cracking reaction. The addition of steam significantly improved H₂ production by simultaneously promoting the water–gas shift reaction and tar cracking reactions. To summarize, the present model provided positive predictions of the MSW gasification in terms of tar elimination and H₂-rich syngas production.