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Faculty/Staff News
Biomass Gas Cleanup
 Professor
James G. Goodwin, Jr. chair of the chemical engineering department,
has received a 3-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
for research in cooperation with Research Triangle Institute (RTI)
in North Carolina, Cratech in Texas, and Süd-Chemie in Kentucky
on the removal of sulfur, tars, and ammonia from gasified biomass.
The research at Clemson is funded at $641,140.
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Professor James G. Goodwin,
Jr. (right), has received U.S. Department of Energy funding
to study the removal of sulfur, tars, and ammonia from gasified
biomass. The research team will include Sourabh Pansare (left),
a doctoral student, and Walter Torres, Ph.D. (not pictured). |
The
gasification of biomass offers an excellent way to recycle waste
materials from agriculture and forestry. Gasified biomass can be
used in turbines, engines, fuel cells, or catalytic reactors for
producing liquid fuels and chemicals. Use of biomass, however, can
produce detrimental environmental and economic impacts. Tars of
polycylic aromatics can deposit downstream of the gasifier in cooler
sections of process equipment, leading to fouling and blockage.
Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide can increase undesirable pollutants
in combustion processes or can act as catalyst poisons in downstream
processes.
As
part of this project team, researchers at Clemson University will
focus on catalyst preparation, characterization, and fundamental
reaction studies. An extensive investigation of catalytic properties
will be carried out, exploring the effects of catalyst composition
and structure, as well as the impact of gas composition. Clemson
researchers will also provide advice for preparation of catalyst
formulations for use in bench-scale testing at RTI and slip-stream
testing at Cratech.
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