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Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery,

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The Physicochemical Properties and

Catalytic Characteristics of Different
Biomass Ashes
a a a a
S. Huang , S. Wu , Y. Wu & J. Gao
a
Department of Chemical Engineering for Energy Resources and Key
Laboratory of Coal Gasification of Ministry of Education , East China
University of Science and Technology , Shanghai , China
Published online: 23 Dec 2013.

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To cite this article: S. Huang , S. Wu , Y. Wu & J. Gao (2014) The Physicochemical Properties and
Catalytic Characteristics of Different Biomass Ashes, Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization,
and Environmental Effects, 36:4, 402-410, DOI: 10.1080/15567036.2012.722746

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 Energy Sources, Part A, 36:402–410, 2014
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1556-7036 print/1556-7230 online
DOI: 10.1080/15567036.2012.722746

The Physicochemical Properties and Catalytic

Characteristics of Different Biomass Ashes

S. Huang,1 S. Wu,1 Y. Wu,1 and J. Gao1

1
Department of Chemical Engineering for Energy Resources and Key Laboratory of Coal
Gasification of Ministry of Education, East China University of Science and Technology,
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Shanghai, China

Steam gasification of petroleum coke catalyzed by different biomass ashes and different biomass ash
loadings were investigated to examine the catalytic effects not only on the gasification activity but
also on the H2 production characteristics, and the physicochemical properties of three biomass ashes
(rice straw ash, wheat straw ash, and cotton straw ash) were also analyzed. The total contents of alkali
metals (K and Na), alkaline earth metals (Ca and Mg), and transition metal (Fe) in RSA, WSA, and
CSA were separately up to 22.63, 43.88, and 55.68%, and a large quantity of catalytic components
(such as KCl, K2 SO4 , etc.) were contained in these biomass ashes. The biomass ashes could not only
enhance the gasification activity of petroleum coke effectively, but also promote the H2 production
greatly. The ordering of the catalytic action of various biomass ashes was CSA > WSA > RSA. The
increasing loading of biomass ash was favorable for elevating the gasification activity of petroleum
coke and promoting the H2 production, and the effects of the redundant biomass ash loading on those
were very little. The mineral matters in biomass was conducive to improve the gasification activity
of petroleum coke during the co-gasification processes and to promote the H2 production to produce
syngas with high purity H2 (up to 61%) and no virtual CH4 at relatively low temperatures.

Keywords: biomass ash, catalytic characteristics, H2 production characteristics, physicochemical prop-

erties

1. INTRODUCTION

Petroleum coke is a carbonaceous solid derived from oil refinery units. With the development of
crude oil refining technology and the continuous increasing of crude oil supply worldwide, its
output is increasing steadily (Salvador et al., 2003; Wu et al., 2011). Thus, how to use petroleum
coke (especially high-sulfur petroleum coke) in a reasonable, efficient, and clean way becomes
a subject worthy of being studied in depth. Due to its high calorific value and carbon content,
petroleum coke can be used as feedstocks of gasifiers to produce syngas (Fermoso et al., 2009;
Salvador et al., 2003). However, previous investigations (Wu et al., 2009; Gu et al., 2009) found
that the gasification activity of petroleum coke was much lower than that of coals or coal chars,

Address correspondence to You-qing Wu, Department of Chemical Engineering for Energy Resources and Key
Laboratory of Coal Gasification of Ministry of Education, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai
200237, China. E-mail: wyq@ecust.edu.cn

402
 BIOMASS ASHES 403

which greatly restricted its applicability for feedstocks of gasifiers. Accordingly, how to improve
its gasification activity becomes an urgent problem.
Co-gasification of petroleum coke with biomass (or low-rank coal) is considered to be a good
way to resolve the problem for petroleum coke gasification (Zhan et al., 2011; Fermoso et al.,
2009). Biomass, though it carries a low energy content, is environmentally friendly when utilized
for energy or syngas production. Besides, the high thermochemical reactivity of biomass facilitates
the conversion and upgrading of the fuel (Myung et al., 2010; Olanders and Steenari, 1995). Co-
gasification of petroleum coke with biomass cannot only reduce air pollutants, such as NOx , SOx ,
and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), but also improves gasification reactivity and the overall
efficiency (Zhan et al., 2011). For the reasons leading to the enhanced gasification activity of
petroleum coke during the co-gasification processes, the vast majority of researchers believed that
the main reason was the catalytic action of the mineral matters in biomass (Fermoso et al., 2009;
Myung et al., 2010). Fermoso et al. (2010) reported that during the co-gasification processes, the
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mineral matters in biomass have a significant impact on the courses and rates of the gasification
reactions. Therefore, investigating the effects of mineral matters in biomass (biomass ash) on
the gasification reactions of carbonaceous materials has an extremely important role for deeply
understanding the co-gasification characteristics.
However, there are few reports investigating the catalytic effects of mineral matters in biomass
(biomass ash) on the gasification characteristics of low activity carbonaceous materials. Therefore,
the steam gasification of petroleum coke (PC) catalyzed by different biomass ashes and different
biomass ash loading were investigated on a laboratory fixed-bed reactor to examine the catalytic
effects on the gasification activity and the H2 production characteristics in this article, and non-
catalytic steam gasification of petroleum coke was performed by way of contrast. Furthermore,
the physicochemical properties of three biomass ashes were also analyzed in detail. The results of
this article can provide fundamental data for industrial application of petroleum coke and biomass
co-gasification, as well as the further understanding of the co-gasification characteristics.

2. EXPERIMENTAL

2.1. Raw Materials and Sample Preparation

In this study, a petroleum coke from Jinshan Petrochemical Co. Ltd. of China was used as the
raw material. The proximate analysis showed that it contained 11.35% volatile matters, 0.31%
ashes, and 88.34% fixed carbons, on dry basis. The ultimate analysis showed that it consisted of
90.06% C, 3.53% H, 0.28% N, 4.34% S, and 1.79% O (by difference), on dry basis. Besides,
three kinds of crop straws (rice straw (RS), wheat straw (WS), and cotton straw (CS)) from the
suburb of Shanghai in China were used in this study, and their proximate and ultimate analysis
data are given in Table 1. The ashing temperature of rice straws (RS), wheat straw (WS), and

TABLE 1
Proximate and Ultimate Analysis of RS, WS, and CS

Proximate Analysis, wt% Ultimate Analysis, wt%

Samples Ad Vd FCd Cd Hd St;d Nd

RS 17.12 72.95 9.93 40.94 5.70 0.22 1.15

WS 10.01 76.90 13.09 42.32 9.72 0.22 0.52
CS 7.44 71.05 21.51 45.29 5.79 0.27 0.55
 404 S. HUANG ET AL.

cotton straw (CS) was 815ı C according to the standard of coal ash preparation (GB/T212-2001)
and ASTM standards. The biomass ash samples from rice straw (RS), wheat straw (WS), and
cotton straw (CS) were, respectively, referred to as RSA, WSA, and CSA.
The preparations for the samples of the non-catalytic and catalytic gasification were as follows.
Petroleum coke was crushed and pulverized into particles with a diameter of less than 73 m.
The pulverized petroleum coke was dried for 12 h at 105ıC under ambient pressure and stored for
the non-catalytic gasification experiment. In succession, about 10 g of dried petroleum coke and
a prescribed quantity of (the biomass ashes loadings were respectively 5, 15, 25, 35, and 45 wt%
of petroleum coke on dried basis) biomass ashes were added into 200 ml of de-ionized water, and
the slurry was fully mixed by wet grinding. After grinding, the slurry was dried at 105ı C until
no weight loss and stored for the catalytic gasification experiment.
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2.2. Analysis and Test Methods of Biomass Ashes

All element contents in biomass ashes were measured by a sequential X-ray fluorescence spec-
trometer (XRF, XRF-1800). An X-ray diffraction analyzer (XRD, JSM-6360LV, D/max-rA12 kW,
12 kW, 40 kV, 100 mA, Cu K˛ radiation) was employed to determine the mineral components of
biomass ash samples, and major components were identified using the standard cards of JCPDS-
ICDD (PDF-2 database sets).

2.3. Steam Gasification of Petroleum Coke

The catalytic and non-catalytic steam gasification of petroleum coke was carried out using a
laboratory fixed-bed reactor system. The experimental conditions were as follows: an entrained
argon flow of 500 ml/min, the steam partial pressure of 0.6, and a gasification pressure of 0.1
MPa (atmospheric pressure). The concentrations of various production gases were quantitatively
determined by an on-line quadruple mass spectrometer (HR20 Type MS, Hiden Co., England) with
a detect limit up to ppb level. A previous study (Wu et al., 2011) has introduced the diagram of
steam gasification set-up in detail, the experimental processes, and the calculations of gasification
reactivity indexes (including the gasification carbon conversion (X), the instant gasification rate
(R D dX=dt, min 1 ), the total yields (Yi , mmol
g 1 -C), and total contents (Ti , v/v%) of various
components in product gases).

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1. Elemental Compositions of Biomass Ashes

Table 2 shows the elemental analysis of the biomass ashes (RSA, WSA, and CSA) at the ashing
temperature of 815ıC. From Table 2, it was found that the inorganic element contents were

TABLE 2
Compositions of RSA, WSA, and CSA at the Ashing Temperature of 815ı C (wt%)

Samples SiO2 Al2 O3 Fe2 O3 CaO K2 O Na2 O MgO TiO2 P2 O5 SO3 Cl

RSA 61.63 2.79 3.14 4.47 9.10 3.77 2.15 0.10 4.16 3.66 3.39
WSA 36.90 8.00 6.29 8.07 17.38 9.16 2.98 0.43 2.01 4.47 5.20
CSA 17.67 10.8 2.43 8.98 30.20 6.78 7.29 0.18 4.28 5.81 4.93
 BIOMASS ASHES 405

different in the three biomass ashes, which were mainly composed of Si, Al, Fe, K, Na, Ca, Mg,
etc. (Umamaheswaran and Batra, 2008; Loffler et al., 2002). It is worth noting that significant
differences in the two main element contents (Si and K) existed among the three biomass ashes.
The Si content (in the form of SiO2 ) in RSA was up to 61.36%, while it was only 36.90 and
17.67% in WSA and CSA, respectively. The K content (in the form of K2 O, 30.20%) in CSA
was the largest and occupies a larger proportion than that in the other two biomass ashes (WSA
and RSA). Furthermore, the differences among them in the contents of other elements were also
presented more or less. Obviously, all of the above differences in element contents were ascribed to
their different living conditions and the difference of species (Loffler et al., 2002; Mi et al., 2004).
Meanwhile, it was also found that the biomass ashes investigated in this article contained a
large quantity of alkali metals (K and Na), alkaline earth metals (Ca and Mg), and transition metal
(Fe), which were considered to be good catalysts of gasification reactions (Loffler et al., 2002;
Huttinger and Minges, 1986). From Table 2, it can be seen that the total contents of these catalytic
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elements (K, Na, Ca, Mg, and Fe) in RSA, WSA, and CSA were separately up to 22.6%, 43.88,
and 55.68% (in the form of oxide). It is well known that the gasification activity of carbon in
carbonaceous materials (such as coal, coal char, and petroleum coke) can be greatly enhanced by
various alkali metal, alkaline earth metal, and transition metal compounds (Loffler et al., 2002;
Balakrishnan et al., 2011). Therefore, it can be concluded that the biomass ash can improve the
gasification activity of petroleum coke during the co-gasification of petroleum coke with biomass.

3.2. Mineral Forms of Biomass Ashes

The XRD patterns of the three biomass ashes at the ashing temperature of 815ıC were presented in
Figure 1. From the figure, it could be seen that in these biomass ashes, the compounds containing
Si, K, Al, Ca, Na, and Mg were presented predominantly and these elements exist in different
forms. Si was mainly in the form of quartz and cristobalite. K was in the main form of KCl (Mi
et al., 2004; Zhang et al., 2004) and a large amount of K also existed in the forms of sulfate
and silicate. Other elements (Al, Na, Ca, and Mg) were also distinctly presented in the forms
of carbonate, sulfate and silicate. Nevertheless, no characteristic peaks of compounds containing
Fe were observed in the three biomass ashes. Olanders and Steenari (1995) found the same
phenomenon and considered that Fe probably existed in the quite small crystallite, which could
not be detected by XRD.
Analyzing XRD patterns of the three biomass ashes, their mineral forms could be obtained as
follows. In RSA, quartz [SiO2 ], cristobalite [SiO2 ], and potassium chloride [KCl] were the main
components, and there were also small amounts of calcite [CaCO3 ], dolomite [CaMg(CO3)],
aphthitalite ŒK3 Na.SO4 /2 , and albite [NaAlSi3 O8 ]. In WSA, the mineral components were nearly
similar to those in RSA. In CSA, the mineral forms were obviously different from those in RSA
and WSA, and the predominant mineral components were not SiO2 and KCl but minerals, such
as arcanite ŒK2 SO4 , silimanite ŒAl2 SiO5 , mullite ŒAl6 Si2 O13 , rankinite ŒCa3 Si2 O7 , potassium
silicate ŒK2 Si4 O9 , and calcium magnesium silicate ŒCa7 Mg9 .SiO4 /4 . The above results indicated
that a large number of catalytic components (such as potassium chloride [KCl], arcanite ŒK2 SO4 ,
aphthitalite ŒK3 Na.SO4 /2 , etc.) contained in these biomass ashes, and these components can
promote the gasification reactions to some extent during the co-gasification processes (Huttinger
and Minges, 1986; Balakrishnan et al., 2011).

3.3. Effects of Different Biomass Ashes on the Steam Gasification of

Petroleum Coke
Figure 2 shows the effects of different biomass ashes (biomass ashes loadings of 25 wt%) on
the steam gasification characteristics of petroleum coke at the gasification temperature of 750ıC.
 406 S. HUANG ET AL.
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FIGURE 1 XRD patterns of RSA, WSA, and CSA at the ashing temperature of of 815ıC. (1) Quartz [SiO2 ];
(2) Cristobalite [SiO2 ]; (3) Calcite [CaCO3 ]; (4) Dolomite [CaMg(CO3 )2 ]; (5) Potassium chloride [KCl]; (6)
Kaolimite [Al4 Si4 O10 ]; (7) Aphthitalite [K3 Na(SO4 )2 ]; (8) Albite [NaAlSi3 O8 ]; (9) Sanidine[KAlSi3 O8 ]; (10)
Arcanite [K2 SO4 ]; (11) Sillimanite [Al2 SiO5 ]; (12) Mullite [Al6 Si2 O13 ]; (13) Rankinite [Ca3 Si2 O7 ]; (14) Potassium
silicate [K2 Si4 O9 ]; (15) Calcium magnesium silicate [Ca7 Mg9(SiO4 )4 ].

From Figures 2a and 2b, it could be seen that the biomass ashes can enhance the gasification
activity of petroleum coke greatly (the catalytic gasification activity of petroleum coke was 2
to 15 times that of the non-catalytic gasification). Besides, it was observed that the ordering
of the time for completing the steam gasification of petroleum coke at different biomass ashes
was CSA < WSA < RSA, and the ordering of the gasification rate at different biomass ashes
was CSA > WSA > RSA. These results illustrated that the ordering of the catalytic action of
biomass ashes was CSA > WSA > RSA, which was in accord with the total contents of alkali
metals (K and Na), alkaline earth metals (Ca and Mg), and transition metal (Fe) in biomass ashes
(Table 1).

C C H2 O ! CO C H2 ; H 0 D 118:9 kJ/mol; (1)

CO C H2 O ! CO2 C H2 ; H 0 D 45:2 kJ/mol; (2)

CH4 C H2 O ! CO C 3H2 ; H 0 D 206:0 kJ/mol: (3)

Figure 2c shows the total contents of various product gases from catalyzed and non-catalyzed
steam gasification of petroleum coke at the gasification temperature of 750ıC. In the case of
non-catalytic gasification, the contents of H2 , CO2 , and CO were separately 48.12, 10.50, and
40.43%. In the case of catalytic gasification, however, the contents of H2 and CO2 (respectively
in the range of 55.67–60.92% and 25.76–31.16%) increased greatly and those of the CO (in the
range of 7.80–18.41%) decreased greatly (Wu et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2009). In both cases,
 BIOMASS ASHES 407
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FIGURE 2 Catalyzed (biomass ashes loading of 25 wt%) and non-catalyzed steam gasification characteristics of
petroleum coke at the gasification temperature of 750ıC: (a) carbon conversion vs. gasification time, (b) gasification
rate vs. carbon conversion, and (c) total contents of various product gases.

the contents of CH4 were quite low, implying virtually no formation of CH4 (Wang et al., 2009;
Wang et al., 2010). However, it was found that the content (0.11–0.15%) of CH4 in the case of
catalytic gasification was much lower than that (0.95%) in the case of non-catalytic gasification.
These results suggested that the biomass ashes cannot only accelerated the water-carbon reaction
(1), water-gas shift reaction (2), and steam reforming of CH4 (3) effectively, but also enhanced
the H2 production greatly with virtually no formation of CH4 (Wu et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2009,
2010). Hence, it was concluded that the biomass ash was feasible to be used as a catalyst to
improve the gasification reactivity of low activity carbonaceous materials and to promote the H2
production during the co-gasification processes.

3.4. Effects of Biomass Ash Loadings on the Steam Gasification of

Petroleum Coke
Figure 3 shows the effects of CSA loadings on the steam gasification characteristics of petroleum
coke at the gasification temperature of 750ıC. From Figure 3a, it was found that at the same
reaction time, the gasification carbon conversion increased with the increasing CSA loading, and
the increasing extent of the gasification carbon conversion was very little above a CSA loading of
25%. From Figure 3b, it was observed that with the increasing of CSA loading, the gasification
rate increased, and the gasification rate only increased slightly above a CSA loading of 25%. The
above results suggested that the increasing biomass ash loading was favorable for elevating the
gasification reactivity of petroleum coke, and the effect of the redundant biomass ash loading on
the gasification reactivity of petroleum coke was very little.
 408 S. HUANG ET AL.
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FIGURE 3 Effects of CSA loadings on the steam gasification characteristics of petroleum coke at the gasification
temperature of 750ı C: (a) carbon conversion vs. gasification time, (b) gasification rate vs. carbon conversion, (c)
total yields of various product gases, and (d) total contents of various product gases.

Figure 3c shows the effects of CSA loadings on the total yields of various product gases from
steam gasification of petroleum coke at the gasification temperature of 750ıC. From Figure 3c, it
was observed that below a CSA loading of 25%, the total yields of H2 and CO2 increased and those
of the CO decreased with the increasing CSA loading (when the CSA loading increased from 5
to 25%, the increasing extent of the total yields of H2 and CO2 were up to 16 and 17 mmol
g 1 -C
separately and the decreasing extent of the total yield of CO was 25 mmol
g 1 -C). Above a CSA
loading of 25%, the total yields of various product gases hardly changed with the increasing
CSA loading (129.53–130.09 mmol H2
g 1 -C, 16.56–17.05 mmol CO
g 1 -C, 66.54–66.85 mmol
CO2
g 1 -C, and 0.23–0.27 mmol CH4
g 1 -C). According to Figure 3c, the total contents of H2 ,
CO2 , CO, and CH4 in product gases were also obtained under the CSA loadings of 5–45%, as
shown in Figure 3d. From Figure 3d, it could be observed that below a CSA loading of 25%, the
total contents of H2 and CO2 increased obviously and those of the CO decreased obviously with
the increasing CSA loading, while the total contents of various product gases (61% H2 , 31% CO2 ,
8% CO, and 0.1% CH4 ) remained unchanged above the CSA loading of 25%. The above results
suggested that the increasing biomass ash loading was favorable for promoting the H2 production
of petroleum coke gasification, and the redundant biomass ash loading had a little effect on the
H2 production.
In a word, biomass ash is conducive to improve the gasification activity of petroleum coke
during the co-gasification processes and to promote the H2 production to produce syngas with
high purity H2 (up to 61%) and no virtual CH4 at relatively low temperatures. Therefore, co-
gasification of petroleum coke with biomass is a reasonable, efficient, and clean way to utilize
petroleum coke.
 BIOMASS ASHES 409

4. CONCLUSIONS

(1) The total contents of alkali metals (K and Na), alkaline earth metals (Ca and Mg), and
transition metal (Fe) in RSA, WSA, and CSA were separately up to 22.63, 43.88, and
55.68%, and a large quantity of catalytic components (such as KCl, K2 SO4 , etc.) were
contained in these biomass ashes.
(2) The biomass ashes can greatly enhanced the gasification activity of petroleum coke and
the production of H2 (in the cases of non-catalytic and catalytic gasification, the contents
of H2 were 48.12% and 55.67–60.92% separately) with no virtual CH4 (below 0.1%), and
promoted the carbon-water reaction, the water–gas shift reaction, and the steam reforming
of methane effectively. The ordering of the catalytic action of various biomass ashes was
CSA > WSA > RSA.
(3) The increasing biomass ash loading was favorable for elevating the gasification activity of
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petroleum coke and promoting the H2 production and the effects of the redundant biomass
ash loading on those were very little. It can be concluded that the mineral matters in
biomass is conducive to improve the gasification activity of petroleum coke during the
co-gasification processes and to promote the H2 production to produce syngas with high
purity H2 and no virtual CH4 at relatively low temperatures.

FUNDING

The authors wish to thank the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2010CB227003-5)
and the Opening Fund of State Key Laboratory of Coal Combustion (No. fsklcc0911) for financial
support.

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