Open AccessCesium-Catalyzed Hydrogen Production by the Gasification of Woody Biomass for Forest Decontamination
Author(s) -
Kenji Koido,
Takahiro Iwasaki,
Kakeru Kurosawa,
Ryosuke Takaku,
Hironori Ohashi,
Michio Sato
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
acs omega
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.779
H-Index - 40
ISSN - 2470-1343
DOI - 10.1021/acsomega.0c05237
Subject(s) - sawdust , biomass (ecology) , human decontamination , pyrolysis , thermogravimetric analysis , caesium , waste management , char , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , environmental science , materials science , pulp and paper industry , environmental chemistry , organic chemistry , oceanography , engineering , geology
The large quantities of contaminated wood produced following the radioactive cesium decontamination of forests after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011 can be used as a biomass resource for energy production via thermal treatment (e.g., gasification). To store the radioactive Cs ash produced from gasification, the immobilization of Cs in the pollucite structure is possible and requires stable Cs additives. In this study, a Cs additive (Cs 2 CO 3 , CsCl, CsNO 3 , or Cs 2 SO 4 ) was doped with timber waste sawdust (1-30 wt %). Fixed-bed downdraft-type continuous steam gasification experiments (0.7 g/min) showed that Cs 2 CO 3 enhanced H 2 production by 157% at 800 °C. X-ray absorption fine structure analysis and scanning electron microscopy observations revealed that the form of Cs on the surface of the char was Cs 2 CO 3 , which provided the active sites for gasification acceleration. Thermogravimetric pyrolysis and CO 2 gasification experiments showed that Cs 2 CO 3 lowered the activation energy and frequency factor while also enhancing the reactivity.