Taylor Energy’s biomass gasification process operates with oxygen/steam, producing hydrogen-rich synthesis-gas used for production of renewable-methane and/or pipeline-quality hydrogen.

The technical approach endorsed by the TAC members is thermal-catalytic processing of woody biomass adding up to 3-wt% potassium carbonate to a carbon-char residue fraction, which potassium-loaded carbon-char is recycled to the gasification reactor to serve as a low-cost catalyst to enable thermal-catalytic cracking of biomass-derived volatiles into syngas composed primarily of hydrogen and carbon oxides.

The technical approach using potassium-loaded carbon-char as a gasification catalyst has been developed and demonstrated at bench-scale by a Japanese research team. This approach is promising for conversion of biomass and/or waste-plastics-derived volatiles into syngas when compared to traditional costly catalytic conversion methods because traditional catalysts are quickly deactivated by contaminants (heteroatoms).

TAC Members’ Overall Vision: Utilize biomass and waste resources as the energy feed to produce renewable hydrogen gas (or liquified H2) at multiple locations, each with 500-ton/day processing capacity, the plant size permitted in California for advanced recycling facilities.