Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
11.2 SYNGAS
The following sections discuss syngas, its physical properties and uses, as
well as its production and its cleaning and conversion.
11.2.1 What Is Syngas?
As mentioned earlier, syngas is a mixture of hydrogen (H
2
) and carbon mon-
oxide (CO). Syngas is an important feedstock for the chemical and energy
industries. A large number of hydrocarbons traditionally produced from
petroleum oil can also be produced from syngas gases. Natural gas is primar-
ily made of methane gas (CH
4
). Manufactured natural gas is called
“synthetic (or substitute) natural gas” or SNG, which should not be confused
with syngas.
Syngas may be produced from many hydrocarbons, including natural gas,
coal, and petroleum coke, as well as from biomass. Syngas generated from
biomass is called biosyngas so that it can be distinguished from that pro-
duced from fossil fuel. In this chapter, syngas implies that derived from bio-
mass unless specified otherwise.
One of the major applications of syngas is the production of liquid trans-
port fuel. For many years, South African Synthetic Oil Limited (SASOL) has
been
producing
a
large
amount
of
liquid
fuel
from coal
using
Fischer
Tropsch synthesis (FTS) of syngas produced from the gasification
of coal. The same liquid fuel may be produced from biomass-derived syngas.
It is discussed further in
Section 11.4.2
.
The typical product gas of biomass gasification contains hydrogen, mois-
ture, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, aliphatic hydrocarbons,
benzene, and toluene, as well as small amounts of ammonia, hydrochloric
acid, and hydrogen sulfide. From this mixture, carbon monoxide and hydro-
gen are separated to produce syngas.
11.2.2 Applications of Syngas
As mentioned, syngas is an important source of valuable chemicals that
include:
Hydrogen, produced in refineries
Diesel or gasoline, using FTS
Fertilizer, through ammonia
Methanol, for the chemical industry
It should be noted that a major fraction of the ammonia used for fertilizer
production comes from syngas and nitrogen (
Section 11.4.3
).
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