CO2 gasification of Yangchangwan coal catalyzed by iron-based waste catalyst from indirect coal-liquefaction plant

Abstract Coal char-CO2 gasification is a strong endothermic reaction with high energy consumption, and a cheap catalyst use is one of the keys to save process costs. The iron-based waste catalyst (IWC) from indirect coal-liquefaction plant contains active component, but its effect on the gasification reactivity of coal char is seldom reported. Thus, CO2 gasification of Yangchangwan coal (YCW) was conducted in thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) with IWC as the catalyst. The change of functional group on coal char surface was measured by a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The morphology of coal char was characterized by focused ion beam scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to analyze phases and valences of iron. The results indicate that IWC was effective for YCW gasification. In the range of 1000–1200 °C, the optimal temperature of catalytic gasification was 1000 °C. The FT-IR spectra of YCW gasified char showed the changes of small molecule active groups, such as –OH, C–O, –CH2, –CH3, C=C and Fe–O in the process of catalytic gasification. The surface structure of coal char was rough and there were lots of tiny pores. The metallic Fe formed by IWC at 0 min was finally oxidized by gasification agent CO2 to FeO and Fe3O4. The redox cycle between Fe0, Fe2+ and Fe3+ is the main reason for the catalytic YCW-CO2 gasification reactivity in the presence of IWC.