Thermal valorization of glycerol

Abstract

The thermal valorization of glycerol to produce synthesis gas has been investigated under both conventional and microwave heating systems. Different processes (pyrolysis, steam reforming and dry reforming) are compared using a commercial activated carbon as catalyst. Steam reforming generates the lowest gas fraction and the highest amount of hydrogen and syngas in the final gas composition, while the opposite occurs in the dry reforming experiments. Microwave processing has proved to give higher gas yields with a large syngas content compared to conventional heating processes. The use of carbon-based catalysts appears highly suitable for producing synthesis gas with a H2/CO ratio close to 1, and the additional advantage of minimal CO2 emissions.