ACADEMIC JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, vol.3, pp.417-426, 2014 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
The development of alternative and efficient ways for hydrogen production, which is expected
to be the primary energy source in the future, is currently the focus of many scientific
investigations. Aiming to contribute to this vital area of research, this study presents our
findings regarding the supercritical water gasification of 2-propanol with Fe-Cr catalyst. The
experiments were conducted at five reaction temperatures (400, 450, 500, 550 and 600C) and
for five reaction times (10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 s), under a constant pressure of 25 MPa. The
effects of process parameters on the gasification and hydrogen yields, along with gaseous
product composition were investigated. The gaseous product was seen to be mainly comprised
of hydrogen, methane, ethane, propane and propylene in terms of flammable components. The
experiments showed that reaction temperature affected gaseous component production
significantly; and that high temperatures favored the gasification yield. At 600C and for a
reaction time of 30 s, for each L of 2-propanol solution feedstock, a gaseous product of 14.7 L
evolved. At these circumstances, the gaseous product contained 10.4% hydrogen, 41.4%
methane, 9.0% ethane, 3.6% propane, 1.1% propylene and 36.3% carbon dioxide. On the
contrary, low temperatures and reaction times were found to favor hydrogen production.
During the experiment performed at 400C and 10 s, the gaseous product was seen to involve
70.7% hydrogen.