Fundamental Studies of Catalytic Gasification. Quarterly Report: January 1-March 31, 1991

Steam gasification was performed on both graphite and demineralized char. Mixtures of earth alkali with potassium as catalysts exhibited good gasification characteristics. K-Mg is the most active and only somewhat less active than K-Ni. K-Ca is less active than K-Mg. The alkali-earth alkali catalysts show less initial deactivization and greater stability than K-Ni. The alkali-earth alkali mixtures can dissociate water at the operating temperatures (>800k). An additional factor in catalyst activity is the ability of the catalyst to wet and spread over the carbon surface. This is dependent on the melting point of the mixture which is lower for K-Mg and for K-Ni than for a Mg-Ni mixture. A previously proposed reaction scheme is expanded and is supported by experimental work. 4 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs.