Experimental study and thermodynamic analysis of hydrogen production through a two-step chemical regenerative coal gasification

Hydrogen, as a strategy clean fuel, is receiving more and more attention recently in China, in addition to the policy emphasis on H₂. In this work, we conceive of a hydrogen production process based on a chemical regenerative coal gasification. Instead of using a lumped coal gasification as is traditional in the H₂ production process, herein we used a two-step gasification process that included coking and char-steam gasification. The sensible heat of syngas accounted for 15-20% of the total energy of coal and was recovered and converted into chemical energy of syngas through thermochemical reactions. Moreover, the air separation unit was eliminated due to the adoption of steam as oxidant. As a result, the efficiency of coal to H₂ was enhanced from 58.9% in traditional plant to 71.6% in the novel process. Further, the energy consumption decreased from 183.8 MJ/kg in the traditional plant to 151.2 MJ/kg in the novel process. The components of syngas, H₂, and effciency of gasification are herein investigated through experiments in fixed bed reactors. Thermodynamic performance is presented for both traditional and novel coal to hydrogen plants.