Innovative sorbents for SE-SR: test bench and procedure setup

The implementation of a hydrogen energy policy will be an interesting way to reduce the greenhouse effect. In this perspective, sorption-enhanced steam reforming (SE-SR) is a promising process for the hydrogen generation. In fact, it allows, in a single reactor, the production of a hydrogen-rich syngas, from natural gas or not fossil gas (syngas from biomass or landfill gas), while capturing CO2 by reaction with a solid sorbent mixed with the catalyst. In order to overcome main limitations of standard CaO, innovative sorbents must be developed and tested. The worldwide research activity moves mainly in two directions: the use of synthetic sorbents and performance improvement of CaO based sorbents. The authors are approaching the second one and the first step, described in the following, was the development and setup of all instruments and procedure for the synthesis, characterization and experimental testing of innovative sorbents.