Hydrogen production from banyan leaves using an atmospheric-pressure microwave plasma reactor.
Growth of the hydrogen market has motivated increased study of hydrogen production. Understanding how biomass is converted to hydrogen gas can help in evaluating opportunities for reducing the environmental impact of petroleum-based fuels. The microwave power used in the reaction is found to be proportional to the rate of production of hydrogen gas, mass of hydrogen gas produced per gram of banyan leaves consumed, and amount of hydrogen gas formed with respect to the H-atom content of banyan leaves decomposed. Increase the microwave power levels results in an increase of H2 and decrease of CO2 concentrations in the gaseous products. This finding may possibly be ascribed to the water-gas shift reaction. These results will help to expand our knowledge concerning banyan leaves and hydrogen yield on the basis of microwave-assisted pyrolysis, which will improve the design of hydrogen production technologies.
Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan. Electronic address: yclin@faculty.nsysu.edu.tw.
Yuan-Chung
YC
Lin
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin 64002, Taiwan.
Tzi-Yi
TY
Wu
Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan.
Syu-Ruei
SR
Jhang
Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan.
Po-Ming
PM
Yang
Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan.
Yi-Hsing
YH
Hsiao
D056804:Biofuels; D018533:Biomass; D030681:Ficus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D006859:Hydrogen; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008872:Microwaves; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry / Q000528:radiation effects
D056804:Biofuels; D006859:Hydrogen
Banyan leaves; Biowaste; Hydrogen production; Microwave plasma; Pyrolysis