Catalytic gasification of glycine and glycerol in supercritical water

Glycine and glycerol were used as the model compounds of protein and fattiness, respectively. A continuous tubular-flow reactor was used for the gasification experiments operated at 380–500 °C and 25 MPa with or without Na2CO3 catalyst. Compared with a negative effect on glycerol gasification, Na2CO3 could increase hydrogen yield and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) destruction efficiency, and the catalytic performance of 0.1 wt% Na2CO3 was better than that of 0.2 wt% for glycine gasification. When 1 wt% glycine solution with 0.1 wt% Na2CO3, or 1 wt% glycerol solution without Na2CO3 was gasified at 500 °C with the residence time of 0.98 min, their corresponding gasification efficiencies were up to 95.8% and 98%, and hydrogen yields could reach 4.14 and 5.08 mol/mol, respectively. Hydrogen molar fraction in gaseous product was about 60% and liquid effluents could be reutilized. Correspondingly, the ideal overall reaction equations for glycine and glycerol gasification were proposed.