Steam gasification characteristics of oil sand coke in a lab-scale fixed bed gasifier

Utilization and interest of unconventional fuel and process residue such as oil sand and its residue, oil sand coke, have been increased because of the continuous rise of fuel price and conventional fuel availability. In this study, the gasification of oil sand coke produced from coking process of oil sand was performed to utilize as an energy resource using lab-scale fixed bed gasification system. The combustion characteristics of oil sand bitumen and oil sand coke were investigated by using TGA and lab-scale gasification system was applied to reveal the characteristics of produced syngas composition with oxygen/fuel ratio, temperature and steam injection rate. Oil sand coke shows a high carbon content, heating value and sulfur content and low ash content and reactivity. In case of oil sand coke gasification, generally with increasing temperature, the amount of steam introduced and decreasing oxygen injection rate, H2 content in product gas increased while the CO2 content decreased. The calorific value of syngas shows about 2100 kcal/Nm³ and this result indicates that the oil sand coke can be used as a resource of hydrogen and fuel.