Raney-Nickel Catalyst Deactivation in Supercritical Water Gasification of Ethanol Fermentation Stillage and its Mitigation

Major cause of a Raney-Ni catalyst deactivation in supercritical water gasification of ethanol fermentation stillage, a model feedstock for proteinaceous biomass, was identified to be its oxidation. Ways to circumvent catalyst oxidation during the reaction were devised and implemented, resulting in a life of Raney-Ni catalyst, originally deactivated to minimal activity within 14 h, to maintain around 55 % carbon conversion after 180 h of operation.