International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 32 (2007) 3899 – 3906 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhydene Hydrogen production by coal plasma gasification for fuel cell technology V. Galvita a , ∗ , V.E. Messerle b , A.B. Ustimenko b a Max-Planck-Institute, Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Sandtorstrasse 1, 39106, Magdeburg, Germany b Research Department of Plasmotechnics, 22 Zvereva str., 050100 Almaty, Kazakhstan Received 8 August 2006; received in revised form 22 May 2007; accepted 24 May 2007 Available online 24 July 2007 Abstract Coal gasification in steam and air atmosphere under arc plasma conditions has been investigated with Podmoskovnyi brown coal, Kuuchekinski bituminous coal and Canadian petrocoke. It was found that for those coals the gasification degree to synthesis gas were 92.3%, 95.8 and 78.6% correspondingly. The amount of produced syngas was 30–40% higher in steam than in air gasification of the coal. The reduction of the carbon monoxide content in the hydrogen-rich reformate gas for low-temperature fuel cell applications normally involves high- and low-temperature water gas shift reactors followed by selective oxidation of residual carbon monoxide. It is shown that the carbon monoxide content can be reduced in one single reactor, which is based on an iron redox cycle. During the reduction phase of the cycle, the raw gas mixture of H 2 and CO reduces a Fe 3 O 4 .CeO 2 .ZrO 2 sample, while during the oxidation phase steam re-oxidizes the iron and simultaneously hydrogen is being produced. The integration of the redox iron process with a coal plasma gasification technology in future allows the production of CO x -free hydrogen.  2007 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Coal; Gasification; Arc plasma; Hydrogen; Fuel cell; Iron oxide; CeO 2 .ZrO 2 1. Introduction Fuel cell technology has experienced a rapid development in recent years for both stationary and vehicle applications. A fuel cell transforms chemical energy directly into electrical en- ergy and its theoretical efficiency is not limited by Carnot in- efficiency problem for heat to work conversion. According to the operation temperature, fuel cells can be divided into dif- ferent groups. The low-temperature fuel cells, such as proton exchange membrane (PEMFC) and alkali fuel cell (AFC) oper- ates at temperatures from 343 to 363 K and from 343 to 473 K, respectively, and high-temperature fuel cells, such as melting carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operates at temperatures from 923 to 973 K and from 1073 to 1273 K, respectively [1]. These types of fuel cells utilizes hydrogen which comes from a wide range of source materials, including fossil fuels and biomass [1]. Within the next 20 years, the production amount ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 391 6110327; fax: +49 391 6110500. E-mail address: galvita@googlemail.com (V. Galvita). 0360-3199/$ - see front matter  2007 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2007.05.039 of oil and natural gas are expected to decrease and in the fu- ture their cost will increase continuously. Renewable energy sources will not be able to cover the total energy demand in the world: some countries will replace oil and natural gas with nuclear energy, some others with coal [2–4]. Therefore, it is important to develop coal technologies, which are clean and efficient. Coal is the fossil fuel with the highest content of carbon and therefore it is crucial to increase the conversion efficiency. Only in that way one can reduce the carbon dioxide emissions, while waiting for effective sequestration systems. In the gasification process crushed/pulverized coal feed (either dry or as a slurry) is mixed with the oxidant (typically air or oxygen and steam) [2–9]. The coal enters into the gasifier, where it is volatilized at 1000.1500 ◦ C and the resulting hydrocarbons react to car- bon monoxide and hydrogen (syngas) according to the overall equation: C + H 2 O → CO + H 2 . (1) The produced syngas can be used directly as town gas, it can be used as fuel in power plant for the production of electricity,