International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 32 (2007) 4170 – 4179 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhydene Investigation into a catalytically controlled reaction gasiﬁer (CCRG) for coal to hydrogen Marco J. Castaldi a , ∗ , John P. Dooher b a Earth & Environmental Engineering Department (HKSM), Columbia University, NewYork, NY 10027, USA b Dooher Institute of Physics and Energy, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY 11530, USA Received 13 June 2007; accepted 15 June 2007 Available online 14 September 2007 Abstract Energy demands will increase as industrialized nations strive to maintain progress and productivity gains and as developing nations increase their consumption and productivity. One direction that is evolving to satisfy the demand while minimizing environmental impacts is to move toward a hydrogen economy. For the foreseeable future, the majority of these demands will be met through the increased usage of fossil fuels. One of the most abundant and readily available fuels is coal. This realization has raised some questions about the responsible use of such a fuel and as such it is critical that a Greenhouse Gas Management strategy/technology be developed to forestall projected global warming and its impacts. The technology presented in this paper involves a novel form of coal gasiﬁcation to convert coal to useful forms of energy while addressing environmental concerns. The technology, which is a form of steam reforming, focuses on the combining of catalytic combustion with coal gasiﬁcation to generate H 2 and CO from coal while yielding a CO 2 sequestration ready stream. The H 2 can either be separated from the CO or used as an IGCC turbine fuel. Using an Aspen Plus simulation shows that with a steam to carbon ratio of 1.5 provides a hydrogen output of 1.15 kg/h while generating about 14 kW of electricity (for every 1 kmol/h of carbon fed to the reformer) from a SOFC using the portion of the CO generated which was not needed to drive the reforming reactions. Additionally, recycling up to 25% of CO 2 into the reformer produces about 15% more hydrogen, while using 20% less CO for combustion to drive the gasiﬁcation reactions. Because of the Boudouard reaction an extra 32% (4.5 kW per kmol/h of carbon) can be generated from an SOFC operating on the CO not used for combustion.  2007 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Catalytic combustion; Catalytic gasiﬁcation; Solid carbon gasiﬁcation; Hydrogen production; Power production 1. Introduction The conﬂuence of three signiﬁcant events has shown how acutely sensitive the world is to energy supply and security. First, the recent hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico underscore a transition in the idea of energy security. Since the 1973 oil embargo, a primary response was focused on securing ﬂow of crude, primarily from the Middle East, and coping with any disruption. Now a host of developments, from terrorism to the rapid growth of China and India to Hurricane activity, have emphasized a need to assure the security and integrity of ∗ Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +1 212 854 6390. E-mail addresses: mc2352@columbia.edu (M.J. Castaldi), dooher@adelphi.edu, sirjohn@optonline.net (J.P. Dooher). 0360-3199/$ - see front matter  2007 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2007.06.014 the whole supply chain and infrastructure. This more expan- sive concept of energy security requires more emphasis on alternatives. That is use of multiple sources of fuel, not just oil or natural gas. Additionally, energy security necessarily means development and use of fuels indigenous to the mother country. Second, energy consumption is predicted to increase at least two-fold by 2050. In 1998, global annual energy con- sumption was 402 exajoules. Different scenarios have been proposed for future global annual energy needs with values of 837–1041 exajoules estimated for middle to high growth by 2050 [1,2]. If we consider where the world stands today in terms of energy use and where it will be in 2050 assum- ing continued economic development, we are faced with a daunting challenge of where that energy will come from if our