Study on the feasibility of converting the recovered volatile organic compounds to syngas via catalytic steam reforming for gas-fueled power generation

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are major air pollutants. The most common approach for removing VOCs is by exhaust gas recovery. However, due to the complexity and high cost of purification, recovered VOCs are frequently burned as waste rather than repurposed as raw materials, limiting their utilization efficiency. This study proposes a novel strategy for improving the utilization efficiency of recovered VOCs that comprises converting recovered VOCs into syngas via catalytic steam reforming and employing the produced syngas as fuel for internal combustion engines (ICEs) to generate power. To investigate the feasibility of this technique, thermodynamic simulations and steam reforming experiments were performed on typical VOCs such as toluene, acetone, tetrahydrofuran, and a mixture of these. Based on the thermodynamic simulation findings, different VOCs were converted to syngas with lower heating values (LHVs) ranging from 4.72 to 6.86 MJ/kg, which could be directly used in ICEs for power generation. The total power output was 2.49–3.73 kWh per kg of VOC. After deducting the in-house operation consumption, the net-out power output was approximately 0.82–1.89 kWh. The experimental results were in good agreement with the simulation data. Therefore, the proposed strategy has a great application potential.