Comparative performance evaluation of biomass chemical looping against conventional gasification technologies

• CLG comprehensively benchmarked against conventional gasification systems. • Nickel smelter slag catalyzed reforming reactions to enhance CLG performance. • CLG with steam surpassed conventional system: +30% gas yield and +14% efficiency. • CLG without steam showed similar performance to conventional gasification. Biomass chemical looping gasification (BCLG) is emerging as a promising alternative to conventional gasification, addressing inherent limitations. This study systematically compares BCLG with conventional methods like air and air/steam gasification, using pine forest residue in an allothermal fluidized bed reactor. Key operational parameters such as reactor temperature (800–900 °C), equivalence ratio (0.18–0.36) and steam-to-biomass ratio (1.3) were examined. Performance indicators such as gas composition, yields, carbon conversion, and cold gas efficiency were evaluated and compared. BCLG without steam displayed similar performance to conventional methods. However, the performance of BCLG with steam surpassed conventional gasification methods and emerged as the most promising process. The results suggest enhanced catalytic performance of nickel smelter slag for reforming reactions under steam-rich conditions, with H 2 /CO ratio, product gas yield, cold gas and carbon conversion efficiency improved by approximately 111%, 30%, 14% and 2%, respectively, compared to air/steam gasification.