Thermodynamic analysis of hydrogen production from biomass gasification

An investigation is reported of the thermodynamic performance of the gasification process followed by the steam-methane reforming (SMR) and shift reactions for producing hydrogen from oil palm shell, one of the most common biomass resources. Energy and exergy efficiencies are determined for each component in this system. A process simulation tool is used for assessing the indirectly heated Battelle Columbus Laboratory (BCL) gasifier, which is included with the decomposition reactor to produce syngas for producing hydrogen. A simplified model is presented here for biomass gasification based on chemical equilibrium considerations, with the Gibbs free energy minimization approach. The gasifier with the decomposition reactor is observed to be one of the most critical components of a biomass gasification system, and is modeled to control the produced syngas yield. Also various thermodynamic efficiencies, namely energy, exergy and cold gas efficiencies are evaluated which may be useful for the design, optimization and modification of hydrogen production and other related processes.     

Thermodynamic analysis of hydrogen rich synthetic gas generation from fluidized bed gasification of rice husk

In the present work, the generation of hydrogen rich synthetic gas from fluidized bed steam gasification of rice husk has been studied. An equilibrium model based on equilibrium constant and material balance has been developed to predict the gas compositions. The equilibrium gas compositions are compared with the experimental data of the present group as well as of available literature. The energy and exergy analysis of the process have been carried out by varying steam to biomass ratio (ψ) within the range between 0.1-1.5 and gasification temperature from 600 °C to 900 °C. It is observed that both the energy and exergy efficiencies are maximum at the CBP (carbon boundary point) though the hydrogen production increases beyond the CBP. The HHV (higher heating value) and the external energy input both continuously increase with ψ. However, the hydrogen production initially increases with increase in temperature up to 800 °C and then becomes nearly asymptotic. The HHV decreases rapidly with increase in temperature and energy input increases. Therefore, gasification in lower temperature region is observed to be economical in terms of a trade off between external energy input and HHV of the product gas.     

Exergy analysis of biomass-to-synthetic natural gas (SNG) process via indirect gasification of various biomass feedstock

This paper presents an exergy analysis of SNG production via indirect gasification of various biomass feedstock, including virgin (woody) biomass as well as waste biomass (municipal solid waste and sludge). In indirect gasification heat needed for endothermic gasification reactions is produced by burning char in a separate combustion section of the gasifier and subsequently the heat is transferred to the gasification section. The advantages of indirect gasification are no syngas dilution with nitrogen and no external heat source required. The production process involves several process units, including biomass gasification, syngas cooler, cleaning and compression, methanation reactors and SNG conditioning. The process is simulated with a computer model using the flow-sheeting program Aspen Plus. The exergy analysis is performed for various operating conditions such as gasifier pressure, methanation pressure and temperature. The largest internal exergy losses occur in the gasifier followed by methanation and SNG conditioning. It is shown that exergetic efficiency of biomass-to-SNG process for woody biomass is higher than that for waste biomass. The exergetic efficiency for all biomass feedstock increases with gasification pressure, whereas the effects of methanation pressure and temperature are opposite for treated wood and waste biomass.     

Effect of gasification agent on the performance of solid oxide fuel cell and biomass gasification systems

In this paper, an integrated solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and biomass gasification system is modeled to study the effect of gasification agent (air, enriched oxygen and steam) on its performance. In the present modeling, a heat transfer model for SOFC and thermodynamic models for the rest of the components are used. In addition, exergy balances are written for the system components. The results show that using steam as the gasification agent yields the highest electrical efficiency (41.8%), power-to-heat ratio (4.649), and exergetic efficiency (39.1%), but the lowest fuel utilization efficiency (50.8%). In addition, the exergy destruction is found to be the highest at the gasifier for the air and enriched oxygen gasification cases and the heat exchanger that supplies heat to the air entering the SOFC for the steam gasification case.     

Parametric analysis and assessment of a coal gasification plant for hydrogen production

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a parametric study to show the best steam to carbon ratio that produces the maximum system performance of an integrated gasifier for hydrogen production. The study focuses on the energy and exergetic efficiency of the system and hydrogen production. The work is completed using computer simulation models in Engineering Equation Solver software package. This software is used for its extensive thermodynamic properties library. An equilibrium based model is used to determine the performance of the system. The data is presented in graphs which show the chemical composition in molar fractions of the syngas, the overall energy and exergy efficiency of the system, and the hydrogen production rates. A study of these parameters is conducted by varying the steam to carbon ratio entering the gasifier and the ambient temperature. It is observed that the higher the steam to carbon ratio that is achieved the more hydrogen and more power the plant is able to produce. Because of this, the exergy and energy efficiency of the system increases as the steam to carbon ratio increases as well. It is also observed that the system favors a lower ambient temperature for maximum exergy efficiency and hydrogen production.     

Catalytic coal gasification for SNG manufacture

Exxon Research and Engineering Company is engaged in research and development on catalytic coal gasification (CCG) for the production of substitute natural gas (SNG). the catalysts being studied are the basic and weak acid salts of potassium. the use of a gasification catalyst allows the gasifier temperature to be reduced, reduces the tendency for swelling and agglomeration of caking coals and promotes gas phase methanation equilibrium. These features of the catalyst are utilized in a novel processing sequence which involves separation of product gas into methane (SNG) and a CO/H₂ stream which is recycled to the gasifier. the predevelopment phase of research on this process concept was completed in early 1978 and included bench-scale research on catalyst recovery and kinetics, the operation of a 6 in diameter × 30 ft long fluid bed gasifier and supporting engineering studies. As part of the engineering programme, a conceptual design has been developed for a pioneer commercial CCG plant producing SNG from Illinois No. 6 bituminous coal. the paper reviews the status of research and development on the CCG programme and describes the conceptual design and economics for the commercial scale CCG plant.     

Exergetic evaluation of 5 biowastes-to-biofuels routes via gasification

This paper presents the exergy analysis results for the production of several biofuels, i.e., SNG (synthetic natural gas), methanol, Fischer–Tropsch fuels, hydrogen, as well as heat and electricity, from several biowastes generated in the Dutch province of Friesland, selected as one of the typical European regions. Biowastes have been classified in 5 virtual streams according to their ultimate and proximate analysis. All production chains have been modeled in Aspen Plus in order to analyze their technical performance. The common steps for all the production chains are: pre-treatment, gasification, gas cleaning, water–gas-shift reactions, catalytic reactors, final gas separation and upgrading. Optionally a gas turbine and steam turbines are used to produce heat and electricity from unconverted gas and heat removal, respectively. The results show that, in terms of mass conversion, methanol production seems to be the most efficient process for all the biowastes. SNG synthesis is preferred when exergetic efficiency is the objective parameter, but hydrogen process is more efficient when the performance is analyzed by means of the 1st Law of Thermodynamics. The main exergy losses account for the gasification section, except in the electricity and heat production chain, where the combined cycle is less efficient.     

Biomass-based hydrogen for oil refining: Integration and performances of two gasification concepts

In this work, two biomass-to-hydrogen concepts are designed and their integration with a large European refinery is investigated. One concept is based on indirect, atmospheric steam gasification while the second is based on pressurized direct oxygen-steam-blown gasification. The technologies chosen for gas cleaning, upgrading and hydrogen separation also differ in the two concepts. Heat integration and poly-generation opportunities are identified by means of process integration tools and four system configurations are identified. These are compared in terms of energy and exergy performances and potential for reduction of fossil CO₂ emissions at the refinery. It is found that the performance of the biomass-to-hydrogen concepts can be improved by up to 11% points in energy efficiency and 9% points in exergy efficiency. The design based on indirect gasification appears the most efficient according to both energy and exergy efficiencies. All configurations yield potential significant reductions of fossil CO₂ emissions at the refinery.     

Steam and air fed biomass gasification: Comparisons based on energy and exergy

Results are reported of thermodynamic analyses of a biomass gasification unit in which sawdust is the biomass feed and the gasifying medium is either air or steam. Energy and exergy analyses are performed for the system and each of its components. A parametric study reveals the effect of design and operating parameters on the system's performance and energy and exergy efficiencies. The results show that the adiabatic temperature of biomass gasification significantly changes with the type of the gasifying medium. In addition, the exergy and energy efficiencies are observed to be higher when air is the gasifying medium rather than steam, while the system performance and exergy efficiencies are dependent on the moisture content of the feed biomass. The results are significant because they quantify the strong dependence of biomass gasification, which can be used for syngas or hydrogen production, on moisture content, and gasifying medium.     

Exergetic evaluation of biomass gasification

Biomass has great potential as a clean, renewable feedstock for producing modern energy carriers. This paper focuses on the process of biomass gasification, where the synthesis gas may subsequently be used for the production of electricity, fuels and chemicals. The gasifier is one of the least-efficient unit operations in the whole biomass-to-energy technology chain and an analysis of the efficiency of the gasifier alone can substantially contribute to the efficiency improvement of this chain. The purpose of this paper is to compare different types of biofuels for their gasification efficiency and benchmark this against gasification of coal. In order to quantify the real value of the gasification process exergy-based efficiencies, defined as the ratio of chemical and physical exergy of the synthesis gas to chemical exergy of a biofuel, are proposed in this paper. Biofuels considered include various types of wood, vegetable oil, sludge, and manure. In this study, exergetic efficiencies are evaluated for an idealized gasifier in which chemical equilibrium is reached, ashes are not considered and heat losses are neglected. The gasification efficiencies are evaluated at the carbon-boundary point, where exactly enough air is added to avoid carbon formation and achieve complete gasification. The cold-gas efficiency of biofuels was found to be comparable to that of coal. It is shown that the exergy efficiencies of biofuels are lower than the corresponding energetic efficiencies. For liquid biofuels, such as sludge and manure, gasification at the optimum point is not possible, and exergy efficiency can be improved by drying the biomass using the enthalpy of synthesis gas.     

Study on biomass gasification under various operating conditions

An Aspen Plus model of biomass gasification with different gasifying agents has been developed. Due to lack of kinetic data, the developed model is based on Gibbs free energy minimization. The main objective of this study is to study the influence of gasifying agent (pure oxygen; oxygen-enriched air and air), gasification temperature and equivalence ratio (ER) on gas composition, gas lower heating value (LHV), and energy/exergy efficiencies. The developed model was validated with experimental data which was found to be in well agreement. Increase in gasification temperature led to a significant increase in H₂ content. On the other hand, an increase in ER led to a significant reduction in H₂, CO, and CH₄ and a significant increase in CO₂. Also, a gradual downward trend of exergy efficiency (EE) was found, as ER increased from 0.15 to 0.21, while it basically kept constant as the gasification temperature was varied.     

From coal to biomass gasification: Comparison of thermodynamic efficiency

The effect of fuel composition on the thermodynamic efficiency of gasifiers and gasification systems is studied. A chemical equilibrium model is used to describe the gasifier. It is shown that the equilibrium model presents the highest gasification efficiency that can be possibly attained for a given fuel. Gasification of fuels with varying composition of organic matter, in terms of O/C and H/C ratio as illustrated in a Van Krevelen diagram, is compared. It was found that exergy losses in gasifying wood (O/C ratio around 0.6) are larger than those for coal (O/C ratio around 0.2). At a gasification temperature of 927 °C, a fuel with O/C ratio below 0.4 is recommended, which corresponds to a lower heating value above 23 MJ/kg. For gasification at 1227 °C, a fuel with O/C ratio below 0.3 and lower heating value above 26 MJ/kg is preferred. It could thus be attractive to modify the properties of highly oxygenated biofuels prior to gasification, e.g. by separation of wood into its components and gasification of the lignin component, thermal pre-treatment, and/or mixing with coal in order to enhance the heating value of the gasifier fuel.     

Exergy analysis of hydrogen production plants based on biomass gasification

Biomass gasification is a promising option for the sustainable production of hydrogen rich gas. Five different commercial or pilot scale gasification systems are considered for the design of a hydrogen production plant that generates almost pure hydrogen. For each of the gasification technique models of two different hydrogen production plants are developed in Cycle-Tempo: one plant with low temperature gas cleaning (LTGC) and the other with high temperature gas cleaning (HTGC). The thermal input of all plants is 10 MW of biomass with the same dry composition. An exergy analysis of all processes has been made. The processes are compared on their thermodynamic performance (hydrogen yield and exergy efficiency). Since the heat recovery is not incorporated in the models, two efficiencies are calculated. The first one is calculated for the case that all residual heat can be applied, the case with ideal heat recovery, and the other is calculated for the case without heat recovery. It is expected that in real systems only a part of the residual heat can be used. Therefore, the actual value will be in between these calculated values. It was found that three processes have almost the same performance: The Battelle gasification process with LTGC, the FICFB gasification process with LTGC, and the Blaue Turm gasification process with HTGC. All systems include further processing of the cleaned gas from biomass gasification into almost pure hydrogen. The calculated exergy efficiencies are, respectively, 50.69%, 45.95%, and 50.52% for the systems without heat recovery. The exergy efficiencies of the systems with heat recovery are, respectively, 62.79%, 64.41%, and 66.31%. The calculated hydrogen yields of the three processes do not differ very much. The hydrogen yield of the Battelle LTGC process appeared to be 0.097 kg (kg_{(dry biomass)})⁻¹, for the FICFB LTGC process a yield of 0.096 kg (kg_{(dry biomass)})⁻¹ was found, and for the Blaue Turm HTGC 0.106 kg (kg_{(dry biomass)})⁻¹.     

Supercritical steam cycles and biomass integrated gasification combined cycles for sugarcane mills

Back in 1970s and 1980s, cogeneration plants in sugarcane mills were primarily designed to consume all bagasse, and produce steam and electricity to the process. The plants used medium pressure steam boilers (21 bar and 300 °C) and backpressure steam turbines. Some plants needed also an additional fuel, as the boilers were very inefficient. In those times, sugarcane bagasse did not have an economic value, and it was considered a problem by most mills. During the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s, sugarcane industry faced an open market perspective, thus, there was a great necessity to reduce costs in the production processes. In addition, the economic value of by-products (bagasse, molasses, etc.) increased, and there was a possibility of selling electricity to the grid. This new scenario led to a search for more advanced cogeneration systems, based mainly on higher steam parameters (40–80 bar and 400–500 °C). In the future, some authors suggest that biomass integrated gasification combined cycles are the best alternative to cogeneration plants in sugarcane mills. These systems might attain 35–40% efficiency for the power conversion. However, supercritical steam cycles might also attain these efficiency values, what makes them an alternative to gasification-based systems. This paper presents a comparative thermoeconomic study of these systems for sugarcane mills. The configurations studied are based on real systems that could be adapted to biomass use. Different steam consumptions in the process are considered, in order to better integrate these configurations in the mill.     

Integration of solid oxide electrolyser,entrained gasification,and Fischer-Tropsch process for synthetic diesel production: Thermodynamic analysis

A novel integrated renewable-based energy system for production of synthetic diesel is proposed and simulated in this study. This system merges solid oxide electrolyser (SOE), entrained gasification (EG) and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technologies. Two case scenarios are considered here. In the first case, the electrolyser unite produce syngas through co-electrolysis of steam and carbon dioxide, while in the second case only steam is electrolyzed. The effects of SOEC and EG operating pressure and temperatures on the system performance in each case are investigated and compared. It is shown that the operating condition of electrolyser subsystem has a more considerable effect on the performance of the integrated system as compared to the gasification subsystem. Also waste heat recovery results in about 43 and 2 percentage point increase in energy and exergy efficiency, respectively. It is also shown that internal recovering of oxygen has the best effect on the system performance.     

Thermodynamic analysis of air-blown gasification for IGCC applications

This paper analyzes the thermodynamic performance of IGCC power plants based on an air-blown gasifier. A preliminary computational model for a lab-scale gasifier was calibrated on experimental data available in open literature, as a first step for the modeling of a large-scale MHI-type air-blown demonstration gasifier. The latter was analyzed by a parametric analysis, carried out by varying the gasification temperature and the heat transferred to the membrane walls. In agreement with data from MHI, the power balance of the air-blown gasifier suggests that the cold gas efficiency is similar to the one of oxygen-blown gasifiers, even though energy flows are quite different in the two gasification technologies.     

Flame propagation in a gasification channel

In the present study, propagation of a gasification flame through a coal channel is considered. A simplified physical model incorporating all of the main physical factors determining the flame front propagation in a gasification reactor is suggested. It is demonstrated that the flame propagation is governed by the energy balance in the channel. The suggested model is in an agreement with experimental observations obtained in underground gasification of coal (UCG).     

Exergy analysis of updraft and downdraft fixed bed gasification of village-level solid waste

The most commonly used for gasification of village-level solid waste is the fixed-bed gasifier, but there is no reasonable method to evaluate the gasification process. This paper attempts to find a gasifier that is most suitable for gasification of village-level solid wastes through exergy analysis method. Based on experimental data from literature, the exergy efficiencies and LHV(Low Heat Value) of product gas from updraft and downdraft fixed bed gasifier are studied in this paper. The results show that the updraft fixed bed gasifier has higher exergy efficiency, and the gas produced by the downdraft fixed bed gasifier has a higher heating value. Air gasification has higher exergy efficiency than steam gasification and pure oxygen gasification. The highest exergy efficiency at a gasification temperature of about 1000 °C and ER (Equivalence Ratio) value in the range of 0.33–0.36. The volatile content of gasification raw materials is higher, and the gasification efficiency is higher. Through the research of this paper, a new path to reasonably evaluate the gasification process is obtained.     

Exergetic analysis of solid oxide fuel cell and biomass gasification integration with heat pipes

This paper presents an exergetic analysis of a combined heat and power (CHP) system, integrating a near-atmospheric solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with an allothermal biomass fluidised bed steam gasification process. The gasification heat requirement is supplied to the fluidised bed from the SOFC stack through high-temperature sodium heat pipes. The CHP system was modelled in AspenPlus™ software including sub-models for the gasification, SOFC, gas cleaning and heat pipes. For an average current density of 3000 A m⁻² the proposed system would consume 90 kg h⁻¹ biomass producing 170 kW_e net power with a system exergetic efficiency of 36%, out of which 34% are electrical.     

A comprehensive review on hydrogen production from coal gasification: Challenges and Opportunities

This paper comparatively discusses hydrogen production options through coal gasification, including plasma methods, and evaluate them for practical applications. In this regard, it focuses on numerous aspects of hydrogen production from coal gasification, including (i) state of the art and comparative evaluation, (ii) environmental and economic dimensions, (iii) energetic and exergetic aspects, (iv) challenges, opportunities and future directions. Furthermore, this review paper outlines what differences it brings in and what contributions it makes to the current literature about such a significant domain of potential hydrogen production which can be used as clean fuel, energy carrier and feedstock. Accordingly, this comprehensive review offers some results as follows: (i) plasma gasification system produces higher amount of hydrogen from other gasification processes, (ii) less amounts of solid wastes (slag, ash, tar, etc.) are released during plasma gasification process compared to other gasification processes, and (iii) it is overall more sustainable Thus, plasma gasification is proposed as a potential option for hydrogen fuel production from coals and for practical application in energy sector. As a case study, some plasma gasifiers in the literature are analyzed in terms of the exergetic sustainability. Furthermore, the case study results show that the exergetic sustainability index decreases from 0.642 to 0.186, and the exergetic efficiency drops from 0.342 to 0.156, while the environmental impact factor increases from 1.556 to 5.372 with an increase of waste exergy ratio from 0.839 to 0.532, respectively.