Abstract
The production of hydrogen by syngasification of biomass in Brazil provides a significant opportunity to increase the profitability of the sugarcane ethanol industry, as sugarcane biomass residues are available at low cost and in large quantities in the country. Hydrogen makes it possible to produce high-value chemicals from ethanol, whose production from sugarcane is already developed and energy efficient, and H2 can also be used as a transportation fuel. This article discusses the reaction thermodynamics of syngasification, proposes a C-H–O chart to analyze the chemical reactions, and analyzes the heat cascade through a syngasifier and the downstream operations for producing hydrogen. The proposed C-H–O chart makes it possible (1) to estimate the higher heating value of molecules involved in the syngasification, (2) to visualize the region of carbon deposit, (3) to represent the reactions occurring in a syngasifier and determine whether the enthalpy and entropy changes are positive or negative, and (4) to evaluate the effects of composition, pressure, and temperature on the reaction system. The tool also allows following the progressive changes in stream composition through process operations. For the first time, the heat cascade through each operation of the complete hydrogen-producing syngasification process has been analyzed. Results show that the chemical reactions release enough heat to satisfy all thermal demands of the downstream operations. Overall, purified hydrogen contains around 67% of the higher heating value of inlet biomass. Integrating the process that produces hydrogen with the process of making ethanol from sugarcane, whose bagasse would feed the hydrogen process, leads to a reduction of 20% of the total heat consumption.
Graphical Abstract
Chemical reactions occurring in an allothermal syngasifier
The yellow diamond shows the global composition (mixture of biomass and steam).
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- Ar:
-
Arrhenius constant
- Ea:
-
Activation energy
- DFB:
-
Dual fluidized bed
- ETD:
-
Energy transfer diagram
- HHV:
-
Higher heating value
- HP:
-
High-pressure steam
- HT:
-
Heat transfer
- Keq:
-
Equilibrium constant of reaction
- LP:
-
Low-pressure steam
- MP:
-
Medium-pressure steam
- MWe:
-
Megawatt of exergy
- MWt:
-
Megawatt of thermal energy
- Nat:
-
Avogadro’s number of atoms
- Pi:
-
Partial pressure of i
- PO:
-
Process operation
- PT :
-
Total pressure
- PSA:
-
Pressure swing adsorption
- Rat(x):
-
Ratio of atoms in molecule x to the total number of atoms
- ri:
-
Rate of reaction i
- RME:
-
Rapeseed methyl ester oil
- T1:
-
Temperature where Keq is equal to one
- Tc:
-
Cold-end temperature
- Th:
-
Hot-end temperature
- WCOS:
-
Water CO shift reaction
- Yi:
-
Molar fraction of i
- ∆Hf0 :
-
Standard enthalpy of formation
- S0 :
-
Standard entropy
- ∆Gr0 :
-
Standard Gibbs free energy of reaction
References
Barrera R, Salazar C, Pérez JF (2014) Thermochemical equilibrium model of synthetic natural gas production from coal gasification using aspen plus. Int J Chem Eng 192057:18. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/192057
Billaud J (2015) Gazéification de la biomasse en réacteur à flux entrainé : études expérimentales et modélisation. Génie des procédés. Ecole des Mines d’Albi-Carmaux,. Français. NNT : 2015EMAC001. tel-01291801
Binder M, Kraussler M, Kuba M, Luisser M (2019) IEA Bioenergy. Hydrogen from biomass gasification - Final report. Accessed 26 June 2022. https://www.ieabioenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Wasserstoffstudie_IEA-final.pdf
Bonhivers JC, Korbel M, Sorin M, Savulescu L, Stuart PR (2014) Energy transfer diagram for improving integration of industrial systems. Appl Therm Eng 63:468–479
Bonhivers JC, Ortiz PAS, Reddick C, Rossell CEV, Mariano AP, Filho RM (2021) Graphical analysis of plant-wide heat cascade for increasing energy efficiency in the production of ethanol and sugar from sugarcane. Process Integr Optim Sustain 5:335–359. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41660-020-00149-0
Brown D, Gassner M, Fuchino T, Marechal F (2009) Thermo-economic analysis for the optimal conceptual design of biomass gasification energy conversion systems. Appl Therm Eng 29:2137–2152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2009.05.011
Burnham AK (2021) Estimating the heat of formation of foodstuffs and biomass. U.S. Department of Energy https://doi.org/10.2172/1124948
Cairns EJ, Tevebaugh AD (1964) CHO gas phase compositions in equilibrium with carbon, and carbon deposition boundaries at one atmosphere. J Chem Eng Data 9(3):453–462
Cao L, Yu IKM, Xiong X, Tsang DCW, Zhang S, Clark JH, Hu C, Ng YH, Shang J, Ok YS (2020) Biorenewable hydrogen production through biomass gasification: A review and future prospects. Environ Res 186:109547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109547
Celebi AD, Ensinas AV, Sharma S, Marechal F (2017) Early-stage decision making approach for the selection of optimally integrated biorefinery processes. Energy 137:908–916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.03.080
Chan YH, Cheah KW, How BS, Loy ACM, Shahbaz M, Singh HKG, Yusuf NR, Shuhaili AFA, Yusup S, Ghani WAWAK, Rambli J, Kansha Y, Lam HL, Hong BH, Ngan SL (2019) An overview of biomass thermochemical conversion technologies in Malaysia. Sci Total Environ 680:105–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.211
Colmenares JC, Colmenares RF, Pieta IS (2016) Catalytic dry reforming for biomass-based fuels processing: progress and future perspectives. Energ Technol 4(8):881–890. https://doi.org/10.1002/ente.201600195
Detchusananard T, Wuttipisan N, Limleamthong P, Prasertcharoensuk P, Maréchal F, Arpornwichanop A (2022) Pyrolysis and gasification integrated process of empty fruit bunch for multi-biofuels production: technical and economic analyses. Energy Convers Manage 258:115–465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2022.115465
Fremaux S, Beheshti SM, Ghassemi H, Shahsavan-Markadeh R (2015) An experimental study on hydrogen-rich gas production via steam gasification of biomass in a research-scale fluidized bed. Energy Convers Manage 91:427–432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2014.12.048
Isaksson J, Jansson M, Åsblad A, Berntsson T (2016) Transportation fuel production from gasified biomass integrated with a pulp and paper mill e Part A: heat integration and system performance. Energy 103:557–571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2016.02.091
Jaworski Z, Zakrzewska Z, Pianko-Oprych P (2017) On thermodynamic equilibrium of carbon deposition from gaseous C-H-O mixtures: updating for nanotubes. Rev ChemEng 33(3):217–235. https://doi.org/10.1515/revce-2016-0022
Kaushal P, Tyagi R (2012) Steam assisted biomass gasification—an overview. Can J Chem Eng 90:1043–1058. https://doi.org/10.1002/cjce.20594
Klémes JJ (2022) Handbook of Process Integration (PI): Minimisation of energy and water use, waste and emissions. Edited by Klemes JJ, Woodhead Publishing Series in Energy. https://doi.org/10.1016/C2020-0-01220-X
KPMG. The hydrogen trajectory. https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2020/11/the-hydrogen-trajectory.html
Küngas R (2020) J Electrochem Soc 167:044508
Li H, Chen Z, Huo C, Hu M, Guo D, Xiao B (2015) Effect of bioleaching on hydrogen-rich gas production by steam gasification of sewage sludge. Energy Convers Manage 106:1212–1218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2015.10.048
Lide DR (2003) CRC handbook of chemistry and physics, 84th Edition. ISBN 0–8493–0484–9
Mohnot S, Kyle BG (1978) Equilibrium gas-phase compositions and carbon deposition boundaries in the CHO-inert system. Ind Eng Chem Process Dev 17(3):270–272
Parigi D, Giglio E, Soto A, Santarelli M (2019) Power-to-fuels through carbon dioxide Re-Utilization and high-temperature electrolysis: a technical and economical comparison between synthetic methanol and methane. J Clean Prod 226:679–691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.087
Posdziech O, Schwarze K, Brabandt J (2019) Efficient hydrogen production for industry and electricity storage via high-temperature electrolysis. Int J Hydrogen Energy 44(35):19089–19101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.05.169
Prins MJ, Ptasinski KJ, Janssen FJJG (2006) More efficient biomass gasification via torrefaction. Energy 31:3458–3470
Ribeiro TR, Ferreira Neto JB, Takano C, Poço JGR, Kolbeinsen L, Ringdalen E (2021) C-O–H2 ternary diagram for evaluation of carbon activity in CH4-containing gas mixtures. J Mater Res Technol 13:1576–1585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2021.05.033
Salam MA, Ahmed K, Akter N, Hossain T, Abdullah B (2018) A review of hydrogen production via biomass gasification and its prospect in Bangladesh. Int J Hydrogen Energy 43(32):14944–14973. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.06.043
Sasaki K, Teroaka Y (2003) Equilibria in fuel cell gases II. The C-H–O diagrams. J Electrochem Soc 150(7):885–888
Shayan E, Zare V, Mirzaee I (2019) On the use of different gasification agents in a biomass fueled SOFC by integrated gasifier: a comparative exergo-economic evaluation and optimization. Energy 171:1126–1138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.01.095
Spath P, Aden A, Eggeman, T, Ringer, M, Wallace, B, Jechura, J (2005) Biomass to hydrogen production detailed design and economics utilizing the Battelle Columbus Laboratory indirectly heated gasifier. Technical Report, NREL/TP-510–37408
Tay DHS, Kheireddine H, Ng DKS, El-Halwagi MM (2010) Synthesis of an integrated biorefinery via the C-H–O ternary diagram. Chem Eng Trans 21:1411–1416
Tay DHS, Kheireddine H, Ng DKS, El-Halwagi MM (2011) Synthesis of an integrated biorefinery via the C-H–O ternary diagram. Clean Technol Environ Policy 13:567–579
Tock L, Gassner M, Marechal F (2010) Thermochemical production of liquid fuels from biomass: thermo-economic modeling, process design and process integration analysis. Biomass Bioenergy 34(12):1838–1854
Tunå P, Hulteberg C, Hansson J, Åsblad A, Andersson E (2012) Synergies from combined pulp & paper and fuel production. Biomass Bioenergy 40:174–180
Xiong X, Yu IKM, Cao L, Tsang DCW, Zhang S, Ok YS (2017) A review of biochar-based catalysts for chemical synthesis, biofuel production, and pollution control. Biores Technol 246:254–270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.06.163
Yiin CL, Quitain AT, Yusup S, Uemura Y, Sasaki M, Kida T (2018) Sustainable green pretreatment approach to biomass-to-energy conversion using natural hydro-low-transition-temperature mixtures. Bioresour Technol 261(361–36):9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2018.04.039
Zhang B, Zhang L, Yang Z, Yan Y, Ge Pu, Guo M (2015) Hydrogen-rich gas production from wet biomass steam gasification with CaO/MgO. Int J Hydrogen Energy 40(29):8816–8823. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.05.075
Funding
The authors acknowledge the financial support from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (Grant numbers 2015/20630–4 and 2017/27092–3).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Bonhivers, JC., Reddick, C., Rossell, C.E.V. et al. Graphical Representation of Chemical Reactions and Heat Cascade Analysis of Biomass Residue Syngasification to Produce Hydrogen. Process Integr Optim Sustain 7, 1241–1264 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41660-023-00342-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41660-023-00342-x