Life Cycle Performance of Hydrogen Production via Agro-Industrial Residue Gasification—A Small Scale Power Plant Study

Sara Rajabi Hamedani, Mauro Villarini, Andrea Colantoni, Michele Moretti and Enrico Bocci
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Sara Rajabi Hamedani: Department of Astronautics, Electrical and Energy Engineering, Sapienza University, 00184 Rome, Italy
Mauro Villarini: Department of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Tuscia University of Viterbo—Via San Camillo de Lellis, snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Andrea Colantoni: Department of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Tuscia University of Viterbo—Via San Camillo de Lellis, snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Michele Moretti: Research Group of Environmental Economics, Center for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Agoralaan—Building D, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
Enrico Bocci: Department of Innovation and Information Engineering, Marconi University, 00193 Rome, Italy

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: This study evaluates the environmental profile of a real biomass-based hydrogen production small-scale (1 MW th ) system composed of catalytic candle indirectly heated steam gasifier coupled with zinc oxide (ZnO) guard bed, water gas shift (WGS) and pressure swing absorber (PSA) reactors. Environmental performance from cradle-to-gate was investigated by life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Biomass production shows high influence over all impact categories. In the syngas production process, the main impacts observed are global warming potential (GWP) and acidification potential (AP). Flue gas emission from gasifier burner has the largest proportion of total GWP. The residual off gas use in internal combustion engine (ICE) leads to important environmental savings for all categories. Hydrogen renewability score is computed as 90% due to over 100% decline in non-renewable energy demand. Sensitivity analysis shows that increase in hydrogen production efficiency does not necessarily result in decrease in environmental impacts. In addition, economic allocation of environmental charges increases all impact categories, especially AP and photochemical oxidation (POFP).

Keywords: hydrogen production; biomass gasification; life cycle assessment; environmental impact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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