Exergy Analysis of Alternative Configurations of Biomass-Based Light Olefin Production System with a Combined-Cycle Scheme via Methanol Intermediate

Yuping Li, Maolin Ye, Fenghua Tan, Chenguang Wang and Jinxing Long
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Yuping Li: Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Maolin Ye: Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Fenghua Tan: Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Chenguang Wang: Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Jinxing Long: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-19

Abstract: Thermodynamic performance of three conceptual systems for biomass-derived olefin production with electricity cogeneration was studied and compared via exergy analysis at the levels of system, subsystem and operation unit. The base case was composed of the subsystems of gasification, raw fuel gas adjustment, methanol/light olefin synthesis and steam & power generation, etc. The power case and fuel case were designed as the combustion of a fraction of gasification gas to increase power generation and the recycle of a fraction of synthesis tail gas to increase olefin production, respectively. It was found that the subsystems of gasification and steam & power generation contribute ca. 80% of overall exergy destruction for each case, of which gasifier and combustor are the main exergy destruction sources, due to the corresponding chemical exergy degrading of biomass and fuel gas. The low efficiency of 33.1% for the power case could be attributed to the significant irreversibility of the combustor, economizer, and condenser in the combined-cycle subsystem. The effect of the tail gas recycle ratio, moisture content of feedstock, and biomass type was also investigated to enhance system exergy performance, which could be achieved by high recycle ratio, using dry biomass and the feedstock with high carbon content. High system efficiency of 38.9% was obtained when oil palm shell was used, which was 31.7% for rice husk due to its low carbon content.

Keywords: exergy comparison; alternative configurations; bio-olefin; biomass gasification (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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