Biomass Polygeneration System for the Thermal Conversion of Softwood Waste into Hydrogen and Drop-In Biofuels

Lorenzo Bartolucci, Enrico Bocci, Stefano Cordiner, Emanuele De Maina (), Francesco Lombardi, Vera Marcantonio (), Pietro Mele, Vincenzo Mulone and Davide Sorino
Additional contact information
Lorenzo Bartolucci: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Enrico Bocci: Department of Nuclear, Subnuclear and Radiation Physics, Marconi University, 00193 Rome, Italy
Stefano Cordiner: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Emanuele De Maina: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Francesco Lombardi: Department of Civil Engineering and Computer Science Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Vera Marcantonio: Unit of Process Engineering, Department of Engineering, University “Campus Bio-Medico” di Roma, Via Álvaro Del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, Italy
Pietro Mele: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Vincenzo Mulone: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Davide Sorino: Department of Civil Engineering and Computer Science Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: In order to keep the +1.5 °C over-temperature, previously predicted with high confidence by IPPC Sixth Assessment, as minimal as feasible, it is more than vital to achieve a low-emission energy system. Polygeneration systems based on thermochemical processes involve biomass conversion in multi-output of bioenergy carriers and chemicals. Due to reduced energy input and input/output diversification, polygeneration energy systems are considered interesting pathways that can increase competitiveness of biomass-derived products. The proposed route of fast pyrolysis, sorption-enhanced biochar gasification and crude bio-oil hydrodeoxygenation to produce drop-in biofuel and hydrogen is examined. Both kinetic and equilibrium approaches were implemented in Aspen Plus to take into account the effect of the major operating parameters on the process performance and then validated against the literature data. Results show how the process integration leads to improved mass conversion yield and increases overall energy efficiency up to 10%-points, reaching the maximum value of 75%. Among the various parameters investigated, pyrolysis temperature influences mainly the products distribution while Steam/Biochar and Sorbent/Biochar affect the energy conversion efficiency.

Keywords: polygeneration energy systems; residual biomass valorization; biomass system modeling; fast pyrolysis; integrated sorption-enhanced gasification (ISEG) (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: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/3/1286/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/3/1286/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:3:p:1286-:d:1046518

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().