A System Analysis of a Bio-Hydrogen Production System Using Granulated Mine Residue as a H 2 S Adsorbent

Kento Torii (), Mayu Hamazaki, Shoichi Kumon, Kimitaka Sato, Shogo Kato and Kiyoshi Dowaki
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Kento Torii: Department of Industrial Administration, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Chiba 278-8510, Japan
Mayu Hamazaki: Department of Industrial Administration, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo 162-8601, Japan
Shoichi Kumon: DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd., Tokyo 101-0021, Japan
Kimitaka Sato: DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd., Tokyo 101-0021, Japan
Shogo Kato: DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd., Tokyo 101-0021, Japan
Kiyoshi Dowaki: Department of Industrial Administration, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo 162-8601, Japan

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 6, 1-21

Abstract: An energy production system that combines biomass and fuel cells produces much energy with minimal environmental impact. However, the hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) contained in gasified biomass degrades fuel cell performance, thus negating the advantages of this combination. In this study, the removal of H 2 S by adsorption after biomass gasification was investigated. Metal oxides with high adsorption performance are common H 2 S adsorbents. However, they have a significant environmental impact in terms of metal depletion, which is an environmental impact indicator. Therefore, neutralized sediment materials from mine drainage treatments can be used as H 2 S adsorbents. A previous study found that the adsorption performance of H 2 S adsorbents is equivalent to that of metal oxides, especially in the high-temperature zone (300 °C), and the environmental impact is considerably lower than that of metal oxides. However, because the neutralized sediment is a powder (Φ 4.5 μm on average), there is a possibility that the gas will not flow due to the pressure drop when it is used in a large adsorption column. Therefore, in this study, we propose the use of granulated neutralized sediments for practical plant operations. No studies have investigated the adsorption performance of granulated neutralized sediment through experiments or quantitatively investigated the effect of using waste material as a H 2 S adsorbent to reduce the environmental impact of hydrogen production. Based on these data, the sulfur capture capacity of the granulated neutralized sediment was experimentally investigated. The extent to which the environmental impact of the hydrogen production system could be reduced when granulated neutralized sediment was used as the H 2 S adsorbent was assessed. Note that the granulated neutralized sediment is formed with about a Φ 0.56–1.25 mm diameter. The granulated neutralized sediment exhibited approximately 76.8% of the adsorption performance of zinc oxide (ZnO) on a conventional adsorbent. In terms of the LCA, the global warming potential (GWP) and the abiotic depletion potential (ADP) were improved by approximately 0.89% (GWP) and 55.3% (ADP) in the entire hydrogen production process. This study demonstrated that the use of waste materials can significantly reduce the environmental impact on the entire system.

Keywords: hydrogen; biomass; desulfurization; neutralized sediment; granulation; life cycle assessment (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
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