Techno-Economic and Environmental Analysis of a Sewage Sludge Alternative Treatment Combining Chemical Looping Combustion and a Power-to-Methane System

Piero Bareschino (), Roberto Chirone (), Andrea Paulillo, Claudio Tregambi, Massimo Urciuolo, Francesco Pepe and Erasmo Mancusi
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Piero Bareschino: Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi del Sannio, P.zza Roma 21, 82100 Benevento, Italy
Roberto Chirone: eLoop s.r.l., V.le A. Gramsci 17/B, 80122 Napoli, Italy
Andrea Paulillo: eLoop s.r.l., V.le A. Gramsci 17/B, 80122 Napoli, Italy
Claudio Tregambi: Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi del Sannio, P.zza Roma 21, 82100 Benevento, Italy
Massimo Urciuolo: Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie per l’Energia e la Mobilità Sostenibili, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, P.le V. Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Francesco Pepe: Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi del Sannio, P.zza Roma 21, 82100 Benevento, Italy
Erasmo Mancusi: Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi del Sannio, P.zza Roma 21, 82100 Benevento, Italy

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: An innovative process layout for sludge waste management based on chemical looping combustion and flue gas methanation is analyzed in this work. The technical performance of the system was assessed by considering that the flue gas is first purified and then mixed with a pure hydrogen stream sourced from an array of electrolysis cells to produce methane. The life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost (LCC) methodologies were applied to quantify the environmental and economic performances of the proposed process, and a hotspot analysis was carried out to recognize its most critical steps. The proposed system was then compared with a reference system that includes both the conventional waste management pathways for the Italian context and methane production. Finally, to account for the variability in the future economic climate, the effects of changes in landfill storage costs on sewage end-of-life costs for both the proposed and reference systems were evaluated. With respect to 1 kg/h of sewage sludge with 10% wt of humidity, the analysis shows that the proposed system (i) reduces landfill wastes by about 68%, (ii) has an end-of-life cost of 1.75 EUR × kg −1 , and (iii) is environmentally preferable to conventional sewage sludge treatment technologies with respect to several impact categories.

Keywords: sewage sludge disposal; CO 2 capture and utilization; methanation; climate change impact; sensitivity analysis (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: 2024
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