Gasification of Agricultural Biomass Residues for Sustainable Development of Mediterranean Europe Regions: Modelling and Simulation in Aspen Plus

Elisa López-García, Diego Antonio Rodriguez-Pastor, Ricardo Chacartegui, Abel Rouboa and Eliseu Monteiro ()
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Elisa López-García: Energy Engineering Department, University of Seville, Avda de los Descubrimientos s/n, 41092 Seville, Spain
Diego Antonio Rodriguez-Pastor: Energy Engineering Department, University of Seville, Avda de los Descubrimientos s/n, 41092 Seville, Spain
Ricardo Chacartegui: Energy Engineering Department, University of Seville, Avda de los Descubrimientos s/n, 41092 Seville, Spain
Abel Rouboa: Associate Laboratory of Energy, Transport and Aerospace (LAETA), Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Doutor Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Eliseu Monteiro: Associate Laboratory of Energy, Transport and Aerospace (LAETA), Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Doutor Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-18

Abstract: The utilisation of agricultural residues for power generation is an opportunity to reduce fossil fuel usage and foster a sustainable circular economy in Mediterranean European regions. This can be achieved by resorting to the gasification process, which faces challenges such as optimising its operation parameters on real-world applications and lowering operational costs. This work studies the gasification process of a set of agricultural biomasses widely available in the Mediterranean Europe regions through modelling and simulation in Aspen Plus. The selected biomasses are olive stone, grapevine waste, and wheat straw. The effect of temperature, equivalence ratio, and steam-to-biomass ratio on gasifier performance and their effect on gas composition was assessed. The results indicate that olive stone and wheat straw performed best in terms of syngas composition and cold gas efficiency. The analyses show good gasification performance for temperatures above 750 °C, equivalence ratios ranging from 0.1 to 0.3, depending on the raw material and steam-to-biomass ratios below 0.1. The obtained values show the validity and the potential of a downdraft gasification reactor to be used with these abundant agricultural biomasses in the Mediterranean European region. Its integration with a reciprocating engine is a rational choice for distributed power generation.

Keywords: mediterranean residues; gasification; downdraft reactor; modelling; syngas (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: 2025
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