Thermodynamic analysis of hydrogen production from biomass gasification M.K. Cohce*, I. Dincer, M.A. Rosen Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada L1H 7K4 a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Receiv ed 19 June 2009 Receiv ed in revised form 26 August 2009 Accepte d 31 August 2009 Availa ble online 7 Octob er 2009 Keywords: Biomass Gasification Hydrogen Thermodynamics Energy Exergy Efficiency Oil palm shell SMR a b s t r a c t An investigation is reported of the thermodynamic performance of the gasification process fol lowed by the steam-methane ref orming (SMR) and shift reac tio ns for produci nghydrogen from oil palm shell, one of the most common biomass resources. Energy and exergy efficiencies are determined for each component in this system. A process simula- tion tool is used for assessing the indirectly heated Battelle Columbus Laboratory (BCL) gasifier, which is included with the decomposition reactor to produce syngas for producinghydrogen. A simplified model is presented here for biomass gasification based on chemical equili brium considerat ions, with the Gibbs free energy minimiza tion approach. The gasifier with the decomposition reactor is observed to be one of the most critical compo- nents of a biomass gasification system, and is modeled to control the produced syngas yield. Also various thermodynamic efficiencies, namely energy, exergy and cold gas effi- ciencies are evaluat ed which may be useful for the design, optimizati on and modification of hydrogen production and other related processes. Crown Copyright ª 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. All rights reserved. 1. Int rodu ction Bio mas s, a relati vel y lar ge ener gy source global ly whi ch includes wood, municipal solid wastes and agricultural resi- dues, is bei ng inv esti gat ed in var ious countr ies asa pot entiall y significant renewable resource. Biomass is derived from solar energy. Biomass is relatively clean compared to other sources of energy, as it releases no net CO 2 emissions when carefully managed since CO 2 is fixed by photosynthesis during biomass growth and is released during utilization. This form of energy can be converted to gaseous fuel through thermochemical gasification [1]. Such a fuel can be used for various tasks, including producing hydrogen, which can be used cleanly and efficiently as a fuel in combustion engines and fuel cells. Hydrogen is likely to be an important energy carrier in the future. Presently , it can be produced by the steam ref orming ofnatural gas, coal gasification and water electrolysis amongother processes. Howev er these current processes are not sustainable because they use fossil fuels or electricity from non-renewable resources. Hydrogen production can be made more sustainable if it is produced from sustainable energy resour ces. In thi s regard, al ter na ti ve ther mochemical * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected](M.K. Cohce), [email protected](I. Dincer), [email protected](M.A. Rosen). Available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he 0360-3199/$ – see front matter Crown Co pyrig ht ª 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2009.08.066 international journal of hydrogen energy 35 (2010) 4970–4980
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8/3/2019 Cohce_Thermo Analysis of H2 Production From Gasification
produce a small amount of hydrogen. Transportation
concerns may be alleviated by using pyrolysis of biomass to
produce bio-oil, as opposed to direct gasification. Based on the
costs and availability of hydrogen production processes, it is
likely that hydrogen will be produced by steam-methane
reforming or coal gasification during a transition to
a hydrogen economy. Future advances in water-splitting
processes may allow them to replace fossil fuel processes ascleaner, long-term energy solutions. Many predictions of how
a hydrogen economy will unfold have been published. For
instance, a roadmap was created that provides an overview of
a possible evolution of hydrogen production technologies in
the future [43]. The timing of each step in this evolution
towards a hydrogen economy depends on how quickly tech-
nology advances and other factors.
5. Conclusions
The energy and exergy analyses performed of biomass-based
hydrogen production have yielded energy and exergy effi-
ciencies and an understanding of the impact on performance
of several parameters. The feasibility of producing hydrogen
from biomass and a better understanding the potential of
biomass as a renewable energy source have been attained by
considering two methods: 1) the heat required for steam-
methane reforming is supplied by fractioned syngas, and 2)
the SMR-COMB reactor is provided with externally supplied
methane gas. Oil palm shellis the biomass considered. For the
direct gasification reaction, a BCL-type low-temperature
indirectly heated steam gasifier is examined. The thermody-
namic assessments for the two cases demonstrate that the
processes have low efficiencies. The simulation confirms for
the system that the second case considered, which indicates
performance improvements, has higher energy and exergy
efficiencies than the first case.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the support provided by the Ontario
Research Excellence Fund and the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Nomenclature
C p specific heat, kJ/kg K_E energy flow rate, kJ/h_Ex exergy flow rate, kJ/h
ex specific exergy, kJ/kg
h specific enthalpy, kJ/kg
LHV lower heating value, MJ/kg
mi inlet mass, kg
mo outlet mass, kg
Po reference-environment pressure, kPa
Q heat, kJ
R universal gas constant, kJ/kmol K
S entropy, kJ/K
STBR steam–biomass ratio
T temperature, K
T0 reference-environment temperature, K_W work rate, kJ/h
x exergy ratio
Greek symbols
j exergy efficiency, %h energy efficiency, %
b correlation factor, %
Subscripts
bio biomass
biomoist biomass moisture
cg cold gas
dest destroyed
drybio dry biomass
en energy
gen generated
i, j index for components
in input
meth methane gas (CH4)out output
st steam
sys system
turb turbine
prodg produced gas
unconcarb unconverted carbon
Supercripts
ch chemical
ph physical
Acronyms
COMB combustion
COMP compressor
COOL cooling
EC economizer
HE heat exchanger
HTS high-temperature shift
LTS low-temperature shift
PSA pressure swing adsorption
WHB waste heat boiler
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