Feasibility Study of Clean Hydrogen Energy from Sugarcane Bagasse Gasification in Thailand

Biomass-to-energy production was widely promoted because of the rising concern on sustainable energy supply and waste management. This work studied the process of hydrogen production from biomass gasification using sugarcane bagasse, a domestic agricultural residue in Thailand, as a feedstock. The sugarcane gasification plant was simulated using the process simulation software Aspen Plus with feed capacity of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$1000 ~\text{kg} / \text{hr}$</tex>. The effects of significant operating conditions: gasification temperature and steam to biomass ratio (<tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\mathrm{S} / \mathrm{B}$</tex> ratio) on hydrogen production were studied. The results were used to indicate the optimal operating conditions that yielded the maximum amount of hydrogen production. Then, the cost analysis of biomass gasification was conducted in order to define the unit production cost at the optimal conditions. The results revealed that the optimal operating condition was the gasification temperature of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$700^{\circ} \mathrm{C}$</tex> and S/B ratio of 1.0 with the highest hydrogen production rate of 108.25 <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\text{kg}-\mathrm{H}_{2} / \mathrm{h}$</tex>. Based on the annual hydrogen production of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$948888 ~\text{kg} / \text{yr}$</tex>, the unit production cost of hydrogen production was calculated to be 2.30 USD/kg-H2. A sensitivity analysis was also carried out revealed that the raw material cost is the most sensitive parameter for the <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$1000 ~\text{kg} / \mathrm{h}$</tex> plant capacity with plant lifetime of 20 years. This indicated that reducing raw material cost should be significant priority to achieve lower hydrogen production cost.