Techno-economic assessment of hydrogen production from biomass and RDF gasification with integrated carbon Capture: A Brazilian Perspective

For this study, sugarcane bagasse and Refuse-Derived Fuel from Municipal Solid Waste gasification were investigated for low-emission hydrogen production. This is done through a unique simulation that integrates Aspen Plus® and Hysys® to present a detailed analysis considering the Brazilian availability of sugarcane bagasse and Refuse-Derived Fuel. A chemical equilibrium model was developed and validated in Aspen Plus® using various gasifying agents. A sensitivity analysis of the equivalence ratio was conducted, revealing a temperature increase from 700 to 900°C when using air as the gasifying agent. The gasification temperature ranged from 550 to 750°C when employing air and steam with a fixed SBR of 1. The highest hydrogen volumetric fraction for Refuse-Derived Fuel was 0.25, while for sugarcane bagasse gasification, it was 0.22. Additionally, the addition of shift reactors favors hydrogen production, increasing the hydrogen mass flow rate by approximately 90% in the gasification plant. The plants achieved an overall efficiency of around 50% for all evaluated scenarios, but the efficiency was reduced to about 40% with the addition of the carbon capture system. Besides, the levelized cost of hydrogen ranged between 4 and 4.5 US$/kgH₂ and 5 and 6 US$/kgH₂ in the gasification system with carbon capture. The results of this study suggest that biomass-hydrogen-based processes are promising options contributing to H₂ production capacity, but improvements are needed to achieve significant volumes and competitive costs.