Performance analysis of a biomass gasification combined cycle power plant using rice husk and sugarcane bagasse with circular utilization of ash in green concrete

Biomass gasification is an emerging area for sustainable power generation, by utilizing readily available agricultural residues to address energy demand while reducing environmentally harmful waste disposal. The current study presents a theoretical design for a 1 MWe combined cycle power plant that uses rice husk and sugarcane bagasse as potential feedstocks. The study models the parameters by employing Python software, in which the gasification process is modelled using air-steam blending over a temperature range of 1273-1473 K. The produced syngas powers an integrated gas turbine-steam turbine configuration, achieving a predicted net energy efficiency of 39.15% for rice husk, 36.89% for sugarcane bagasse and power output of 1.05 MWe under optimal conditions. The gasification model produced normalized wet syngas yields of 2.57 kg syngas/kg biomass for rice husk and 2.45 kg syngas/kg biomass for sugarcane bagasse, corresponding to dry syngas yields of 1.77 and 1.61 kg/kg biomass, respectively, with equivalent dry volumetric yields of 2.10 and 1.56 Nm³/kg biomass. Additionally, generated rice husk ash (RHA) and sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) from the gasification process are further utilized to partially replace cement in the creation of sustainable concrete. The hybrid concrete showed favourable results, improving compressive strength by 12.6% and 8.2% for 10% RHA and SCBA cement replacement in a 28-day analysis, respectively, compared to conventional concrete. Furthermore, these results support the viability of the plant in agriculture-dependent countries such as India, with levelized cost of electricity readily available at $0.08-0.10/kWh.