(640d) Techno-Economic Analysis of Simultaneous Biomass Gasification and Syngas Upgrading Via Chemical Looping Technology

This study is to analyze a chemical
looping gasification system for the production of high-quality syngas from biomass. 
The system includes two reactors: one for biomass gasification and the other
one for catalytic syngas cleaning and oxygen carrier regeneration operated as a
two-stage process. One of the innovations of this research is to develop and
use an iron-based material in a redox cycle to transfer oxygen and heat for
biomass gasification and to serve as a catalyst for hot-syngas cleaning.
Another innovation is to co-produce high-quality biochar from biomass
gasification itself by recycling CO₂ and H₂O in syngas as
a fluidizing and activating agent in the redox cycle. We also recycle CO₂
directly into the gasifier and explore the ratio of steam to CO₂ as
the co-gasifying agent.

We are developing an Aspen Plus process model for
techno-economic analysis of the production of Fischer-Tropsch liquids via
biomass gasification using this novel chemical looping technology. The
process
models will be validated by experimental data and used to investigate the
energy efficiency, productivity, and energy and material flows of the
integrated chemical looping biomass gasification system with various process
configurations and operations for producing syngas at various qualities from
various biomass feedstocks. An economic model will be
developed and incorporated into the process model to determine the cost of the
chemical looping system at different production scales. The capital costs will
be determined by the components of the system, their basic costs and the life
of the system. The operating costs will be determined by thermal energy and
electricity consumption as well as labor and maintenance costs.