IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i19p6819-d1248081.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Parametric Modelling Study to Determine the Feasibility of the Co-Gasification of Macroalgae and Plastics for the Production of Hydrogen-Rich Syngas

Author

Listed:
  • David Antonio Buentello-Montoya

    (Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, General Ramón Corona 2514, Zapopan 45201, Mexico)

  • Miguel Ángel Armenta-Gutiérrez

    (Departamento de Ciencias Agronómicas y Veterinarias, Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora, 5 de Febrero 818 sur, Obregón 85000, Mexico)

  • Victor Manuel Maytorena-Soria

    (Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Metalurgia, Universidad de Sonora, Luis Donaldo Colosio, Hermosillo 83000, Mexico)

Abstract

Seaweed is of importance to the environment due to properties such as its CO 2 sequestration capability. On the other hand, plastic is a versatile material important to society. Unfortunately, the abundance of both plastics and seaweed represents a challenge due to the need of adequate waste management. At first, algae and plastics might not appear suitable for energy recovery; however, with co-gasification, the results are promising. This work presents a model to simulate the co-gasification of Chlorella vulgaris , Sargassum fluitans , and Sargassum natans with plastics. The effect of the gasification temperature (650–850 °C), equivalence ratio (0.25–0.45), and plastics/biomass ratio (0.0–1.0) on the produced gas’s lower heating value, tar concentration, and composition is assessed. Moreover, the environmental performance of using plastic to enhance the syngas produced from the co-gasification with sargassum is assessed using the life cycle assessment methodology. The results indicate that the lower heating value increases with the temperature and plastics/biomass ratio. Moreover, tar increases with the quantity of plastics, varying between 20 and 50 g/Nm 3 . Finally, adding plastics to algae during gasification reduces the variability in the syngas composition, simplifying the post-processing stage. With respect to environmental performance, gasification has an impact similar to those of pyrolysis and recycling, but the performance could improve with sufficient research and development.

Suggested Citation

  • David Antonio Buentello-Montoya & Miguel Ángel Armenta-Gutiérrez & Victor Manuel Maytorena-Soria, 2023. "Parametric Modelling Study to Determine the Feasibility of the Co-Gasification of Macroalgae and Plastics for the Production of Hydrogen-Rich Syngas," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-18, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:19:p:6819-:d:1248081
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/19/6819/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/19/6819/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Burra, K.G. & Gupta, A.K., 2018. "Synergistic effects in steam gasification of combined biomass and plastic waste mixtures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 230-236.
    2. Cho, Min-Hwan & Mun, Tae-Young & Choi, Young-Kon & Kim, Joo-Sik, 2014. "Two-stage air gasification of mixed plastic waste: Olivine as the bed material and effects of various additives and a nickel-plated distributor on the tar removal," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 128-134.
    3. Ardolino, Filomena & Lodato, Concetta & Astrup, Thomas F. & Arena, Umberto, 2018. "Energy recovery from plastic and biomass waste by means of fluidized bed gasification: A life cycle inventory model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 299-314.
    4. Aydin, Ebubekir Siddik & Yucel, Ozgun & Sadikoglu, Hasan, 2017. "Development of a semi-empirical equilibrium model for downdraft gasification systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 86-98.
    5. Inayat, Muddasser & Sulaiman, Shaharin A. & Kurnia, Jundika Candra & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2019. "Effect of various blended fuels on syngas quality and performance in catalytic co-gasification: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 252-267.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. AlNouss, Ahmed & McKay, Gordon & Al-Ansari, Tareq, 2020. "Enhancing waste to hydrogen production through biomass feedstock blending: A techno-economic-environmental evaluation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    2. Huang, Jijiang & Veksha, Andrei & Chan, Wei Ping & Giannis, Apostolos & Lisak, Grzegorz, 2022. "Chemical recycling of plastic waste for sustainable material management: A prospective review on catalysts and processes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    3. Buentello-Montoya, D.A. & Duarte-Ruiz, C.A. & Maldonado-Escalante, J.F., 2023. "Co-gasification of waste PET, PP and biomass for energy recovery: A thermodynamic model to assess the produced syngas quality," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    4. Patrik Šuhaj & Jakub Husár & Juma Haydary, 2020. "Gasification of RDF and Its Components with Tire Pyrolysis Char as Tar-Cracking Catalyst," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-14, August.
    5. Liu, Xuan & Burra, Kiran G. & Wang, Zhiwei & Li, Jinhu & Che, Defu & Gupta, Ashwani K., 2020. "On deconvolution for understanding synergistic effects in co-pyrolysis of pinewood and polypropylene," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    6. Sajid, Muhammad & Raheem, Abdul & Ullah, Naeem & Asim, Muhammad & Ur Rehman, Muhammad Saif & Ali, Nisar, 2022. "Gasification of municipal solid waste: Progress, challenges, and prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    7. Ajorloo, Mojtaba & Ghodrat, Maryam & Scott, Jason & Strezov, Vladimir, 2022. "Modelling and statistical analysis of plastic biomass mixture co-gasification," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    8. Liu, Qian & Sun, Jianguo & Gu, Yonghua & Zhong, Wenqi & Gao, Ke, 2024. "Experimental study on CO2 co-gasification characteristics of biomass and waste plastics: Insight into interaction and targeted regulation method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    9. Huang, Y.W. & Chen, M.Q. & Li, Q.H. & Xing, W., 2018. "Hydrogen-rich syngas produced from co-gasification of wet sewage sludge and torrefied biomass in self-generated steam agent," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 202-213.
    10. Chu, Chu & Wang, Ping & Boré, Abdoulaye & Ma, Wenchao & Chen, Guanyi & Wang, Pan, 2023. "Thermal plasma co-gasification of polyvinylchloride and biomass mixtures under steam atmospheres: Gasification characteristics and chlorine release behavior," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    11. Mariyam, Sabah & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Al-Ansari, Tareq & Mackey, Hamish. R & McKay, Gordon, 2022. "A critical review on co-gasification and co-pyrolysis for gas production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    12. Chen, Zhijie & Wei, Wei & Chen, Xueming & Liu, Yiwen & Shen, Yansong & Ni, Bing-Jie, 2024. "Upcycling of plastic wastes for hydrogen production: Advances and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    13. Li, Jinhu & Burra, Kiran Raj G. & Wang, Zhiwei & Liu, Xuan & Gupta, Ashwani K., 2021. "Co-gasification of high-density polyethylene and pretreated pine wood," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    14. Nawaz, Ahmad & Razzak, Shaikh Abdur, 2024. "Co-pyrolysis of biomass and different plastic waste to reduce hazardous waste and subsequent production of energy products: A review on advancement, synergies, and future prospects," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    15. Zaini, Ilman Nuran & Gomez-Rueda, Yamid & García López, Cristina & Ratnasari, Devy Kartika & Helsen, Lieve & Pretz, Thomas & Jönsson, Pär Göran & Yang, Weihong, 2020. "Production of H2-rich syngas from excavated landfill waste through steam co-gasification with biochar," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    16. Gabbrielli, Roberto & Barontini, Federica & Frigo, Stefano & Bressan, Luigi, 2022. "Numerical analysis of bio-methane production from biomass-sewage sludge oxy-steam gasification and methanation process," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    17. Cho, Min-Hwan & Choi, Young-Kon & Kim, Joo-Sik, 2015. "Air gasification of PVC (polyvinyl chloride)-containing plastic waste in a two-stage gasifier using Ca-based additives and Ni-loaded activated carbon for the production of clean and hydrogen-rich prod," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 586-593.
    18. Santhappan, Joseph Sekhar & Boddu, Muralikrishna & Gopinath, Arun S. & Mathimani, Thangavel, 2024. "Analysis of 27 supervised machine learning models for the co-gasification assessment of peanut shell and spent tea residue in an open-core downdraft gasifier," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    19. M. Shahabuddin & Tanvir Alam, 2022. "Gasification of Solid Fuels (Coal, Biomass and MSW): Overview, Challenges and Mitigation Strategies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-20, June.
    20. Despina Vamvuka & Petros Tsilivakos, 2024. "Energy Recovery from Municipal Solid Waste through Co-Gasification Using Steam or Carbon Dioxide with Olive By-Products," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-13, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:19:p:6819-:d:1248081. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.