Conceptual Process Design, Energy and Economic Analysis of Solid Waste to Hydrocarbon Fuels via Thermochemical Processes

Abstract

Thermochemical processes use heat and series of endothermic chemical reactions that achieve thermal cracking and convert a wide range of solid waste deposits via four thermochemical processes to hydrocarbon gaseous and liquid products such as syngas, gasoline, and diesel. The four thermochemical reactions investigated in this research article are: incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, and integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC). The mentioned thermochemical processes are evaluated for energy recovery pathways and environmental footprint based on conceptual design and Aspen HYSYS energy simulation. This paper also provides conceptual process design for four thermochemical processes as well as process evaluation and techno-economic analysis (TEA) including energy consumption, process optimization, product yield calculations, electricity generation and expected net revenue per tonne of feedstock. The techno-economic analysis provides results for large scale thermochemical process technologies at an industrial level and key performance indicators (KPIs) including greenhouse gaseous emissions, capital and operational costs per tonne, electrical generation per tonne for the four mentioned thermochemical processes.

Finite Rate Reaction Mechanism Adapted for Modelling Pseudo-Equilibrium Pyrolysis of Cellulose

“…In the latter article, the authors used as a base the kinetic model reported in [13] in order to validate, with good agreement, the experimental data obtained from [26][27][28]. Another application of a P-KM-type formulation was applied in [29], where Aspen HYSYS was used to simulate the techno-economic evaluation of the production of gasoline and diesel from the gasification of solid waste. Dhrioua et al [30] developed a simulation of gasification of Prosopis juliflora in a fluidised bed reactor in Aspen Plus.…”

Toward Building Circularity in Sustainable Plastic Waste Conversion

“…Most of these studies rely on multicriteria analysis and a comparative-based assessment by using mainly techno-economic analysis (TEA) to evaluate emerging technologies' economic and technical feasibility 23 as well as the life cycle assessments (LCA) to quantify the environmental impact of the plastic recycling alternative technologies. 15,24 Some of the literature on critical studies of plastic waste management investigated recycling technologies and their environmental and economic implications based on a comparative assessment 25 and 26 focused on comparing energy recovery alternatives for MSW in Brazilian cities and WtE technologies in southern Spain, respectively, 27 employed process simulation to assess the economic and environmental aspects of five recycling processes for PP, 28 developed a method combining mass flow analysis, TEA, and LCA to assess primary plastics production and sorting, 29 presented a conceptual process design comparing thermochemical technologies for municipal solid waste (MSW), 30 compared thermochemical depolymerization technologies for LDPE waste using TEA and LCA, and 23 analyzed closed-loop recycling technologies for common consumer polymers based on technical, economic, and environmental metrics.…”