THE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROGEN FROM

BIOMASS

Introduction of the plant• The plant used for producing Hydrogen from

biomass is a gasification plant.• Gasification is a chemical process that converts

carbonaceous materials like biomass into useful convenient gaseous fuels or chemical feedstock.

• “Gasification is an alternative to traditional combustion plants as it is possible to generate more efficient electricity in small plants and thereby reduce the fuel input.”-B&W vØlund

How does gasification works?

1) Biomass goes through a thermal chemical process using moisturized air.

2) Moist biomass is fed at the top and descends though gas rising in the reactor.

Temperature: High(<800°C)

Gasifier

• Gasification is the process to convert biomass fuels into syngas with the help of high temperature steam.

Membrane Reactor

• The main function of this reactor is to separate hydrogen from other syngas and perform water gas shift reaction to produce more pure hydrogen.

Heat Recovery Unit

• The core of this unit is the Cooling Heat Exchanger that recover the heat associated with high temperature syngas and transfer high temperature thermal energy to heat the steam for gasifier.

Carbon Dioxide Separator

• Carbon dioxide separator simply an absorption bed for the carbon dioxide.

Hydrogen Combustor

• Hydrogen combustor is used to provide super high temperature steam for the gasification unit.

• Input: Recycles hydrogen from Cooling Heat Exchanger

• Output: Receives steam from the Heat Recovery Unit

• Advantages of gasification:-emission control is simpler in gasification than in combustion.-the potential using more than one feedstock in a single facility reduces project risk and may extend the project lifespan.-gasification systems require less water than other technologies

• Disadvantages:-capital costs and availability. But developments in several research areas could be improve the long term outlook and potential market share for this technology.

Introduction of the product

• Hydrogen atom is composed of the one proton and one electron making it the lightest element in the universe.

• Also, the most abundant element on the universe, making up more than 90% of all known matter.

• Application of Hydrogen gas:Fuel:-H2 is one of the cleanest fuels because when it burns, the result is simple water.Chemical processes:- Creation of acid- Processing of petroleum products to break

down crude oil into fuel oil, gasoline etc.- Creation of ammonia for fertilizer

Advantages of hydrogen

• Light hydrogen: High energy, 3 times that of gasoline

• It is the most energy dense fuel in use (excluding nuclear reaction fuels), which is why it is employed in all space programs.

• Compared with compressed hydrogen, liquid hydrogen has much lower storage pressure the risk caused by high pressure may be reduced

Disadvantages of Hydrogen

• Requires extremely low temperature- 423 Fahrenheit

• Boil-off losses or vaporization of hydrogen due to heat leakage constitute a major disadvantage.

• Evaporation losses is between 0.3-3% per day.

Location of plant

• 70% of biomass sources in Malaysia is palm oil mill waste, which include oil palm frond, oil palm leaves, oil palm trunks and empty fruit bunch (EFB).

• Thus, the suitable location for Hydrogen plant is near to numbers of palm oil plantation and palm oil mill. This is to ensure the feedstock is always available.

Location of plant

• According to Malaysia Ministry of Agriculture, Sabah is potentially the largest oil palm producer in Malaysia.

Location of plant

• Therefore, the most suitable location for the hydrogen plant is in Sabah.

Process Flow Diagram

Mass and Energy balance

CostingPlant Area Sub-Unit No. of Units Cost Per Unit (USD Million) Installation and

Transportation Cost (USD Million)

1)Gasifier Feed Preparation 2 15.7 29.2Gasifier 2 11.4 21.2Ash Cyclone 2 0.2 0.37

2)H2 Separation & WGS reaction Membrane Reactor

Tar Cracker 2 0.21 0.39

Syngas Compressor 1 5.35 5.35

Pre-WGS Saturator 1 0.16 0.16

3) CO2 Separation Reactor Ceramic Filter 2 8.79 16.4

CO2 Compressor 1 5.34 5.34

Syngas Compressor 1 5.35 5.35

Syngas Cooler 2 17.3 32.3

4) Pure Hydrogen Storage H2-Rich Gas Compressor 1 4.83 0.67 (scaling expenses)

5) Surplus Heat Recovery Unit Heat Exchanger 1 41.2 N/A

H2 Gas Compressor 1 4.83 0.67

H2 Recovery Unit 1 6.5 7.0

6) H2 Combustor Saturator 15 0.30 0.70

Gas Turbine 334 56 0.75

Heat Exchanger 1 41.2 N/A

TOTAL COST 19,376.82 Million USD

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conversion of biomass to hydrogen. Frontiers in Energy Research, 1, 12.

• Czernik, S., French, R., Feik, C., & Chornet, E. (2002). Production of hydrogen from biomass by pyrolysis/steam reforming. In Advances in hydrogen energy (pp. 87-91). Springer US.

• Khan, Z., Yusup, S., Ahmad, M. M., Chok, V. S., Uemura, Y., & Sabil, K. M. (2010). Review on hydrogen production technologies in Malaysia. Int. J. Eng. Technol, 10, 111-118.

• Larson, E. D., Jin, H., & Celik, F. E. (2005). Gasification-based fuels and electricity production from biomass, without and with carbon capture and storage. Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University.

• Mann, M., Chornet, E., Czernik, S., & Wang, D. (1994). Biomass to Hydrogen via Pyrolysis and Reforming. PREPRINTS OF PAPERS-AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY DIVISION FUEL CHEMISTRY , 39, 1034-1034.

• Mody, D., & Strong, D. S. (2011). An Overview of Chemical Process Design Engineering. Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association.

• Momirlan, M., & Veziroglu, T. N. (2005). The properties of hydrogen as fuel tomorrow in sustainable energy

system for a cleaner planet. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 30(7), 795-802.