Techno‐environmental analysis of the use of green hydrogen for cogeneration from the gasification of wood and fuel cell
Font?palma, Carolina; Díaz-Herrera, Pablo; Gonzalez-Diaz, Maria Ortencia; Jiang, Long; Sánchez Ladrón de Guevara, Juan Carlos; Gonzalez-Diaz, Abigail
Authors
Dr Carolina Font Palma C.Font-Palma@hull.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering
Pablo Díaz-Herrera
Maria Ortencia Gonzalez-Diaz
Long Jiang
Juan Carlos Sánchez Ladrón de Guevara
Abigail Gonzalez-Diaz
Abstract
This paper aims to evaluate the use of wood biomass in a gasifier integrated with a fuel cell system as a low carbon technology. Experimental information of the wood is provided by the literature. The syngas is purified by using pressure swing adsorption (PSA) in order to obtain H2 with 99.99% purity. Using 132 kg/h of wood, it is possible to generate 10.57 kg/h of H2 that is used in a tubular solid oxide fuel cell (TSOFC). Then, the TSOFC generates 197.92 kW. The heat generated in the fuel cell produces 60 kg/h of steam that is needed in the gasifier. The net efficiency of the integrated system considering only the electric power generated in the TSOFC is 27.2%, which is lower than a gas turbine with the same capacity where the efficiency is around 33.1%. It is concluded that there is great potential for cogeneration with low carbon emission by using wood biomass in rural areas of developing countries e.g., with a carbon intensity of 98.35 kgCO2/MWh when compared with those of natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) without and with CO2 capture i.e., 331 kgCO2/MWh and 40 kgCO2/MWh, respectively. This is an alternative technology for places where biomass is abundant and where it is difficult to get electricity from the grid due to limits in geographical location.
Citation
Font‐palma, C., Díaz-Herrera, P., Gonzalez-Diaz, M. O., Jiang, L., Sánchez Ladrón de Guevara, J. C., & Gonzalez-Diaz, A. (2021). Techno‐environmental analysis of the use of green hydrogen for cogeneration from the gasification of wood and fuel cell. Sustainability, 13(6), Article 3232. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063232
