Life-cycle assessment of hydrogen production via catalytic gasification of wheat straw in the presence of straw derived biochar catalyst

Loy, Adrian Chun Minh; Alhazmi, Hatem; Yiin, Chung Loong; Lock, Serene Sow Mun; Cheah, Kin Wai; Chin, Bridgid Lai Fui; How, Bing Shen; Yusup, Suzana

Abstract

The environmental footprints of H2 production via catalytic gasification of wheat straw using straw-derived biochar catalysts were examined. The functional unit of 1 kg of H2 was adopted in the system boundaries, which includes 5 processes namely biomass collection and pre-treatment units (P1), biochar catalyst preparation using fast pyrolysis unit (P2), two-stage pyrolysis-gasification unit (P3), products separation unit (P4), and H2 distribution to downstream plants (P5). Based on the life-cycle assessment, the hot spots in this process were identified, the sequence was as follows: P4 > P2 > P1 > P3 > P5. The end-point impacts score for the process was found to be 93.4017 mPt. From benchmarking analysis, the proposed straw-derived biochar catalyst was capable of offering almost similar catalytic performance with other metal-based catalysts with a lower environmental impact.

Citation

Loy, A. C. M., Alhazmi, H., Yiin, C. L., Lock, S. S. M., Cheah, K. W., Chin, B. L. F., How, B. S., & Yusup, S. (2021). Life-cycle assessment of hydrogen production via catalytic gasification of wheat straw in the presence of straw derived biochar catalyst. Bioresource technology : biomass, bioenergy, biowastes, conversion technologies, biotransformations, production technologies, 341, Article 125796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125796

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 13, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Aug 21, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Deposit Date: Sep 7, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 22, 2022
• Journal: Bioresource Technology
• Print ISSN: 0960-8524
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 341
• Article Number: 125796
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125796
• Keywords: Life-cycle analysis; Biochar; Gasification; Hydrogen; Biomass
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3833358