Boosting sustainable hydrogen production through the gasification of biorefinery sludges

Taylor, Martin J.; Hornsby, Karl; Cheah, Kin Wai; Minh Loy, Adrian Chun; Hurst, Peter; Gronnow, Mark; Chong, Katie; Kelly, Patrick; Walker, Simon; Skoulou, Vasiliki

Abstract

Decarbonisation of energy production is vital to prevent further climatological disasters; sustainable hydrogen production from unique underutilised feedstocks will presents a viable pathway to overcome further energy crises and transition away from fossil reserves. By tapping into severely underutilised lignin-rich biorefinery waste streams such as sludges, produced post hydrolysis (sugar extraction, pre-fermentation), a wealth of hydrogen was unlocked via gasification at 950 °C in 1 % O<inf>2</inf>/N<inf>2</inf>, producing a gas-rich product mixture (>70 wt%) in a batch downdraft reactor. Subject to an optimised pre/post-treatment regime, low nitrogen and ash (<2 wt%) containing 1–2 mm sludges derived from barley and wheat straws were found to create a producer gas with hydrogen concentrations of 27.95 vol.% and 22.12 vol.%, respectively, as a result this work has pioneered a waste-to-hydrogen pathway for biorefinery sludges, achieving competitive H<inf>2</inf> yields without energy-intensive steam/catalysts. The formed sludges were found to be superior to both raw and leached parent feedstocks without NaOH hydrolysis, in terms of hydrogen production and solid fuel calorific values.

Citation

Taylor, M. J., Hornsby, K., Cheah, K. W., Minh Loy, A. C., Hurst, P., Gronnow, M., Chong, K., Kelly, P., Walker, S., & Skoulou, V. (2025). Boosting sustainable hydrogen production through the gasification of biorefinery sludges. Energy Conversion and Management: X, 27, Article 101135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecmx.2025.101135

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 2, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Jul 3, 2025
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2025
• Deposit Date: Jul 4, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 7, 2025
• Journal: Energy Conversion and Management X
• Print ISSN: 2590-1745
• Electronic ISSN: 2590-1745
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 27
• Article Number: 101135
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecmx.2025.101135
• Keywords: Hydrogen; Gasification; Bio-refinery waste; Hydrolysis; Waste management
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/5283313