IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i2p807-d482778.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Process Simulation and Environmental Aspects of Dimethyl Ether Production from Digestate-Derived Syngas

Author

Listed:
  • Aristide Giuliano

    (ENEA–Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources Department, Trisaia Research Centre, I-75026 Rotondella, Italy)

  • Enrico Catizzone

    (ENEA–Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources Department, Trisaia Research Centre, I-75026 Rotondella, Italy)

  • Cesare Freda

    (ENEA–Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources Department, Trisaia Research Centre, I-75026 Rotondella, Italy)

Abstract

The production of dimethyl ether from renewables or waste is a promising strategy to push towards a sustainable energy transition of alternative eco-friendly diesel fuel. In this work, we simulate the synthesis of dimethyl ether from a syngas (a mixture of CO, CO 2 and H 2 ) produced from gasification of digestate. In particular, a thermodynamic analysis was performed to individuate the best process conditions and syngas conditioning processes to maximize yield to dimethyl etehr (DME). Process simulation was carried out by ChemCAD software, and it was particularly focused on the effect of process conditions of both water gas shift and CO 2 absorption by Selexol ® on the syngas composition, with a direct influence on DME productivity. The final best flowsheet and the best process conditions were evaluated in terms of CO 2 equivalent emissions. Results show direct DME synthesis global yield was higher without the WGS section and with a carbon capture equal to 85%. The final environmental impact was found equal to −113 kgCO 2 /GJ, demonstrating that DME synthesis from digestate may be considered as a suitable strategy for carbon dioxide recycling.

Suggested Citation

  • Aristide Giuliano & Enrico Catizzone & Cesare Freda, 2021. "Process Simulation and Environmental Aspects of Dimethyl Ether Production from Digestate-Derived Syngas," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:2:p:807-:d:482778
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/2/807/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/2/807/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Uddin, Md Mosleh & Simson, Amanda & Wright, Mark Mba, 2020. "Techno-economic and greenhouse gas emission analysis of dimethyl ether production via the bi-reforming pathway for transportation fuel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    2. Clausen, Lasse R. & Elmegaard, Brian & Houbak, Niels, 2010. "Technoeconomic analysis of a low CO2 emission dimethyl ether (DME) plant based on gasification of torrefied biomass," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 4831-4842.
    3. Ajay Kumar & David D. Jones & Milford A. Hanna, 2009. "Thermochemical Biomass Gasification: A Review of the Current Status of the Technology," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-26, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aristide Giuliano & Massimiliano Errico & Hamid Salehi & Pasquale Avino, 2022. "Environmental Impact Assessment by Green Processes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-4, November.
    2. Diana L. Tinoco Caicedo & Myrian Santos Torres & Medelyne Mero-Benavides & Oscar Patiño Lopez & Alexis Lozano Medina & Ana M. Blanco Marigorta, 2023. "Simulation and Exergoeconomic Analysis of a Trigeneration System Based on Biofuels from Spent Coffee Grounds," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Aristide Giuliano, 2023. "The Transition of Scientific Research from Biomass-to-Energy/Biofuels to Biomass-to-Biochemicals in a Biorefinery Systems Framework," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-4, February.
    4. Vishal Ram & Surender Reddy Salkuti, 2023. "An Overview of Major Synthetic Fuels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-35, March.
    5. Freda, Cesare & Tarquini, Pietro & Sharma, Vinod Kumar & Braccio, Giacobbe, 2022. "Thermodynamic improvement of solar driven gasification compared to conventional one," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Reyes, Y.A. & Pérez, M. & Barrera, E.L. & Martínez, Y. & Cheng, K.K., 2022. "Thermochemical conversion processes of Dichrostachys cinerea as a biofuel: A review of the Cuban case," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    2. Xia Liu & Juntao Wei & Wei Huo & Guangsuo Yu, 2017. "Gasification under CO 2 –Steam Mixture: Kinetic Model Study Based on Shared Active Sites," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-10, November.
    3. Ramos, Ana & Monteiro, Eliseu & Rouboa, Abel, 2019. "Numerical approaches and comprehensive models for gasification process: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 188-206.
    4. Masnadi, Mohammad S. & Grace, John R. & Bi, Xiaotao T. & Lim, C. Jim & Ellis, Naoko & Li, Yong Hua & Watkinson, A. Paul, 2015. "From coal towards renewables: Catalytic/synergistic effects during steam co-gasification of switchgrass and coal in a pilot-scale bubbling fluidized bed," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 918-930.
    5. David Bannon & Mirka Deza & Masoud Masoumi & Bahareh Estejab, 2023. "Assessment of Irregular Biomass Particles Fluidization in Bubbling Fluidized Beds," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-20, February.
    6. Santa Margarida Santos & Ana Carolina Assis & Leandro Gomes & Catarina Nobre & Paulo Brito, 2022. "Waste Gasification Technologies: A Brief Overview," Waste, MDPI, vol. 1(1), pages 1-26, December.
    7. Gröbl, Thomas & Walter, Heimo & Haider, Markus, 2012. "Biomass steam gasification for production of SNG – Process design and sensitivity analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 451-461.
    8. Neves, Renato Cruz & Klein, Bruno Colling & da Silva, Ricardo Justino & Rezende, Mylene Cristina Alves Ferreira & Funke, Axel & Olivarez-Gómez, Edgardo & Bonomi, Antonio & Maciel-Filho, Rubens, 2020. "A vision on biomass-to-liquids (BTL) thermochemical routes in integrated sugarcane biorefineries for biojet fuel production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    9. Burra, K.G. & Hussein, M.S. & Amano, R.S. & Gupta, A.K., 2016. "Syngas evolutionary behavior during chicken manure pyrolysis and air gasification," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 408-415.
    10. Amirhamzeh Farajollahi & Seyed Amirhossein Hejazirad & Mohsen Rostami, 2022. "Thermodynamic modeling of a power and hydrogen generation system driven by municipal solid waste gasification," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 5887-5916, April.
    11. María Pilar González-Vázquez & Roberto García & Covadonga Pevida & Fernando Rubiera, 2017. "Optimization of a Bubbling Fluidized Bed Plant for Low-Temperature Gasification of Biomass," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-16, March.
    12. Suopajärvi, Hannu & Pongrácz, Eva & Fabritius, Timo, 2013. "The potential of using biomass-based reducing agents in the blast furnace: A review of thermochemical conversion technologies and assessments related to sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 511-528.
    13. Carvalho, Lara & Furusjö, Erik & Ma, Chunyan & Ji, Xiaoyan & Lundgren, Joakim & Hedlund, Jonas & Grahn, Mattias & Öhrman, Olov G.W. & Wetterlund, Elisabeth, 2018. "Alkali enhanced biomass gasification with in situ S capture and a novel syngas cleaning. Part 2: Techno-economic assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 471-482.
    14. Siddiqui, O. & Dincer, I., 2021. "A comparative life cycle assessment of clean aviation fuels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    15. Uddin, Md Mosleh & Simson, Amanda & Wright, Mark Mba, 2020. "Techno-economic and greenhouse gas emission analysis of dimethyl ether production via the bi-reforming pathway for transportation fuel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    16. Andrius Tamošiūnas & Ajmia Chouchène & Pranas Valatkevičius & Dovilė Gimžauskaitė & Mindaugas Aikas & Rolandas Uscila & Makrem Ghorbel & Mejdi Jeguirim, 2017. "The Potential of Thermal Plasma Gasification of Olive Pomace Charcoal," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-14, May.
    17. Amiri, Hamed & Sotoodeh, Amir Farhang & Amidpour, Majid, 2021. "A new combined heating and power system driven by biomass for total-site utility applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 1138-1152.
    18. Carlos Vargas-Salgado & Elías Hurtado-Pérez & David Alfonso-Solar & Anders Malmquist, 2021. "Empirical Design, Construction, and Experimental Test of a Small-Scale Bubbling Fluidized Bed Reactor," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-22, January.
    19. Reyhani, Hamed Akbarpour & Meratizaman, Mousa & Ebrahimi, Armin & Pourali, Omid & Amidpour, Majid, 2016. "Thermodynamic and economic optimization of SOFC-GT and its cogeneration opportunities using generated syngas from heavy fuel oil gasification," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 141-164.
    20. Marcin Jewiarz & Marek Wróbel & Krzysztof Mudryk & Szymon Szufa, 2020. "Impact of the Drying Temperature and Grinding Technique on Biomass Grindability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-22, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:2:p:807-:d:482778. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.