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Life cycle assessment of an innovative cogeneration system based on the aluminum combustion with water

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  • Pini, Martina
  • Breglia, Giovanni
  • Venturelli, Matteo
  • Montorsi, Luca
  • Milani, Massimo
  • Neri, Paolo
  • Ferrari, Anna Maria

Abstract

The continuous increase in primary energy demand and the decrease in the availability of fossil fuels were led to a condition of energy security concerns. In this context, hydrogen can be seen as a promising energy carriers. This paper investigated the environmental performance, through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, of a combined production system of hydrogen and power based on aluminum combustion with water. This system is potentially able to produce the integrated generation of four energy sources: hydrogen, high temperature steam, heat and work at the turbine shaft. The LCA results indicated that the life-cycle phases that determine the main environmental impact are: liquid aluminum production, transports of liquid aluminum and electricity consumption. In addition, the major release of carbon dioxide emissions is due to the use of natural gas in the aluminum production phase. In order to determine the “greener” alternative and support the system design choices, according to the eco-design perspective, different system configurations were investigated. In particular, the reaction mechanism between first primary aluminum powder and water steam and then secondary aluminum at liquid state and water steam. The environmental comparison highlighted that the former layout increases by more than 78% compared to latter one.

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  • Pini, Martina & Breglia, Giovanni & Venturelli, Matteo & Montorsi, Luca & Milani, Massimo & Neri, Paolo & Ferrari, Anna Maria, 2020. "Life cycle assessment of an innovative cogeneration system based on the aluminum combustion with water," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 532-541.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:154:y:2020:i:c:p:532-541
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.03.046
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    Cited by:

    1. Busch, P. & Kendall, A. & Lipman, T., 2023. "A systematic review of life cycle greenhouse gas intensity values for hydrogen production pathways," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    2. Marco Vacchi & Cristina Siligardi & Erika Iveth Cedillo-González & Anna Maria Ferrari & Davide Settembre-Blundo, 2021. "Industry 4.0 and Smart Data as Enablers of the Circular Economy in Manufacturing: Product Re-Engineering with Circular Eco-Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Violeta Motuzienė & Kęstutis Čiuprinskas & Artur Rogoža & Vilūnė Lapinskienė, 2022. "A Review of the Life Cycle Analysis Results for Different Energy Conversion Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-26, November.
    4. Venturelli, Matteo & Falletta, Ermelinda & Pirola, Carlo & Ferrari, Federico & Milani, Massimo & Montorsi, Luca, 2022. "Experimental evaluation of the pyrolysis of plastic residues and waste tires," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    5. Hren, Robert & Vujanović, Annamaria & Van Fan, Yee & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Krajnc, Damjan & Čuček, Lidija, 2023. "Hydrogen production, storage and transport for renewable energy and chemicals: An environmental footprint assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).

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