Syngas and hydrogen production from co-gasification of rice husk biomass and plastic waste mixture using Aspen Plus

The growing need for sustainable and low-carbon energy sources has led to significant research in alternative fuels. The majority of energy produced today comes from fossil fuels, which has led to enormous emissions of greenhouse gases. The direct combustion of fossil fuels produces syngas and hydrogen, which contribute to global warming. In contrast, the gasification process of biomass produces clean energy in the form of syngas and hydrogen. The biomass and plastic co-gasification has gained a lot of attention recently due to the challenges associated with gasifying biomass and plastic wastes separately. The broader objectives of this study are to alleviate these waste management problems and optimize the syngas LHV and H2 content using co-gasification process. The synthesis gas is a crucial intermediary used to create chemicals and fuels for transportation. The hydrogen component of synthesis gas can also be utilized directly as fuel for hydrogen fuel cells, which produce electricity. This work employs Aspen simulator to analyze an optimum processing condition where the synthesis gas has the maximum feasible hydrogen content and calorific value which has not been investigated in the available literature so far. Aspen software is used in this study since it can be useful in figuring out reaction yield and performing parametric studies to optimize process conditions. It is found that the carbon dioxide emission sharply decreases as the proportion of plastic increases in co-gasification. The mole fractions of CO, H2 and CO2 that the current model predicts using experimental data on rice husk have average modeling errors of less than 8%, indicating a satisfactory fit with the experimental findings. Under 1 bar of pressure and a combined feed rate of 100 kg/h for both plastic and biomass, the simulation was run at temperatures between 550 °C and 1300 °C. When steam was added, the fraction of hydrogen increased by approximately a factor of two for a steam-to-biomass ratio (SBR) of 2. Following the addition of plastic to the feed, the amount of hydrogen in the produced gas rose for all temperatures. When 15% plastic is combined with the feed at 850 °C, carbon dioxide is reduced by roughly 60%. The results indicate significant increase in calorific value of the product as well as the hydrogen proportion—suggesting plastic addition as an excellent method to improve the LHV of biomass gasification.