Ammonia and Biogas from Anaerobic and Sewage Digestion for Novel Heat, Power and Transport Applications—A Techno-Economic and GHG Emissions Study for the United Kingdom

Anaerobic digestion (AD) and sewage sludge digestion (SD) plants generate significant quantities of ammoniacal nitrogen in their digestate liquor. This article assesses the economic viability and CO2 abatement opportunity from the utilisation of this ammonia under three scenarios and proposes their...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energies (Basel) 2022-03, Vol.15 (6), p.2174
Main Authors: Grasham, Oliver, Dupont, Valerie, Cockerill, Timothy, Camargo-Valero, Miller Alonso
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative energy sources
Ammonia
Anaerobic digestion
Biogas
Buses
Capital expenditures
Carbon dioxide
Case studies
Climate change
Cost control
Economic analysis
Electricity
Emission analysis
Emissions
Energy industry
Fuel cells
Fuel technology
Greenhouse gases
Hydrogen
Injection
Liquor
Natural gas
Nitrogen
Regulated industries
sewage digestion
Sewage sludge
Sludge
Sludge digestion
Solid oxide fuel cells
Subsidies
techno-economics
wastewater treatment plants
Water treatment
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Summary:Anaerobic digestion (AD) and sewage sludge digestion (SD) plants generate significant quantities of ammoniacal nitrogen in their digestate liquor. This article assesses the economic viability and CO2 abatement opportunity from the utilisation of this ammonia under three scenarios and proposes their potential for uptake in the United Kingdom. Each state-of-the-art process route recovers ammonia and uses it alongside AD-produced biomethane for three different end goals: (1) the production of H2 as a bus transport fuel, (2) production of H2 for injection to the gas grid and (3) generation of heat and power via solid oxide fuel cell technology. A rigorous assessment of UK anaerobic and sewage digestion facilities revealed the production of H2 as a bus fleet transport fuel scenario as the most attractive option, with 19 SD and 42 AD existing plants of suitable scale for process implementation. This is compared to 3 SD/1 AD and 13 SD/23 AD existing plants applicable with the aim of grid injection and SOFC processing, respectively. GHG emission analysis found that new plants using the NWaste2H2 technology could enable GHG reductions of up to 4.3 and 3.6 kg CO2e for each kg bio-CH4 supplied as feedstock for UK SD and AD plants, respectively.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en15062174