Evaluation of techno-economic performance for decarbonized hydrogen and power generation based on glycerol thermo-chemical looping cycles

• Published in: Applied thermal engineering 2020-10, Vol.179, p.115728, Article 115728
• Main Authors: Cormos, Ana-Maria, Dumbrava, Ionela, Cormos, Calin-Cristian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Absorption; Biodiesel fuels; Calcium; Carbon capture and storage; Carbon dioxide; Carbon sequestration; Chemical and calcium looping cycles; Conversion; Energy-efficient glycerol conversion; Fluidized bed combustion; Glycerol; Hydrogen; Hydrogen and power production; Hydrogen-based energy; Ilmenite; Performance evaluation; Reforming; Synthesis gas; Systems analysis; Techno-economic assessments
• ISSN: 1359-4311; 1873-5606
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2020.115728

•Higher efficiency of looping cycles than reforming cases (up to 11.7 net points).•Superior capture rate of looping cycles than chemical scrubbing (93–98 vs. 71%).•Direct looping shows lower capital costs than syngas-based looping (12–14%).•Flexible hydrogen and power co-generation has higher efficiency (3.4 net points).•10% capital cost increase is reported for a fully flexible co-production design. Glycerol represents a valuable side product from biodiesel production. This work evaluates glycerol valorization in view of energy-efficient hydrogen & power generation using chemical and calcium looping thermo-chemical cycles. Two looping options were evaluated: glycerol steam reforming followed by a syngas-based looping cycle and direct glycerol conversion in a looping cycle. The evaluated H2 systems based on glycerol conversion via ilmenite and calcium looping cycles generate 100,000 Nm3/h high purity hydrogen coupled with a plant decarbonization rate up to 98%. Timely adjustable co-production of H2 and electricity was also evaluated as limited (0 to 200 MW hydrogen thermal output) and fully flexible designs. As benchmark cases, a glycerol reforming design without CO2 capture and one decarbonized design by with pre-combustion chemical absorption using MDEA were considered. As the techno-economic investigations reveal, the overall energy efficiencies of thermo-chemical looping designs are superior to decarbonized glycerol reforming concept based on gas-liquid absorption by 5.3 to 11.7 net points as well as the decarbonization rates 93–98% vs. 71%. Flexible co-production systems show improved performance: higher efficiency (3.4 net points), reduced investment cost (9%) and electricity cost (11%) per 100 MW thermal hydrogen output.