Sewage-water treatment with bio-energy production and carbon capture and storage

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) 2022-01, Vol.286, p.131763-131763, Article 131763
• Main Authors: Poblete, Israel Bernardo S., Araújo, Ofélia de Queiroz F., de Medeiros, José Luiz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anaerobic digestion; BECCS; Bioenergy; Biogas; Biogas combined-cycle; Sewage-water
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131763

Typical large-scale sewage-water treatments consume energy, occupy space and are unprofitable. This work evaluates a conceivable two-staged sewage-water treatment at 40,000 m3/d of sewage-water with sewage-sludge (totaling 10kgCOD/m3) that becomes a profitable bioenergy producer exporting reusable water and electricity, while promoting carbon capture. The first stage comprises microbial anaerobic digesters reducing the chemical oxygen demand (COD) by 95% and producing 60%mol methane biogas. The effluent waters enter the subsequent aerobic stage comprising microbial air-fed digesters that extend COD reduction to 99.7%. To simulate the process, up-to-date anaerobic/aerobic digester models were implemented. A biogas-combined-cycle power plant with/without post-combustion carbon capture is designed to match the biogas production, supplying electricity to the process and to the grid. Results comprehend electricity exportation of 13.21 MW (7.92 kWh/tReusable-Water) with -9.957tCO2/h of negative carbon emission (-0.6 kgCO2-Emitted/kgCOD-Removed). The biogas-combined-cycle without carbon capture achieves 21.08 MW of power exportation, while a 37.3% energy penalty arises if carbon capture is implemented. Configurations with/without carbon capture reach feasibility at 125 USD/MWh of electricity price, with respective net present values of 6.86 and 85.07 MMUSD and respective payback-times of 39 and 12 years. These results demonstrate that large-scale sewage-water treatment coupled to biogas-fired combined-cycles and carbon capture can achieve economically feasible bioenergy production with negative carbon emissions. [Display omitted] •Sewage-water treatment allows bioenergy production with negative carbon emissions.•Anaerobic and aerobic digesters abate 99.7% of sewage-water chemical oxygen demand.•Biogas-combined-cycle with post-combustion capture is coupled to sewage treatment.•Sewage-water treatment can have negative emissions of -0.60 kgCO2/kgCOD-Removed.•Sewage-water treatment with bioenergy production has a positive net present value.