Hydrogen production via biomass gasification: simulation and performance analysis under different gasifying agents

This study develops a new simulation model by ASPEN Plus for gasification integrated with water-gas shift reactors and product recovery unit for hydrogen production. Timber and wood waste (T&WW) as a lignocellulosic biomass was also considered as the input feedstock to the system. Then, the model is applied to investigate the effect of two agents of air and a mixture of air-steam under different operating conditions of temperature and steam to biomass ratio (SBR). The results reveal that the produced hydrogen through the air-steam gasification is at the highest points for all studied temperatures and it would be maximum (44.37 kmol/hr per 1 ton T&WWs) at 700 degrees C. The hydrogen production efficiency (HPE) can be also raised, stemming from the growth of H-2. It values 39.2% at SBR = 0.1 that grows to 70% at SBR = 0.9. The optimum SBR lies between 0.7-0.8 that specific mass flow rate of hydrogen would be higher than 0.1 kg(hydrogen)/kg(T&WW).