Sustainable Combined Production of Hydrogen and Energy from Biomass in Malaysia

This work relates to a comparison between process solutions for the production of H-2 and the co-production of H-2 and energy by means of a zero emission biomass integrated gasification and a combined cycle (BIGCC) power plant. The energy production is 10 MWe, in agreement with the Small Renewable Energy Power Plant (SREP) Program, promoted by the Government of Malaysia. H-2 is obtained by supercritical water gasification (SCWG), a technology of interest for the processing of biomass with high moisture content. An economic analysis has been carried out in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the process solutions and to compare their convenience. The feedstock is 280,000 t/y of Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB), a biomass obtained in the Palm Oil Industry. The location of the site is Teluk Intak District in the State of Perak (Malaysia). The processes are designed with Aspen Plus (R) V7.2. The aim of this work is to develop detailed process flow diagrams for the supercritical water gasification technology in order to study and compare the convenience and the sustainability of different scenarios that can be adopted in an industrial context. The processes have been developed to reach zero emissions and zero wastes. CO2 and solid residuals are recycled inside the palm oil lifecycle. A cost analysis has been performed to find out the convenience of the proposed solutions.