Flexible feedstock analysis of biomass gasification process for carbon-negative energy technology via aspen plus simulation

Abstract

The escalating concern over greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from solid waste treatment and fossil fuel power plants has garnered global attention, including in Malaysia. Abundant agricultural waste (AW) and organic municipal solid waste (MSW) in this region hold promise as potential replacements for fossil fuels, offering a pathway to generate electricity while reducing GHG emissions. The innovative gasification approach, particularly the combined heat and power (CHP) system, emerges as a viable solution to address these challenges. However, the operational design of conventional gasification processes typically using a single type of fuel from various discarded resources, such as agricultural waste (e.g., woodchips and coconut shells) and organic MSW, remains controversial. To address these concerns, the present study investigates the power pallet system's capability and reliability to generate electricity from diverse mixed ratios of organic MSW to agricultural waste via a simulation approach. The results demonstrated that power generation remained above 20kW for all mix ratios. It was observed that as the ratio of MSW increased, the composition of hydrogen and carbon monoxide decreased. These trends suggest that power generation is influenced by the syngas yield, which correlates with the quality of the feedstock.