Abstract
The increase of environmental concern has led to an increase in biodiesel production, which also produces high amounts of glycerol. This growing production is causing glycerol prices to plummet while constant efforts are being made in order to find suitable applications for this compound. In this sense, this work aims to evaluate the economic potential for hydrogen production by the steam reforming of glycerol in the Brazilian biodiesel industry to be used as fuel in a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) afterwards. Mathematical and computer models were developed to evaluate the potential heat and power generated by this configuration and the project was economically assessed. Even though glycerol could produce much more electricity through the proposed assembly than is actually needed, the economic aspect makes the project unsuitable for practical uses. Hydrogen production costs (2.42–5.26 USD/kg) were higher than those reported for traditional reforming methods and similar to other alternative pathways, but remained below the range commonly found in the market, indicating a potential for selling H2 directly. The use of SOFCs for electricity production, however, was found to make the system unsuitable, mostly due to its high investment costs, which represents from 41.8% to 65.1% of the total costs depending on the financing scenario. Even in the best economic scenarios, the costs for producing energy from such system remained above 0.269 USD/kWh, far higher than the 0.116 USD/kWh normally found in the Brazilian market.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.