Hydrogen production via solid waste gasification with subsequent amine-based carbon dioxide removal using Aspen Plus

Abstract

This simulation study presents the municipal solid waste gasification, along with a detailed design of CO2 capturing unit using monoethanolamine (solvent). The gasifier's operational parameters, such as pressure, temperature, and equivalence ratio, are chosen to optimize the gasified H2-enriched product stream. At optimal operational parameters, such as temperature (800 °C), pressure (1 bar), and equivalence ratio (0.2), a maximum H2 content of 27.9% could be attained. Following that, 39.5% H2 is found at the high-temperature shift reactor's exit, followed by 42.1% at the low-temperature shift reactor's output. It is observed that the absorber (16.5 m) and stripper (6 m) packing heights are required to capture 95% CO2 from the product effluent obtained after shift reactors, along with column diameters of 2.70 and 3.61 m, respectively. Hence, the proposed model can give vital information for large-scale gasifier and CO2 capture unit design, operation, and optimization with respect to different flue gases.