Polygeneration syngas and power from date palm waste steam gasification through an Aspen Plus process modeling

Abstract

Date palm waste (DPW) is an important waste that is abundantly available in the Middle East. However, this DPW is underutilization in the entire Middle East region. DPW could be a useful source of feedstock to generate sustainable and renewable energy via various thermochemical processes. The core objective of current investigation is to convert the DPW into syngas and the electricity generation from the produced syngas. Furthermore, to configure an integrated system to predict the gas composition and power generation under operating variables of temperature, steam/biomass ratio, compression ratio, and air flowrate. The integrated process simulation model of gasification and power generation model was developed using Aspen Plus V10®. The model consisted of two parts; the production of syngas from steam gasification and the second was the combustion-integrated power turbine system for power generation. The syngas composition at a temperature of 850 °C and steam/biomass of 1.0 was obtained as; H2 37.88 vol%, CO 14.24 vol%, CO2 11.29 vol%, CH4 0.001 vol%. The power generation from the gas turbine increased from 3.2 to 3.6 MW with the increase in temperature. Whereas the total power generation was in the range of 3.2 to 5 MW with an increased steam flowrate of 500–2500 kg/h. Energy analysis shows that the process heat integration of the system is able to fulfill the 78 % utilities requirement within the system. This study provides the potential utilization of DPW for renewable fuel gas and electricity generation through a sustainable route and also provides environmentally friendly disposal of DPW in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.