Abstract
In the present article, a new thermal plasma-aided process is proposed and analysed that utilises alumina/aluminium particles to dissociate steam/carbon dioxide blends into high-quality synthetic fuel. The proposed system utilises two reactors namely a synthetic fuel reactor and a thermal plasma particle regenerator following the chemical looping gasification principle. In the former, the gas blend reacts with aluminium particles to produce hydrogen-enriched synthetic fuel and alumina. While in the latter, the alumina is dissociated into oxygen and reduced aluminium. Using thermochemical equilibrium analysis, it was identified that the proposed system can offer a self-sustaining factor of up to 0.18, thermodynamic and exergy efficiency of 0.38 and 0.68, respectively. The system was integrated with photovoltaic energy and a solar share of ≤ 0.5 (with low-capacity battery storage ≤ 4 MWh) and > 0.5 (with high-capacity battery storage < 5 MWh) was obtained at photovoltaic capacity ∼ 3–5 MW. The thermodynamic conditions of 1273 K < T < 1573 under lean oxygen conditions and T > 6373 K were identified for the fuel and plasma reactors, respectively. The calculated syngas quality was > 2 for the selected thermodynamic conditions. The integration of the system with photovoltaic energy showed that the installed capacity of photovoltaic panels and battery storage are intertwined representing a trade-off trend. The optimum storage capacity of 4–6 MWh and photovoltaic installation capacity of 3–5 MWe was calculated for the localised production scale of 775 tonnes/year. The proposed system offers resiliency against the continuous operation in both centralised and decentralised arrangements. Based on this proof of concept, the viability of the thermal plasma-aided process for remote small-scale applications was discussed by benchmarking how it can meet the requirements well known for remote gas-to-liquid compact plants, producing gasoline out of syngas.
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.