Thermodynamic and environmental analysis of integrated supercritical water gasification of sewage sludge for power and hydrogen production

Abstract

Supercritical water gasification is a promising process for treating sewage sludge (SS) to obtain hydrogen and electrical energy. Here, a novel thermodynamic equilibrium model for supercritical water gasification of sewage sludge was developed and the thermodynamic and environmental effects of operating parameters on the system were investigated. The sensitivity analysis revealed that the optimum reaction condition for the system was: reaction temperature of 750 °C, preheated water to SS ratio of 1, and SS concentration of 25 %. Under this condition, the system energy efficiency and exergy efficiency were 44.74 % and 46.51 %, respectively, with H2 production of 103.19 kg/h and power generation of 2526.2 kW. The energy and exergy efficiencies could be improved by reducing the preheated water to SS ratio and increasing the reaction temperature and SS concentration. The heat exchangers and the heater were the key units causing exergy losses, accounting for 40.3 % and 19.5 % of the total exergy losses, respectively. When utilizing carbon capture and storage (CCS), the global warming potential (GWP) value was only 0.31 kg CO2-eq under the optimal operating parameters, which was 61.44 % less than without CCS.