Hydrochar and synthetic natural gas co-production for a full circular economy implementation via hydrothermal carbonization and methanation:An economic approach  

作　　者：Judith González-Arias Guillermo Torres-Sempere Miriam González-Castaño Francisco MBaena-Moreno Tomás RReina 

机构地区：[1]Inorganic Chemistry Department and Materials Sciences Institute,University of Seville-CSIC,Seville,Spain [2]Materials Sciences Institute(ICMSE),CSIC-University of Seville,Seville,Spain [3]Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering,Chalmers University of Technology,Gothenburg,SE 41296,Sweden

出　　处：《Journal of Environmental Sciences》2024年第6期69-78,共10页环境科学学报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the grants FJC2021–047672-I and FJC2021–048089-I;co-financed by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union Next Generation EU/PRTR funds;sponsored by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the project PLEC2021–008086 sponsored by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 Next Generation Europe and Junta de Andalucía PAIDI program through the project P20_00667;MZAMBRANO-2021–19889 excellence grant sponsored by the European Union Next Generation EU program。

摘　　要：Herein we study the economic performance of hydrochar and synthetic natural gas coproduction from olive tree pruning.The process entails a combination of hydrothermal carbonization and methanation.In a previous work,we evidenced that standalone hydrochar production via HTC results unprofitable.Hence,we propose a step forward on the process design by implementing a methanation,adding value to the gas effluent in an attempt to boost the overall process techno-economic aspects.Three different plant capacities were analyzed(312.5,625 and 1250 kg/hr).The baseline scenarios showed that,under the current circumstances,our circular economy strategy in unprofitable.An analysis of the revenues shows that hydrochar selling price have a high impact on NPV and subsidies for renewable coal production could help to boost the profitability of the process.On the contrary,the analysis for natural gas prices reveals that prices 8 times higher than the current ones in Spain must be achieved to reach profitability.This seems unlikely even under the presence of a strong subsidy scheme.The costs analysis suggests that a remarkable electricity cost reduction or electricity consumption of the HTC stage could be a potential strategy to reach profitability scenarios.Furthermore,significant reduction of green hydrogen production costs is deemed instrumental to improve the economic performance of the process.These results show the formidable techno-economic challenge that our society faces in the path towards circular economy societies.

关 键 词：Hydrothermal carbonization CO_(2)waste valorization METHANATION Profitability analysis 

分 类 号：TE665.3[石油与天然气工程—油气加工工程] X701[环境科学与工程—环境工程]