Techno-economic and emissions comparison of waste-to-fuel via hydrothermal liquefaction, transesterification, and incineration

Muhammad Usman
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Abstract

The global shift toward sustainable waste management and renewable energy has sparked interest in biofuel production from sewage sludge (SS). This study evaluated four waste-to-biofuel processes like Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) with upgrading, Transesterification, and Incineration with and without energy recovery using ASPEN Plus V12 to assess their techno-economic, energy, and environmental performance. HTL with upgrading emerged as the most efficient, generating ∼4,000,000 MJ/year and emitting ∼700 tonnes/year of CO2. Transesterification yielded ∼2,850,000 MJ/year, emitting ∼1200 tonnes/year due to post-lipid extraction incineration. Incineration without energy recovery was least efficient, consuming ∼5,000,000 MJ/year and emitting ∼3000 tonnes/year of CO2, with energy recovery yielding only ∼1,250,000 MJ/year. Financially, HTL with upgrading demonstrated strong profitability with a potential Net Present Value (NPV) of 112.9 million US dollars (MUS$), while Transesterification achieved an NPV of 23.4 MUS$. Both processes were sensitive to operating costs: a 50 % increase could reduce HTL’s NPV to 62.7 MUS$, while pushing Transesterification into a loss. Capital cost reductions could further boost HTL’s profitability, highlighting its economic resilience, unlike incineration, which remained financially unviable. In summary, HTL with upgrading offered 30 % higher energy output and 70 % lower emissions than incineration, making it a scalable, sustainable approach for SS management and biofuel production. However, a complete life cycle assessment could further enhance its potential by identifying additional environmental and economic benefits.
通过水热液化、酯交换和焚烧将废物转化为燃料的技术经济和排放比较
全球向可持续废物管理和可再生能源的转变引发了人们对从污水污泥中生产生物燃料的兴趣。本研究使用ASPEN Plus V12评估了四种废物转化为生物燃料的工艺,如热液液化(HTL)升级、酯交换和焚烧(有和没有能源回收),以评估其技术经济、能源和环境绩效。经过升级的HTL是最有效的,每年产生~ 4,000,000兆焦耳,排放~ 700吨二氧化碳。酯交换产生~ 2,850,000 MJ/年,由于脂质提取后焚烧,排放~ 1200吨/年。没有能量回收的焚烧效率最低,每年消耗~ 5,000,000 MJ,排放~ 3000吨CO2,能量回收仅产生~ 1,250,000 MJ/年。在财务上,升级后的HTL显示出强大的盈利能力,潜在净现值(NPV)为1.129亿美元(MUS$),而transsesterification的NPV为23.4 MUS$。这两个流程对运营成本都很敏感:50% %的增长可能会使HTL的NPV降至62.7 MUS$,同时使transsesterification陷入亏损。资本成本的降低可能会进一步提高HTL的盈利能力,突显其经济弹性,这与焚烧垃圾在财务上仍然不可行的做法不同。总之,与焚烧相比,HTL升级后的能源输出提高了30% %,排放降低了70% %,使其成为SS管理和生物燃料生产的可扩展、可持续的方法。但是,完整的生命周期评估可以通过确定额外的环境和经济效益进一步提高其潜力。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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