Aspen Plus Modelling and Simulation of Supercritical Steam and Poultry Litter Gasification for the Production of Hydrogen Fuel and Electricity

Abstract

Because more than 75% of the world’s energy needs are currently met by fossil fuels, the growing worry about climate change as well as the depletion of hydrocarbon resources has compelled scientists worldwide to discover alternative sources of renewable and sustainable energy. Hence, it has become necessary to reduce the negative effects of disposing poultry litter thereby converting it to value added product such as hydrogen fuel. By extracting energy from feedstock through the thermal gasification process, this research aims to address waste management and reduce environmental impacts. High-hydrogen feedstock is widely available. Waste poultry (biomass) and steam were used as the gasification agent in Aspen PLUS® version V 11.0 software during the modelling and simulation of the process. According to the outcome, 1000 kg/h and 2500 kg/h of the poultry litter and steam were able to yield 1220 kg/h of hydrogen and 2500 kwh of electricity. This identified poultry litter as a promising candidate to reduce fossil fuel dependency.