Energy performance of an integrated bio-and-thermal hybrid system for lignocellulosic biomass waste treatment

Xiang Kan; Zhiyi Yao; Jingxin Zhang; Yen Wah Tong; Wenming Yang; Yanjun Dai; Chi-Hwa Wang

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2016.12.064

Energy performance of an integrated bio-and-thermal hybrid system for lignocellulosic biomass waste treatment

Bioresour Technol. 2017 Mar:228:77-88. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.12.064. Epub 2016 Dec 28.

Authors

Xiang Kan¹, Zhiyi Yao¹, Jingxin Zhang², Yen Wah Tong¹, Wenming Yang³, Yanjun Dai⁴, Chi-Hwa Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ NUS Environmental Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 1 Create Way, Create Tower, #15-02, Singapore 138602, Singapore; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore 117585, Singapore.
² NUS Environmental Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 1 Create Way, Create Tower, #15-02, Singapore 138602, Singapore.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117576, Singapore.
⁴ School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
⁵ NUS Environmental Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 1 Create Way, Create Tower, #15-02, Singapore 138602, Singapore; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore 117585, Singapore. Electronic address: chewch@nus.edu.sg.

PMID: 28061398
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.12.064

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass waste, a heterogeneous complex of biodegradables and non-biodegradables, accounts for large proportion of municipal solid waste. Due to limitation of single-stage treatment, a two-stage hybrid AD-gasification system was proposed in this work, in which AD acted as pre-treatment to convert biodegradables into biogas followed by gasification converting solid residue into syngas. Energy performance of single and two-stage systems treating 3 typical lignocellulosic wastes was studied using both experimental and numerical methods. In comparison with conventional single-stage gasification treatment, this hybrid system could significantly improve the quality of produced gas for all selected biomass wastes and show its potential in enhancing total gas energy production by a maximum value of 27% for brewer's spent grain treatment at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 3gVS/L/day. The maximum overall efficiency of the hybrid system for horticultural waste treatment was 75.2% at OLR of 11.3gVS/L/day, 5.5% higher than conventional single-stage system.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Gasification; Hybrid system; Lignocellulosic biomass waste; Waste-to-energy.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Biofuels
Biomass*
Gases / analysis
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Kinetics
Lignin / metabolism*
Methane / biosynthesis
Models, Theoretical
Organic Chemicals / analysis
Refuse Disposal / methods*
Solid Waste / analysis*
Temperature*

Substances

Biofuels
Gases
Organic Chemicals
Solid Waste
lignocellulose
Lignin
Methane