Hydrogen energy from coupled waste gasification and cement production—a thermochemical concept study

A plant concept for hydrogen production from waste gasification coupled with cement manufacturing is presented. Hot precalcined cement meal, from the operating cement process, is used as heat carrier to provide energy required by the parallel arranged gasifier. The amount of CaO present in the cement meal operates simultaneously as an effective in situ CO2CO2-sorbent. First, a practical case study was devised to be able to perform simulations for estimation of expected hydrogen yield. The influence of different operation parameters of the gasifier and the hydrogen separation unit (steam-to-fuel ratio, pyrolysis temperature, PSA efficiency) was studied based on chemical equilibrium calculations. The simulation results indicate, that the coupling provides advantages for both processes. The production of a hydrogen-rich gas via thermal gasification benefits from the continuously available fresh CaO, which improves fuel conversion reactions and captures CO2CO2 in situ. High-calorific streams from gasification process remaining after hydrogen separation may substitute fossil fuels needed for cement process. For a steam/fuel ratio of 0.3 and a PSA efficiency of 0.7, the calculated hydrogen energy yield is 46% of fuel energy input.