The depletion of fossil resources and the increasing interest in renewable and sustainable energy to meet the growing energy demand is promoting the investigation of new technologies and energy sources and in this context one of the main players is hydrogen, an interesting energy carrier which can be produced from a wide range of renewable sources and can lead the diffusion of new sustainable paths to produce clean energy. This thesis investigates the alternatives for the production of green hydrogen, focusing in particolar on two different technologies for its production from the biogas produced through the anaerobic digestion of biomass: electrolysis and the Bionico technology, which consists in an innovative autothermal fluidized bed membrane reactor. The processes are compared through an energetic and economic analysis to outline the advantages of the Bionico technology with respect to the more conventional way of producing hydrogen, both in terms of efficiency and costs. The use of biomasses from different sources is compared, and in particolar waste or biomass coltivated for the specific purpose of producing enegy, focusing on the production of hydrogen from three different inputs (raw dairy manure, used vegetable oil and switchgrass); this approach gives the possibility to underline the advantages of using waste to produce energy instead of biomass specially produced, and in this sense the most performing option is to use used vegetable oil as feedstock. Moreover an LCA is performed on the process for the production of hydrogen through electrolysis, to provide more detailed informations about the environmental aspects related to the system and in particolar about the emissions to the environment and about the energetic consumption of the process; finally suggestions for the improvement of the process are provided on the base of this analysis.
L'esaurimento delle risorse fossili e il crescente interesse per l'energia rinnovabile e sostenibile per soddisfare l'aumento della domanda di energia sta promuovendo lo studio di nuove tecnologie e fonti energetiche e in questo contesto uno dei principali attori è l'idrogeno, un interessante vettore energetico che può essere prodotto da una vasta gamma di fonti rinnovabili e può portare alla diffusione di nuovi percorsi sostenibili per produrre energia pulita. Questa tesi indaga le alternative per la produzione di idrogeno verde, concentrandosi in particolare su due diverse tecnologie per la sua produzione dal biogas prodotto attraverso la digestione anaerobica della biomassa: elettrolisi e la tecnologia Bionico, che consiste in un innovativo reattore a membrana a letto fluido autotermico. I processi sono confrontati attraverso un'analisi energetica ed economica per sottolineare i vantaggi della tecnologia Bionico rispetto al modo più convenzionale di produrre idrogeno, sia in termini di efficienza che di costi. L'uso di biomasse da diverse fonti viene confrontato, e in particolare rifiuti o biomassa coltivata per lo scopo specifico di produrre energia, concentrandosi sulla produzione di idrogeno da tre diversi input (rifiuti da agricoltura e allevamento, olio vegetale usato e panico verga); questo approccio offre la possibilità di sottolineare i vantaggi dell'utilizzo di rifiuti per la produzione di energia anziché di biomassa appositamente prodotta, e in questo senso l'opzione più performante consiste nell'utilizzare l'olio vegetale usato come materia prima. Inoltre viene eseguito un LCA sul processo per la produzione di idrogeno mediante elettrolisi, per fornire informazioni più dettagliate sugli aspetti ambientali relativi al sistema e in particolare sulle emissioni nell'ambiente e sul consumo energetico del processo; infine i suggerimenti per il miglioramento del processo sono forniti sulla base di questa analisi.
Biogas for decentralized hydrogen production
MILITI, EMANUELE
2017/2018
Abstract
The depletion of fossil resources and the increasing interest in renewable and sustainable energy to meet the growing energy demand is promoting the investigation of new technologies and energy sources and in this context one of the main players is hydrogen, an interesting energy carrier which can be produced from a wide range of renewable sources and can lead the diffusion of new sustainable paths to produce clean energy. This thesis investigates the alternatives for the production of green hydrogen, focusing in particolar on two different technologies for its production from the biogas produced through the anaerobic digestion of biomass: electrolysis and the Bionico technology, which consists in an innovative autothermal fluidized bed membrane reactor. The processes are compared through an energetic and economic analysis to outline the advantages of the Bionico technology with respect to the more conventional way of producing hydrogen, both in terms of efficiency and costs. The use of biomasses from different sources is compared, and in particolar waste or biomass coltivated for the specific purpose of producing enegy, focusing on the production of hydrogen from three different inputs (raw dairy manure, used vegetable oil and switchgrass); this approach gives the possibility to underline the advantages of using waste to produce energy instead of biomass specially produced, and in this sense the most performing option is to use used vegetable oil as feedstock. Moreover an LCA is performed on the process for the production of hydrogen through electrolysis, to provide more detailed informations about the environmental aspects related to the system and in particolar about the emissions to the environment and about the energetic consumption of the process; finally suggestions for the improvement of the process are provided on the base of this analysis.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/144308