Techno-Economic Assessment of Producer Gas from Heavy Oil and Biomass Co-Gasification Aiming Electricity Generation in Rankine Cycle

Abstract

Heavy oil and biomass co-gasification has been analyzed through a model developed in Aspen Plus™ v 11.0 software. The model was used to assess main gasification parameters, such as cold gas efficiency, yield, low heating value (LHV), and producer gas composition, using air and oxygen as gasification agents. Subsequently, producer gas energy use in the Rankine cycle was performed using a model developed in GateCycle™ v11.1.2.4.850 software. Likewise, the economic indicators of the integrated Rankine cycle-gasification system were calculated. The economic evaluation was developed through Monte Carlo simulation using Crystalball™. The results showed a LHV producer gas decreasing trend as the equivalence ratio (ER) increased, oscillating between 6.37 and 3.63 MJ/Nm3 for ER values greater than 0.30 in the air co-gasification case, while the scenario that used oxygen presented better LHV results, ranging from 9.40 to 11.79 MJ/Nm3. For air co-gasification, the Rankine cycle efficiency range was between 13.0% and 9.5%, while for oxygen co-gasification, values between 14.0% and 13.2% were obtained. Regarding the economic assessment, the two scenarios evaluated (with a reliability of 95%) have a probability higher than 92.1% of economic losses due mainly to the lower electrical power and the local electricity rate.