Techno-economic analysis of biomass-to-biomethanol (BtS) via low-temperature steam gasification

ABSTRACT

Based on the authors’ previous work [Gao W, et al. Techno-economic evaluation of biomass-to-synthesis gas (BtS) based on gasification. Energy Sources Part B: Economics, Planning and Policy 2016; accepted], his study developed an Aspen Plus model to evaluate the techno-economic aspects of the bio-methanol production process where the accuracy of the model was proved in a previous work. Effects of two hydrodynamic factors (residence time and particles size) on two important economic parameters – the total capital investment (TCI) and the specific capital cost (SCC) – were studied. Results showed that increasing the residence time decreases the SCC, while the TCI increases. It was also found that the particle size plays a minor role in the TCI and SCC.

KEYWORDS:

• Aspen Plus
• particle size
• residence time
• SCC
• TCI