Sorption-enhanced gasification of municipal solid waste for hydrogen production: a comparative techno-economic analysis using limestone, dolomite and doped limestone

Sorption-enhanced gasification has been shown as a viable low-carbon alternative to conventional gasification, as it enables simultaneous gasification with in-situ CO(2) capture to enhance the production of H(2). CaO-based sorbents have been a preferred choice due to their low cost and wide availability. This work assessed the technical and economic viability of sorption-enhanced gasification using natural limestone, doped limestone with seawater and dolomite. The techno-economic performance of the sorption-enhanced gasification using different sorbents was compared with that of conventional gasification. Regarding the thermodynamic performance, dolomite presented the worst performance (46.0% of H(2) production efficiency), whereas doped limestone presented the highest H(2) production efficiency (50.0%). The use of dolomite also resulted in the highest levelised cost of hydrogen (5.4 €/kg against 5.0 €/kg when limestone is used as sorbent), which translates into a CO(2) avoided cost ranging between 114.9 €/tCO(2) (natural limestone) and 130.4 €/tCO(2) (dolomite). Although doped limestone has shown a CO(2) avoided cost of 117.7 €/tCO(2), this can be reduced if the production cost of doped limestone is lower than 42.6 €/t. The production costs of new sorbents for CO(2) capture and H(2) production need to be similar to that of natural limestone to become an attractive alternative to natural limestone. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13399-022-02926-y.