Techno-economic assessment of an integrated bio-oil steam reforming and hydrodeoxygenation system for polygeneration of hydrogen, chemicals, and combined heat and power production

Abstract The utilization of bio-oil could be an attractive option in the future, attributed to its high bulk energy density and ease of transportation. However, the primary challenge in promoting the commercialization of technologies using bio-oil is high capital investment and operating costs. The key to resolve this challenge is to maximize the value of products that can be extracted from bio-oil through realizing a flexible, multiple product generation and integrated system configuration, known as polygeneration system. In this study, an integrated bio-oil steam reforming and hydrodeoxygenation (BOSR-HDO) system, with simultaneous production of hydrogen, chemicals, heat, and power, is proposed. A systematic design framework was adopted in the present case for maximizing resource utilization and hence the economic potential of the system. The system has shown a positive economic potential (i.e., £120 million/year) at a bio-oil cost of £166/t. On the other hand, the netback of bio-oil, i.e., the maximum acceptable market price, was determined to be £301.9/t (£19.4/GJ). The study has also demonstrated that the adoption of heat integration strategy could improve the economic potential of the BOSR-HDO system by 24.6% (i.e., £29 million/year). Furthermore, the study has recommended that the utilization of excess hydrogen in the HDO process should be limited below a hydrogen-to-oil ratio of 4.3 for an economically viable processing.