Conversion of Sewage Sludge to combined heat and power: Modeling and optimization

Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generation from Sewage Sludge (SS) offers two simultaneous advantages: greenhouse gas emission reduction and increase of renewable energy generation as promoted by the European Union Green Deal 2021. In this work, a numerical model has been developed via Aspen Plus for the evaluation of CHP generation potentiality from SS through gasification integrated with an internal combustion engine system. The model is applied to the case of Italy and eight other European countries for the first time. The gasification model has been developed based on the experimental data on syngas generation from SS in a bench-scale rotary kiln reactor under laboratory conditions available in the literature. Sensitivity analysis revealed optimal operating temperature and equivalence ratios for gasification were 900 °C and 0.2 respectively. The CHP generation potentiality of SS resulted to be 2.73 kWh per kg SS as dry solid.