Single mixed refrigerant biomethane liquefaction plant integrated with solar energy: Dynamic simulation for the decarbonization of the heavy road transport sector.

This works proposes a dynamic thermoeconomic analysis of a liquefied biomethane production plant to meet the fuel demand of a fleet of heavy duty trucks in the south of Italy. The biomethane is obtained from the upgrading of the biogas produced by means of anaerobic digestion through a plug flow reactor fed by organic fraction of municipal solid waste. The upgrading of the biogas is realized using a three-stage membrane compression process, producing a 96 % pure biomethane. The biomethane liquefaction is realized using a single-mixed refrigerant process and compared to a Linde cycle process. The whole system is assisted by solar energy to reduce the fossil energy consumption of the process and feed-in tariffs are considered as funding policy. The models for the anaerobic digestion, the biogas upgrading, and the biomethane liquefaction are in detail developed in MatLab. The anaerobic digestion model is based on the ADM1 biological model, integrated with a suitable heat transfer model. The biogas upgrading model is based on a simplified Fick model. The liquefaction model is based on an equivalent two heat-exchangers model, taking into account the transient heat transfer. All the components are then integrated in TRNSYS to perform the dynamic simulation for one operating year of the whole system. Results from the thermoeconomic analysis are outstanding in terms of profitability, showing a payback period of less than 2 years and a Net Present Value of the system of 402 M€. The great environmental impact is also confirmed by a Primary Energy Saving of 91 % and a dramatic reduction of 86 % of the CO ₂ equivalent emissions.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The corresponding author confirms that all the other authors have read and approved the manuscript and no ethical issues and conflict of interest are involved. In particular the authors confirm that have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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