Sustainable Biofuels Via Biomass Gasification Towards Fossil-Free Aluminium Production

This study evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of integrating a biomass gasification system to produce biofuel within an aluminium melting plant. This work begins with assessing the available biomass energy potential in the industrial site’s region (Switzerland) and modelling the wood supply chain to estimate feedstock’s purchasing and transportation costs. Subsequently, the energy integration between the biomass conversion processes and the aluminium plant is investigated. This involves identifying and analyzing potential sources of waste heat to maximize the exergy conversion embodied in the wood. The energy integration phase includes modelling a biomass gasifier, including different syngas upgrading processes, and furnace technologies capable of utilizing the biofuels produced. An optimization process is solved to choose the right combination of technologies in order to find optimal solutions, in terms of economic and environmental criteria.