Auburn University researchers are leading a $2-MM Department of Energy grant that aims to produce H₂ from blended feedstock, such as legacy waste coal, forest residues and municipal solid waste.

“The benefits of converting waste coal, biomass and food waste are twofold,” said Sushil Adhikari, professor of biosystems engineering and principal investigator for the proposal. “First, it will help us to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from hydrogen production. Second, it will help to solve food waste problems.”

Auburn’s co-principal investigator for the project is Oladiran Fasina, department head and alumni professor for the College of Agriculture’s Department of Biosystems Engineering.

Other engineering staff involved in this project are James Johnson, Caroline Whiting and Bobby Bradford, who work for the Department of Biosystems Engineering and the Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts, or CBB. The CBB is funded by the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, or AAES, College of Agriculture and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.

The Biden Administration is focused on producing clean H₂ at $1/kg, Adhikari said, and this goal can be reached using biomass and food waste while reducing GHG emissions.

The primary objectives of the project—titled “H₂ Production from Modular CO₂ Assisted Oxy-Blown Gasification of Waste”—are to understand how biomass, waste coal and food waste will flow into the gasifier; how biomass, coal and food waste composition will impact the gas composition and quality; and to understand the cost of H₂ production from biomass, coal and food waste blends.

Auburn researchers are partnering with RTI International—an independent, nonprofit institute that provides research, development and technical services to government and commercial clients worldwide—to facilitate a unique combination of experimental and modeling research to produce H₂ from the gasification of a coal-food, waste-forest residues mixture while reducing GHG emissions.

The research will examine the gasification performance of coal waste from Alabama, food waste discarded from cities and towns and southern pine residues mixture in a laboratory-scale, fluidized-bed gasifier to produce H₂. Food waste will be supplied by Burcell Technologies located in Cordele, Georgia.

Other specific objectives of the project are to: 1) understand the effect of feedstock blends on flow properties and energy requirement for preprocessing, 2) examine the effect of feedstock blends on syngas composition and contaminants, 3) evaluate water-gas shift catalysts and sulfur and metals removal sorbents for high-purity H₂ production, 4) demonstrate 100-hour operation of an integrated system for waste blend gasification and syngas clean up and conditioning at a 1 kg/hr scale gasifier, 5) perform techno-economic analysis for H₂ production using waste materials and 6) develop a technology maturation plan to advance the proposed technology beyond TRL-4.

Flow properties for the coal-food, waste-forest residues mixture will be measured, and syngas composition will be analyzed for permanent gases such as carbon monoxide, CO₂, methane and H₂ along with contaminants such as tar, H₂ sulfide and ammonia.

RTI will develop a gas cleanup system and process model for H₂ production from the waste coal-food, waste-biomass mixture using data gathered in the laboratory-scale system at Auburn.

The 24-month research project will have applications in industries such as fertilizer synthesis, power production and chemical production, Adhikari said.