Economic and environmental evaluation of refuse‐derived fuel (RDF) gasification plant with carbon capture and storage for power, heating and hydrogen production

Abstract Waste gasification is an emerging technology that offers numerous advantages to conventional waste management options. Potential benefits could be amplified by the introduction of refuse‐derived fuel as a feedstock, carbon capture, co‐gasification, and products diversification. This study is focused on the economic and environmental evaluation of waste gasification for power, thermal energy, and hydrogen production, thus providing an extension to our previous work, where different process flowsheet configurations were analyzed. Simulation data, equipment specifications, and literature data were used for economic analysis, where co‐generation and hydrogen production scenarios proved to be profitable, with levelized cost of electricity and hydrogen reaching as low as 68 €/MWh and 0.98 €/kgH 2 , respectively. Captured carbon utilization can influence plant economic performance significantly. Environmental effects were investigated via Life cycle assessment methodology, with system expansion allocation and cradle‐to‐grave approach. Most of the investigated scenarios have a net‐negative impact on key environmental categories. For gasification scenarios, net impact of 2300 kgCO 2,eq per ton of treated fuel can be obtained. Complete analysis was performed in the form of a case study for Novi Sad, Serbia, thus providing indicators on potential benefits of incorporating proposed waste management technique on a local level.