Techno-economic and environmental assessment of hydrothermal carbonization coupled with anaerobic digestion for sewage sludge and municipal solid waste co-treatment in Chile

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dc.coverageDOI: 10.1016/j.biombioe.2025.108105
dc.creatorPagés-Díaz, Jhosané
dc.creatorHuiliñir, Cesar
dc.creatorLorenzo-Llanes, Junior
dc.creatorLópez Gónzalez, Lisbeth Mailin
dc.creatorBarrera, Ernesto L.
dc.date2025
dc.date.accessioned05-01-2026 18:07
dc.date.available05-01-2026 18:07
dc.description<p>This work aimed to compare the stand-alone hydrothermal carbonization process (HTC) coupled with anaerobic digestion (AD) for the treatment of HTC-process water in terms of technical, economic, and environmental performance. Three scenarios were evaluated: (i) Stand-alone HTC, (ii) HTC integrated with AD (HTC + AD_1), and (iii) HTC integrated with an improved AD that uses hydrochar (HTC + AD_2). The industrial process was designed and modeled based on experimental data previously obtained for the co-treatment of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste and sewage sludge. The results show that net thermal energy (HTC = 53 kWh/t<sub>raw material</sub>, HTC + AD_1 = 120 kWh/t<sub>raw material</sub>, HTC + AD_2 = 84 kWh/t<sub>raw material</sub>) and net electrical energy (HTC = 149 kWh/t<sub>raw material</sub>, HTC + AD_1 = 187 kWh/t<sub>raw material</sub>, HTC + AD_2 = 187 kWh/t<sub>raw material</sub>) increased in the integrated scenarios by up to 126 % and 26 % respectively, compared to the stand-alone HTC due to extra energy from biogas. Nevertheless, the increase in methane production (58 vs. 153 NmLCH<sub>4</sub>/gVS) owing to the hydrochar addition did not supply the contribution of direct hydrochar combustion in power plants. Compared to the stand-alone HTC, the waste treatment cost with the cogeneration unit increased by 62 % due to the annexed AD plant. The total annualized cost ranges from 101 (HTC) to 127 (HTC + AD_1) USD/t<sub>raw material</sub>, which is expected to decrease in all scenarios (up to 31 USD/t<sub>raw material</sub>) by increasing the plant capacity (up to 100,000 t/year). The integrated configurations reduce the total environmental impact points (up to 85 %) compared to the stand-alone HTC due to the valorization of the HTC-process water and the replacement of coal fuel.</p>eng
dc.identifierhttps://investigadores.uandes.cl/en/publications/e29f222e-104c-4d4e-937a-b0233f1d6833
dc.languageeng
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
dc.sourcevol.201 (2025)
dc.subjectAnaerobic digestion
dc.subjectEnvironmental impact
dc.subjectHydrochar
dc.subjectHydrothermal carbonization
dc.subjectTechno-economic
dc.subjectSDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
dc.subjectSDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
dc.subjectSDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
dc.titleTechno-economic and environmental assessment of hydrothermal carbonization coupled with anaerobic digestion for sewage sludge and municipal solid waste co-treatment in Chileeng
dc.typeArticleeng
dc.typeArtículospa
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