Catalytic pyrolysis of spent coffee waste for upgrading sustainable bio-oil in a bubbling fluidized-bed reactor: Experimental and techno-economic analysis

Spent coffee waste (SCW) is extremely attractive to be exploited and utilized as a material source for energy generation and chemical production. This study concerned bio-oil production via non-catalytic and catalytic fast pyrolysis using SCW in a bubbling fluidized-bed reactor (BFR). In particular, a comparative analysis of the quality of the bio-oil produced was conducted for non-catalytic (using silica sand as the bed material) and catalytic (using dolomite, HZSM-5, hematite, and magnetite as the catalyst) fast pyrolysis. Scale-up modeling confirmed using the experimental data was performed at a feed rate of 100 kg h⁻¹ (1,000-fold capacity), which showed different orders in the quality of energy (hematite > magnetite > dolomite > HZSM-5 > silica, in order of energy from highest to lowest) owing to the realistic integration of the BFR with other components in plants, such as the combustor, compressor, and separator. Further, techno-economic analysis of scale-up system revealed that the unit production costs of bio-oil were 0.0151, 0.0034, 0.0143, 0.0095, and 0.0102 $ MJ⁻¹ for silica, dolomite, HZSM-5, hematite, and magnetite, respectively (dolomite > hematite > magnetite > HZSM-5 > silica, in order of unit cost from lowest to highest). Among them, dolomite and hematite showed competitive unit production costs compared to the price of conventional crude oil (0.0098 $ MJ⁻¹). The importance of coupling laboratory-scale experimental results with scale-up modeling and economic analysis has thus been demonstrated for practical feasibility studies of the SCW pyrolysis for bio-oil production.