Hydrogen and CCHP Generation from Waste Via Combined Plasma Gasification and Anaerobic Digestion with CCS: A Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Assessment

Hydrogen has been increasingly recognized as a promising clean energy carrier to support global climate change mitigation efforts. Among various production routes, the utilization of municipal solid waste (MSW), particularly plastic and food waste, offers a dual benefit: reducing the environmental burden of high-volume waste streams and producing a low-carbon energy carrier. Despite growing interest in waste-to-hydrogen technologies, few studies have explored an integrated pathway that simultaneously utilizes both plastic and food waste while incorporating carbon mitigation strategies. This study proposes and assesses, for the first time, a novel MSW-to-hydrogen and combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) pathway fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS). Two CCS configurations were examined: a pre-combustion CCS scheme (Scenario 1) and a post-combustion CCS scheme (Scenario 2). Three process cases were designed and evaluated using techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) under conditions representative of Indonesia. In Case 1, plastic and food waste are separately processed via plasma gasification and anaerobic digestion, with syngas and biogas subsequently reformed into hydrogen. Case 2 co-processes the waste streams through plasma gasification. Case 3 builds on Case 1 by adding steam methane reforming (SMR) of biogas prior to mixing. For a feedstock of 13.97 kg/s of food waste and 5.0 kg/s of plastic waste, the systems deliver 0.27-0.70 kg/s of hydrogen across all cases and scenarios, with energy and exergy efficiencies of 19-42% and 13-34%, respectively. The levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) is estimated at 3.52-13.37 USD/kg, while LCA reveals global warming potentials (GWP) ranging from - 0.159 to 0.048 kgCO2-eq/kg of waste treated. These results demonstrate the technical feasibility and environmental promise of integrating plasma gasification, anaerobic digestion, and CCS for hydrogen production. By valorizing municipal waste while achieving carbon mitigation, this novel multi-integration of plasma gasification, anaerobic digestion, PSA, CCS, CCGT, and ARC represents a compelling and scalable solution for sustainable hydrogen deployment in developing economies.