EUBCE 2026 - Hamidreza HEYDARI - Multi-product flexible Biomass-to-Biofuel Plants Optimization via Digital Twins Development

Multi-product flexible Biomass-to-Biofuel Plants Optimization via Digital Twins Development

Short Introductive summary

Resilient biofuel production via proper utilization of biomass feedstocks requires promoting sustainable plant designs with flexibility features. Hence, this work is focused on the production of biofuels through thermochemical processes, including gasification and catalytic synthesis, contributing to the de-fossilization of chemical sector and challenging mobility sectors. The proposed solution addresses optimization of the plant performance according to biomass supply challenges, biofuel and electricity market uncertainties by developing a flexible integrated plant that can operate with a variety of biomass feedstocks and dynamically manage transitions and productivity (DME and SNG yield). Initially, a comprehensive Aspen-Plus process model is developed to compute detailed mass and energy balances and assess plant performance. Then a preliminary techno-economic analysis of the plant is included, to obtain the main economic performance indicators. Afterwards, a virtual twin is developed using Python interface to create a real-time decision making tool that can dynamically adjust the system and respond to uncertain variations to manage the flexibility of the plant.