R.A. Syahputra, B. Wirjosentono, K. Wijaya, H. Susilo, D.H. Sinaga, S. Gea
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tropical biomass residues like coconut shells are abundant and relevant for the transition toward low-carbon hydrogen. However, coconut shell bio-oil is rich in oxygenated aromatics that complicate reforming and accelerate catalyst deactivation. While many studies focus on catalyst performance, system-level evaluations that simultaneously measure process performance together with energy–energy behavior, preliminary environmental indicators, and techno-economic implications for coconut shell bio-oil remain limited. The aims of this study were to tackle this deficiency by extensively analyzing hydrogen production from coconut shell bio-oil via an integrated steam reforming process. METHODS: The Peng–Robinson method was used to conduct the process simulation in Aspen Plus V11. The bio-oil feed was represented by five compounds based on fast pyrolysis data: phenol (45.42 mole percent), guaiacol (34.34 mole percent), catechol (10.09 mole percent), vanillin (6.38 mole percent), and furfural (3.77 mole percent). Steam reforming was integrated with water–gas shift and pressure swing adsorption. Operating conditions were evaluated within the range of 600 to 1000 degree Celsius and 5 to 9 bar. Energy–energy analysis, a gate-to-gate environmental assessment, and a techno-economic evaluation were performed. FINDINGS: Hydrogen production increased sharply from 600 to 700 degree Celsius and then plateaued at 0.2332 to 0.2338 kilograms per hour above 800 degree Celsius, while pressure provided only modest gains. Heat integration indicates that the heat released from the water–gas shift (2.564 kilowatts) almost compensates for the duty of the reformer/pre-heater duty (2.620 kilo Watt), increasing energy efficiency from 46.7 percent to 54.3 percent. The environmental assessment reports a net carbon intensity of 8.5 kilograms carbon dioxide equivalent per kilogram hydrogen with a corresponding water usage of 18.5 liters per kilogram hydrogen. The techno-economic assessment indicates strong scale sensitivity, with capital cost of 2,743,530 United States Dollar and annual operating cost of 1,292,780 United States Dollar under the stated basis. CONCLUSION: The screening supports a practical operating window around 700 to 800 degree Celsius. Enhanced benefits are more effectively achieved through advancements in heat recovery, steam management, purification recovery, residue valorization, and scale-up analysis instead of escalating temperature escalation beyond the plateau region. © 2026 The author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Postgraduate School, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, 20155, Indonesia; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Medan, Medan, 20221, Indonesia; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Sekip Utara Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta, 55281, Indonesia; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Tjut Nyak Dhien, Medan, 20123, Indonesia; Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Medan, Medan, 20221, Indonesia; Innovation Centre of Renewable Sources and Waste Integration for Sustainable Energy, Medan, 2021, Indonesia; Cellulosic and Functional Materials Research Centre, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, 20155, Indonesia
