Talk held at the International Conference on Thermochemical Conversion Science in 2013. It covers past and current development activities in the field of biomass and waste gasification

1. Low Grade Fuel to High
Quality Energy by
Gasification
Ilkka Hannula & Esa Kurkela
Technical Research Centre of Finland VTT

2. GASIFICATION
800 - 1400 oC
G
A
S
C
L
E
A
N
I
N
G
COAL
OIL
BIOMASS
WASTE/SRF
O2
A
I
R
S
T
E
A
M
SYNGAS
(CO + H2)
FUEL GAS
Industrial kilns
Co-firing in boilers
Gas turbines
Engines
Fuel cells
FT-diesel fuel
Methanol, DME
Gasoline, jet-fuel
Hydrogen
Synthetic methane
Chemicals
High-Quality
Final
Products
Wide
Feedstock
basis

3. 311/09/2013

4. Biomass and waste
gasification for
boilers and kilns

5. 511/09/2013

6. Biomass gasification
for synthetic fuels
and chemicals

7. Planned Industrial BTL Demonstration projects
ForestBtL - Kemi, Finland (Vapo)
Carbo-V gasification (Linde), FT/Axens
NER300 support 88 M€, 480 MW
FT-wax for diesel
FEED contract signed with Linde 01/2013
Woodspirit - NL
BioMCN, Siemens, Linde, VS Hanab
200 000 ton/a methanol
Torrefied forest residues, entrained flow gasif.
NER300 support 199 M€
Stracel, France (UPM)
Andritz gasification technology, FT-wax
NER300 support 170 M€, ~300 MW
(Rauma-Finland as reserve)
Inv.decision in 2014
GobiGas - Sweden (Gothenburg Energy)
Phase 1/ 20 MW SNG under construction
Dual bed steam gasification from Metso
Phase 2/ 80-100 MW SNG
NER300 support 59 M€
Entrained-flow gasification Fluidised-bed gasification
• BioTFuel, France, Small Demo ~12 MW, FT-products.
Fossil and renewable feedstock, Prenflow gasification
by UHDE
• Black Liquour gasification (Chemrec)
• Bioliq-project by KIT (Pyrolysis & entrained flow
gasification) – small Pilot-demo
• Solena GreenSky London – Velocys FT 100 kt/a,
plasma gasification of waste (PreFEED by Fluor
• Foster Wheeler CFB gasification
• FIBFB – Gussing – small-scale testing site
• Värmlandsmetanol (HTW gasification)
• EoN, Sweden, 200 MW SNG project
• Joutseno SNG project
• VTT’s 2G2020 Project – Development of
advanced concepts for intermediate scale and
for CHP integrated applications – pilot-demo

8. Updated Techno-Economic
Assessment
• Detailed evaluation of 20
individual plant designs
• MeOH, DME, FTL & MTG
• Based on technically proven
process
• Estimated impact of further
R&D to the overall economics
• Large scale: 300 MWth of
biomass (~1300 mtpd, dry)
• Nth plant economics
• Available for download:
http://bit.ly/192Vl3G

9. 2G-Biofuels 2020 Project
budget 7.3 M€ in 2012–14; second piloting phase in 2015–17
Gasification task
Pressurised
O2-gasification
>150 MW bio
Industrial integ.
Low-pressure
steam gasification
<150 MW bio
Municipal integ.
Hot
Filtration
&
Catalytic
Reforming
Synthetic fuels and
chemicals + heat
- MeOH, DME
- FTL, MTG
- MTO
SNG, H2 + heat
Industrial partners: Andritz-Carbona, Foster Wheeler, Metso, UPM-Kymmene, NSE Biofuels,
Fortum. Main financier: Tekes

10. Gasification
Hot gas
filtration
Reforming of the
filtered product gas
T = 850 °C
T = 550 °C
T = 950 °C
Gasification
Hot gas
filtration
Reforming of the
filtered product gas
T = 850 °C T = 850 °C T = 850 °C
HOT GAS FILTRATION
• Hot gas filtration R&D focused on filter
blinding phenomenon.
• Experimental work with a bench-scale
pressurised hot gas filtration unit ALMA.
• The main variables to be studied:
• Filtration temperature and pressure
• Particulate and tar concentrations
• Use of different sorbents and additives

11. -20
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
760 810 860 910
CH4conversion,%
Conversion,%
T, ºC
Catalyst A
- Tar
Catalyst A – CH4
Catalyst B and C - Tar
Catalyst C – CH4
Catalyst B – CH4
Reforming of tars and light hydrocarbon gases
 VTT’s reformer is based on staged reforming without soot formation
 Different catalysts from alternative suppliers can be used
 Complete tar and C2-hydrocarbon conversion
 CH4 conversion depends on temperature, catalyst type and reactor volume
N.Kaisalo & P.Simell, Vetaani-project:
laboratory results 2012

12. GASIFICATION MeOH, FT, …GAS CLEAN-UP UPGRADING
Woody
biomass
Liquid
fuel
Purge
gas
Char/Ash
GASIFICATION SNGGAS CLEAN-UP UPGRADING
Woody
biomass
Methane
Char/Ash
”BTL-reformer”
temp 950 °C
CH4 conv. 95 %
”SNG-reformer ”
temp 950 °C --> 860 °C
CH4 conv. 95 % --> 30%

13. Indirect gasif. at 800oC
CH4 95% / Filt. 550oC
Indirect gasif. at 800oC
CH4 95% / Filt. 800oC
Indirect gasif. at 800oC
CH4 30% / Filt. 800oC

14. Summary
• New and successful CFB gasification projects for boiler
applications
– Proven and cost-efficient way to reduce CO2 emissions from coal
power plants and fossil fuel fired kilns
– High efficiency Waste-to-Energy via gasification
• Biomass to synfuels projects currently waiting for investment
decisions
– Process based on pressurised oxygen gasification with catalytic
reforming is now techically proven at a relevant scale
– Large scale needed to achieve feasible economics?
• Indirect steam gasification
– Potential to prove feasible at smaller scale
– Interesting options for SNG and H2 production with tailored reforming
concepts