How can Biomass Gasification Help You?

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "How can Biomass Gasification Help You?"

Dustin Maxwell
5 years ago
Views:

1 How can Biomass Gasification Help You? Profitable Use of Biomass at Ethanol Facilities Norman Reese Frontline BioEnergy, LLC

2 Agenda What is biomass gasification? Environmental and economic benefit Update on gasifier project at Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company

$fractionated bran,$ corn stalks & cobs,

3 What is Biomass? Biomass: Organic material like fractionated bran, corn stalks & cobs, wheat straw, switchgrass, DDG s, wood chips, Biomass characteristics: locally specific, variable, seasonal, non-dense

4 Biomass Plentiful in Midwest

5 Biomass Gasification for Heat BIOMASS FUEL + AIR GASEOUS FUEL PRODUCER GAS (H 2, CO, CH 4, H 2 O, CO 2, C X H Y, N 2 ) CLEAN GASEOUS FUEL TO END USE (BOILERS, DRYERS) BIOMASS MATERIAL HANDLING GASIFIER CLEANGAS GAS FILTERING AIR HEATING 1200 ~ 2000 F ASH, CHAR

6 Combustion and Gasification Biomass Combustion: Converts fuel into heat by complete oxidation Biomass Gasification: Converts fuel into combustible gases (producer gas) & heat by partial oxidation Combustible gases include carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane, & other hydrocarbons

One Gasifier Many Multi-fuel Burners FRONTLINE GASIFIER

/HRSG #1 Deliver CLEANGAS to the burners Cleaner boiler means

7 One Gasifier Many Multi-fuel Burners FRONTLINE GASIFIER MULTIGAS BURNERS DRYER #1 DRYER #2 T.O./HRSG #1 Deliver CLEANGAS to the burners Cleaner boiler means less production down-time Downstream PM control not required pre-combustion filter is >99.9% efficient Avoids new boiler capital & complexity Expensive solid fuel boilers, steam appliances not required COEN MULTIGAS Etc. BURNER

8 Gasification & Combustion (Gas Integration vs. Steam Integration) Gasification allows piping of combustible gas to multiple locations for integration with existing appliances Change natural gas burner to a multi-fuel burner on boilers, dryers, and TO s Avoid stranded capital, retrofit existing appliances Gasification allows gas independent interface, not steam dependent Instant, robust natural gas or LP backup Decouples plant reliability from energy system avail. Protects and values your on-line production time

9 Gasification & Combustion cont d Gasification allows gas conditioning and cleanup before firing gas appliance (boiler, dryer, etc.) Gas conditioning (emissions control) done at one location, not each individual appliance Protect equipment from particulate and alkali Smaller filtration system (pre-combustion gases) Bridge to ligno-cellulosic ethanol & products Builds a biomass market Convert from air blown (producer gas) to oxygen blown (syngas) 9

10 How does Biomass Gasification Benefit the Environment? Fossil CO 2 Emissions for Generic 100 MGPY Ethanol Plant * 34,000 Btu/gal LHV Energy Efficiency (~ 400 MM BTU/hr)

11 Low Carbon Fuel legislation California Executive Order S Signed January 18, 2007 NOW, THEREFORE, I, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, Governor of the State of California, by virtue of the power invested in me by the Constitution and statutes of the State of California, do hereby order effective immediately: 1. That a statewide goal be established to reduce the carbon intensity of California s transportation fuels by at least 10 percent by 2020 ( 2020 Target ). 2. That a Low Carbon Fuel Standard ( LCFS ) for transportation fuels be established for California. Other states and Western Governors Association are evaluating similar measures Candidates Obama and McCain have voiced support for a national low carbon fuel standard

12 Economics: Nat Gas Price in Illinois Data thru July-08

13 Amortized Capital & Energy Feedstock Costs $10/MMBtu nat gas $2.80/ MMBtu coal $60/ton (15% MC biomass)

14 Economic/Environmental considerations Carbon legislation coming in 2-3 years(?) will impact conventional ethanol plants Biomass gasifiers can qualify plants for carbon credit trading today Low carbon fuel incentives (California, EU) Government grants and loan guarantees will support installation of biomass systems

15 An Ethanol Plant s Motivation CVEC Ethanol Plant Benson, MN

16 CVEC Rationale: Concern about natural gas price trend vs potential biomass energy lying in co-op members fields (keep $13M/yr energy costs at-home ) Displace 90% natural gas without process interruption Retrofit existing dryers and boilers no stranded capital Biomass fuel flexibility (stover, cobs, grass, oil, DDG, bran Interest in improving fossil energy balance of the plant Probability of carbon monetization in the US Make the ethanol more renewable Desire to participate in cellulosic biofuel technology

17 Project Status Concrete poured June 2007 Producer gas to gas-fired boiler April 9, 2008 Presently logging hours and evaluating emissions Phase 1 complete: next add CLEANGAS and equipment to for full capacity. Harvesting corn cobs currently Construction at CVEC August, 2007

18 Gasifier System

19 Summary True gasification provides the opportunity to utilize existing gas appliances (gas integration) and provide instant natural gas backup to protect ethanol production Biomass offers cost savings compared to long term estimates of natural gas prices. Energy dollars go to local farmers instead of foreign countries Biomass heating offers significant reductions of carbon dioxide emissions and improved renewable energy ratio

20 Frontline BioEnergy, LLC 2521 University Blvd, Suite 125 Ames, IA

Paper Mill Repowering with Gasification

Frontline Gasifier Benson, MN Paper Mill Repowering with Gasification Jerod Smeenk 2011 TAPPI IBBC Conference March 14, 2011 1 Repowering Options Looking Inside the Box Kiln replace fossil fuel with liquid