Fast Pyrolysis: A Shortcut to Refineries Bio4Fuels Robbie Venderbosch Ås, February 10 2017 1
Content Organisation Fast Pyrolysis Process Development Commercial Demonstration Plant: EMPYRO Rolling out Pyrolysis Technology Shortcut to Refinery Summary 2
Company Profile BTG Employees BTG BV Groningen Biomass Technology Holding BV Amsterdam Enschede 3rd parties Rotterdam Employees BTG B.V. Consultancy RTD Belgium 3rd parties 3
Organisation RTD Fast Pyrolysis process development FPBO conditioning & analysis Development of FPBO applications Energy Transportation fuels Chemicals & Materials RTD - service Supply of products (FPBO, stabilised & upgraded oil, FPBO fractions) Contract research (not limited to FP) Design & construction test units for 3rd parties Consultancy Chain analysis (technical, financial, environmental) Sustainability & certification Logistics Impact, exploitation & dissemination Commercialization & implementation of fast pyrolysis technology based on RCR; Owner of Patents on process and reactor; Acts as technology provider and supplies skid-mounted, key components of the FP-process Near-term focus on the energy applications (heat, electricity, process steam) & co-refining; Sales of FPBO (webshop) Owns & operates the FPBO production plant Training operators Commercial Oil delivery 4
Fast Pyrolysis Thermal cracking of organic material in absence of oxygen Main product: liquid bio-oil (FPBO) Other products: gas and char Minerals recovered at low temperature Fast heating required to maximize liquid yield Typical Process conditions 400-600 C; atmospheric; no catalysts Property Value Unit Water content 25 wt% Solids content 0.02 wt% Density 1,170 kg/m3 LHV 16 MJ/kg ph 2.8 - MCRT 17 wt% Viscosity (40 C)) 30 cst What nature does in millions of years, pyrolysis can do in seconds but then worse! pyrolysis liquids crude oil = lignitic material emulsified in a syrup 5
Fast Pyrolysis Process Biomass Fast Pyrolysis Biomass Organic Vapour Oil Condensor Fuel gas Pyrolysis Oil T ~ 20 50 C T ~ 500 C Sand & char Sand Char Combustor Air Specific features of BTG/BTL FP process: Based on so-called Rotating Cone Technology; Sand used as heat carrier; intense mixing with cold biomass No inert gas no dilution of vapor stream; compact system Char combusted internally to provide heat Flue Gas T ~ 550 C Ash Patents on pyrolysis reactor, sand circulation and FPBO water control granted (a.o. United States, Indonesia, South Africa, China, Europe, Malaysia, Canada, Russia, Brazil). Representation of BTG s pyrolysis process 6
Why Pyrolysis Practical solution to problems encountered in practically all biomass processing: solve logistic first at relatively low costs and high efficiency Decouple biomass resource from location where biomass becomes available and scale of application A variety of biomass feedstocks / structures can be transformed in a more uniform product (liquid) Produces bio-liquids which are easier to store and transport due to significant volume reduction of solid biomass of about 12 on average High overall efficiency of ~ 85%: Conversion of biomass to main & by- products (incl. heat and electricity) Relatively low investment costs Pyrolysis oil provides a viable link between the agriculture and (petro-) chemical industry. Utilize existing fossil fuel infrastructure by introducing bio-liquids in existing refineries to produce second generation biofuels - repurposing existing assets
2016 2015 Roll-out Fast Pyrolysis development timeline 2014 2013 2009 2007 Start-up Empyro plant & Process steam boiler at FrieslandCampina Start construction 120 t/d Empyro plant in Hengelo (NL) Long-term FPBO supply contract signed Founding Empyro BV to demonstrate FP technology Establishment of BTG Bioliquids BV to commercialize BTG Fast Pyrolysis technology 2004 Delivery of 50 t/d FP-plant to Malaysia Large-scale co-firing test at Harculo Power Plant 1998 Start-up of 200 kg/hr FP pilot plant in BTG Laboratory 2005 1993 1987 BTG research BTG 1994 Empyro Netherlands BTG development BTG Co-production of FPBO, process steam and electricity BTG Delivery semi-continous test unit (50 kg/hr) to Shenyang (China) Knowledge transferred from UT to BTG Rotating cone reactor invented at University of Twente (UT) 8 2017
Commercial scale demonstration of fast pyrolysis technology 9
EMPYRO - introduction OBJECTIVE Design, built and operate a 25 MWth fast pyrolysis plant to produce simultaneously electricity, process steam and fuel oil from woody biomass. Demonstrate use of pyrolysis oil in natural gas fuelled boiler for the production of process steam. Reference plant for BTG-BTL s Fast Pyrolysis Process 10 km from our headquarters (in Hengelo). KEY FIGURES Feedstock: clean woody biomass Capacity: 5 ton feed/hr (@ 5wt% moisture) Output: 3.2 t/hr FPBO 7.4 MWth steam 650 kwe Electricity Total investment: ~19 M 10
EMPYRO status / turbine 13
EMPYRO status after 7 quarters of operation (Jan 2017) Commissioning March 2015: First litres of oil produced in; delivery process steam to AkzoNobel; August 2015: delivery FPBO to FrieslandCampina October 2016: Steam turbine commissioned Minor start-up problems Economics Overall investment within original budget Actual oil production costs in line with predictions 20000 Cum. prod. [ton] Production Scale up RCR very successful; 7 operators; One operator to run the plant at night; ~ 12,000 ton / 10 million litres produced; Runtime and production capacity gradually increasing; Oil yield around design value of 65 wt%; quality excellent from start Running at 3.3 tons of oil per hour (design capacity) at the moment 16000 12000 8000 4000 Quarter 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
2015 Pyrolysis Oil Application 15
Industrial Application of FPBO Pyrolysis oil is co-fired with natural gas producing process steam for dairy company FrieslandCampina. Pyrolysis oil off-take agreement concluded for a period of 12 years (equivalent to ~ 200 million litres); Annual saving of 10 million m³ of natural gas. 100% back-up of natural gas (= guaranteed process steam supply) Pyrolysis oil is transported by tank truck from Hengelo to Borculo (~ 30 km). 16
Industrial Application of FPBO KEY FIGURES STEAM BOILER o Process steam: 40 t/hr, 20 bar o Pyrolysis oil : 5 18 MWth ~ 1 4 t FPBO/hr Schematic drawing of Process Steam Boiler at FrieslandCampina o Natural gas: 6 29 MWth o Overall efficiency: 95.5 %
Natural gas flame Steam Boiler Pyrolysis oil flame 18 2016
FPBO for Research & Development FPBO Products available at BTG Bioliquids / Empyro Full production capacity can be consumed by FrieslandCampina Boiler, but volumes can be made available for RTD. ~ 100,000 litres of FPBO sold for RTD purposes (Oct 2016) Empyro FPBO can be ordered via webshop BTG-BTL (from few liters up to several hundred tons) https://www.btg-btl.com/en/company/services/shop FPBO Products available at BTG FPBO from other feedstocks produced on demand (tonnes) Stabilized and/or deoxygenated, hydrotreated FPBO (tens of kg) FPBO fraction like sugar syrup or pyrolytic lignin (hundred kg) 19 2017
Rolling out Fast Pyrolysis Technology In June 2016 BTG Bioliquids signed a collaboration agreement with Technip for the implementation of fast pyrolysis technology Global expertise in Engineering, Procurement and construction (EPC) Global footprint with 32,500 employees in 45 countries Technology leader in Hydrogen, Ethylene, Refining and Petrochemical Technip s mission is to deliver safe, sustainable, quality and successful projects Over 35 years experience in development, design and construction of its own FCC technology FCC alliance with IFP/Axens and Total 20
Collaboration BTG Bioliquids - Technip BTG Bioliquids Technip offer: Proven technology and EPC expertise for modular pyrolysis units Complete turnkey (EPC) delivery of fast pyrolysis units Plant start-up & training of operators Operational support for commercial production of FPBO The link between biomass and petrochemical industry RTD back-up by BTG including access to their test facilities. Signing ceremony (June 2016) 21
Shortcut to refineries: co-fcc FPBO based for the short term Oil Refinery Hydrotreater 20-50 kton/y Fast Pyrolysis Bio-Oil Plant Co-FCC Route Fast Pyrolysis Oil Crude Oil Vacuum Gas Oil Gasoline Diesel LPG Distillation Co-refining FPBO in FCC enables production of 2nd generation bio-fuels while utilizing existing refining infrastructure. 24
Co-REFINERY approach one step beyond 23 23
Message to bring home (Bio4Fuels) Commercial size fast pyrolysis plant has been designed, constructed and taken into operation: ~ 12,000 ton of FPBO produced (Jan 2017) and combusted at FrieslandCampina (replace NG) Production and application of FPBO complies with sustainability criteria (NTA8080) Rolling out of pyrolysis technology and co-fcc in collaboration with EPC contractor Technip; Refining industry production of second generation biofuels and bio-based products while utilizing existing infrastructure A viable and cost effective development of a bio-based economy in order to meet renewable energy and sustainability targets: R&D: FPBO can be used in the existing petrochemical industry Standardized high quality FPBO is available https://www.btg-btl.com/en/company/services/shop 24
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION! 25