Cogeneration Based on Gasified Biomass - a Comparisonof Concepts
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6E9?07/7y INSTITUTIONEN FOR VARME- OCH KRAFTTEKNIK KRAFTVERKSTEKNIK LUNDS TEKNISKA HOGSKOLA Cogeneration Based on Gasified Biomass - a Comparisonof Concepts by Fredrik Olsson DISTRIBUTION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS UNLIMITED FOREIGN SALES PROHIBITED 0jL^ Thesis for degree of Licentiate of Engineering ISRN LUTMDN/TMVK—7033--SE DIVISION OF THERMAL POWER ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT OF HEAT AND POWER ENGINEERING LUND INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY P.O. BOX 118, S-221 00 LUND 1999 SWEDEN DISCLAIMER Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Images are produced from the best available original document. ISRN LUTMDN/TMVK—7033 —SE CogenerationBased on Gasified Biomass - a Comparison of Concepts by Fredrik Olsson Thesis for degree of Licentiate of Engineering Lund Institute of Technology Division of Thermal Power Engineering - VOK January 1999 Dokumentotgivare Dokumenmamn Dokumentbeteckning LU/LTH Licentiatrapport ISRN LUTMDN/IMVK—7033—SE Handlaggare Utgivningsdatom Arendebeteckning Januari 1999 Forfattare Fredrik Olsson Dokumenttitel och undertitel Cogeneration Based on Gasified Biomass - a Comparison of Concepts Referat (sammandrag) In this report, integration of drying and gasification of biomass into cogeneration power plants, comprising gas turbines, is investigated. The thermodynamic cycles considered are the combined cycle and the humid air turbine cycle. These are combined with either pressurised or near atmospheric gasification, and steam or exhaust gas dryer, in a number of combinations. An effort is made to facilitate a comparison of the different concepts by using, and presenting, similar assumptions and input data for all studied systems. The resulting systems are modelled using the software package ASPEN PLUS™, and for each system both the electrical efficiency and the fuel utilisation are calculated. The investigation of integrated gasification combined cycles (IGCC), reveals that systems with pressurised gasification have a potential for electrical efficiencies approaching 45% (LHV). That is 4 - 5 percentage points higher than the corresponding systems with near atmospheric gasification. The type of dryer in the system mainly influences the fuel utilisation, with an advantage of approximately 8 percentage points (LHV) for the steam dryer. The resulting values of fuel utilisation for the IGCC systems are in the range of 78 - 94% (LHV). The results for the integrated gasification humid air turbine systems (IGHAT) indicate that electrical efficiencies close to the IGCC are achievable, provided combustion of the fuel gas in highly humidified air is feasible. Reaching a high fuel utilisation is more difficult for this concept, unless the temperature levels in the district heating network are low. For comparison a conventional cogeneration plant, based on a CFB boiler and a steam turbine (Rankine cycle), is also modelled in ASPEN PLUS™. The IGCC and IGHAT show electrical efficiencies in the range of 37 - 45% (LHV), compared with a calculated value of 31% (LHV) for the Rankine cycle cogeneration plant. Apart from the electrical efficiency, also a high value of fuel utilisation is important in cogeneration. When flue gas condensation is utilised, the conventional plant can achieve values of fuel utilisation exceeding 100% (LHV) and in this respect the new technologies are inferior. In addition to the thermodynamic calculations, some critical components and development needs are reviewed. One area still requiring development is the gas cleaning, critical issues being, for example, hot gas filtration, tar cracking and ammonia removal. Referat skrivet av Forfattaren Forslag till ytterligare nyckelord Klassifikationssystem och -klass(er) Indextermer (ange kalla) Omfing Ovriga bibliografiska uppgifter 129 sid SprSk Engelska Sekretessuppgifter ISSN ISBN 0282-1990 Dokumentet kan erh Silas frSn Mottagarens uppgifter Institutionen for Varme- och Kraftteknik Box 118 221 00 Lund Pris Summary The risk of a global climate change, due to increasing concentrations of green house gases in the atmosphere, presently increases the interest in biomass as an energy source. Hence, a growing market for conversion technologies using biomass to produce heat, electricity and/or liquid fuels is expected. In Sweden, biomass is used extensively for heat production, e.g. in district heating networks, and also cogeneration of heat and electricity is attracting interest. The prevailing technology, solid fuel boiler and steam turbine, is characterised by high fuel utilisation and low power to heat ratio. In order to increase this ratio, other power plant concepts incorporating biomass gasification and gas turbines, could be considered. In this report, integration of drying and gasification of biomass into power plants comprising gas turbines is investigated. The thermodynamic cycles considered are the combined cycle and the humid air turbine cycle. These are combined with either pressurised or near atmospheric gasification, and steam or exhaust gas dryer, in a number of combinations. The resulting systems are modelled using the software package ASPEN PLUS™, and for each system both the electrical efficiency and the fuel utilisation are calculated. In this context, an effort is made to facilitate a comparison of the different concepts by using, and presenting, similar assumptions and input data for all studied systems. Moreover, the complexity of the different systems are kept at similar levels, to assure that no concept is unduly favoured. Judging if two power plant concepts are equally complex is, however, difficult. Here the choice of plant layouts is mainly based on common sense and some knowledge of present-day power plant technology. The investigation of integrated gasification combined cycles (IGCC), reveals that systems with pressurised gasification have a potential for electrical efficiencies approaching 45% (LHV). That is 4 - 5 percentage points higher than the corresponding systems with near atmospheric gasification. The type of dryer in the system mainly influences the fuel utilisation, with an advantage of approximately 8 percentage points (LHV) for the steam dryer. Similarly, the systems with near atmospheric gasification show higher heat losses and, consequently, lower fuel utilisation, than the pressurised systems do. Hence, the system with pressurised gasification and steam dryer has a fuel utilisation of approximately 94% (LHV). For the system with near atmospheric gasification and exhaust gas dryer, the corresponding figure is only 78%. The influence of some operational parameters and process alterations are also studied, and a possible further improvement of 1 - 3 percentage points in electrical efficiency is found. In addition to the thermodynamic calculations, some critical components and development needs are reviewed. One area still requiring development is the gas cleaning, critical issues being, for example, hot gas filtration, tar cracking and ammonia removal. Estimates of the investment cost for these technologies are found in the literature. Using these, together with the calculated values of electrical efficiency and fuel utilisation, the cost of electricity from IGCC cogeneration plants is estimated to 0.37 - 0.42 SEK/kWh e. These i figures vary considerably with the fuel price, the annual operating time and the scale of the plant, but generally the IGCC cannot be considered competitive in Sweden today. The results for the integrated gasification humid air turbine systems (IGHAT) indicate that electrical efficiencies close to the IGCC are achievable, provided combustion of the fuel gas in highly humidified air is feasible. Reaching a high fuel utilisation is more difficult for this concept, unless the temperature levels in the district heating network are low. For comparison a conventional cogeneration plant, based on a CFB boiler and a steam turbine (Rankine cycle), is also modelled in ASPEN PLUS™. The IGCC and IGHAT show electrical efficiencies in the range of 37 - 45% (LHV), compared with a calculated value of 31% (LHV) for the Rankine cycle cogeneration plant. Apart from the electrical efficiency, also a high value of fuel utilisation is important in cogeneration. When flue gas condensation is utilised, the conventional plant can achieve values of fuel utilisation over 100% (LHV) and in this respect the new technologies are inferior. n Summary i Nomenclature 5 1 Introduction 6 1.1 Background.......................................................................................... 6 1.2 Objectives ............................................................................................ 7 1.3 Method................................................................................................. 8 1.4 Delimitations........................................................................................ 9 1.5 Outline of the thesis............................................................................. 9 2 Biomass 10 2.1 Overview............................................................................................. 10 2.2 Properties............................................................................................. 10 2.3 Model fuel........................................................................................... 12 3 Integrated gasification combined cycle 13 3.1 Overview............................................................................................. 13 3.2 Models................................................................................................. 15 3.2.1