Review of Technologies for Gasification of Biomass and Wastes Final report NNFCC project 09/008 A project funded by DECC, project managed by NNFCC and conducted by E4Tech June 2009 Review of technology for the gasification of biomass and wastes E4tech, June 2009 Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Approach ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Introduction to gasification and fuel production ...................................................................... 1 1.4 Introduction to gasifier types .................................................................................................... 3 2 Syngas conversion to liquid fuels .................................................................................... 6 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 6 2.2 Fischer-Tropsch synthesis ......................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Methanol synthesis ................................................................................................................... 7 2.4 Mixed alcohols synthesis .......................................................................................................... 8 2.5 Syngas fermentation ................................................................................................................. 8 2.6 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 9 3 Gasifiers available and in development ......................................................................... 13 3.1 Entrained flow gasifiers ........................................................................................................... 14 3.2 Bubbling fluidised bed gasifiers .............................................................................................. 16 3.3 Circulating fluidised bed gasifiers ........................................................................................... 18 3.4 Dual fluidised bed gasifiers ..................................................................................................... 20 3.5 Plasma gasifiers ....................................................................................................................... 21 4 Comparison of gasification technologies ....................................................................... 23 4.1 Feedstock requirements ......................................................................................................... 23 4.2 Ability and potential to achieve syngas quality requirements ............................................... 30 4.3 Development status and operating experience ...................................................................... 33 4.4 Current and future plant scale ................................................................................................ 41 4.5 Costs ........................................................................................................................................ 44 5 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 49 5.1 Suitable gasifier technologies for liquid fuels production ...................................................... 49 5.2 Gasifiers for the UK ................................................................................................................. 51 6 Annex........................................................................................................................... 54 6.1 Entrained flow gasifiers ........................................................................................................... 54 6.2 Bubbling fluidised bed gasifiers .............................................................................................. 67 6.3 Circulating fluidised bed gasifiers ........................................................................................... 84 6.4 Dual fluidised bed gasifiers ................................................................................................... 100 6.5 Plasma gasifiers ..................................................................................................................... 109 7 References ................................................................................................................. 125 Review of technology for the gasification of biomass and wastes E4tech, June 2009 List of Figures Figure 1: Gasifier technology capacity range .............................................................................................. 12 Figure 2: Milling power consumption vs. required particle size ................................................................. 25 Figure 3: Biomass gasification plant size and year of first operation ......................................................... 42 List of Tables Table 1: Gasifier types ................................................................................................................................... 4 Table 2: Syngas to liquids efficiency ............................................................................................................. 9 Table 3: Syngas requirements for FT, methanol, mixed alcohol syntheses and syngas fermentation ...... 10 Table 4: Entrained flow gasifier technologies ............................................................................................. 14 Table 5: Bubbling fluidised bed technology developers ............................................................................. 16 Table 6: Circulating fluidised bed technology developers .......................................................................... 18 Table 7: Dual fluidised bed technology developers .................................................................................... 20 Table 8: Plasma gasifier technology developers ......................................................................................... 21 Table 9: Dual fluidised bed gasifier designs ................................................................................................ 28 Table 10: Summary of feedstock requirements ......................................................................................... 29 Table 11: Syngas composition of gasification technologies........................................................................ 31 Table 12: Stage of development of gasifier technology types .................................................................... 41 Table 13: Costs of offsite feedstock pre-treatment .................................................................................... 47 Table 14: Gasifier type comparison, with each type ranked from ⚫ (poor) to ⚫⚫⚫⚫ (good) ............... 49 Review of technology for the gasification of biomass and wastes E4tech, June 2009 Glossary Main terms: Chemical key: BTL Biomass-To-Liquids H2 hydrogen FT Fischer-Tropsch CO carbon monoxide HAS Higher Alcohol Synthesis CO2 carbon dioxide WGS Water Gas Shift H2O water MSW Municipal Solid Waste CH4 methane WTE Waste To Energy C2H2 acetylene RDF Refuse Derived Fuel C2+ higher hydrocarbons CHP Combined Heat and Power CH3OH methanol IGCC Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle N2 nitrogen BIG-GT Biomass Integrated Gasifier-Gas Turbine HCN hydrogen cyanide NH3 ammonia Gasifier types: NOx nitrous oxides EF Entrained Flow COS carbonyl sulphide BFB Bubbling Fluidised Bed H2S hydrogen sulphide CFB Circulating Fluidised Bed CS2 carbon bisulphide Dual Dual Fluidised Bed HCl hydrogen chloride Br bromine Units: F fluorine ppm parts per million, by mass Na sodium ppmv parts per million, by volume K potassium ppb parts per billion, by volume SiO2 silica odt oven dried tonnes Co cobalt t wet tonnes Cu copper kW kilowatt Fe iron MW megawatt Ni nickel MWth megawatts thermal As arsenic MWe megawatts electric P phosphorous LHV Lower Heating Value Pb lead HHV Higher Heating Value Zn zinc ZnO zinc oxide Al2O3 aluminium oxide Cr chromium Cr2O3 chromium oxide MoS2 molybdenum sulphide Review of technology for the gasification of biomass and wastes E4tech, June 2009 1 Introduction 1.1 Background Recognising the limitations of many current biofuel production technologies, in terms of resource potential, greenhouse gas savings and economic viability, there is considerable interest in second generation routes. These offer the potential for a wider range of feedstocks to be used, lower greenhouse gas impacts, and lower costs. Gasification is an important component of several of the proposed second generation routes, such as catalytic routes to diesel, gasoline, naphtha, methanol, ethanol and other alcohols, and syngas fermentation routes to ethanol. Many of the component technologies for some of these routes, such as feedstock preparation, gasification, and Fischer-Tropsch or methanol synthesis are commercially viable or technically mature for other applications. However, the systems as a whole are at the early demonstration stage worldwide, with further development and learning needed to achieve commercially