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Production of Advanced Drop-in Biofuels from Biomass and Waste Using Frontline’s TarFreeGas™ Process:
an Owner’s Perspective
Dr. T.J. Paskach, Director Technology Frontline Bioenergy
James Davis, Sr. Vice President, XTLH Development, SGC Energia
October 29, 2012
2012 Gasification Technologies Conference
Frontline BioEnergy Background
• Founded in 2005 by three engineers and the Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company (CVEC)
• Commercial gasifier system at CVEC in Benson, Minnesota started up in 2008 (pictured at right)
• Office, lab and 5-15 ton/day pilot gasifier – Ames, Iowa
• Focused on project development: Build-Own-Operate biomass and waste gasification facilities
• Air blast for thermal applications
• Oxygen-steam blast for biofuels
Frontline’s technology has been validated by a leading biofuels developer and by other
selective clients
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SGC Energia –Owner’s Background
• Privately held company
• Formed in 2006 to own, design, construct and operate facilities to convert low-cost or waste feedstock into higher value transportation fuels by means of Fischer-Tropsch chemistry.
• Employ most-suitable processes to convert feedstock into fuels: syngas generation via gasification or reforming; gas cleaning/shifting; F-T process; product upgrading.
• Targeting modest sized facilities from 500 bbl/day to 10,000 bbl/day.
• Project Activity:
– biodiesel facility in Europe – palm oil, rape seed, jatropha
– waste coal to diesel in southern Africa
– biomass (EFB) in Brazil
– pilot plant in Austria (wood chips to F-T diesel)
– pilot plant in Houston (natural gas to F-T diesel)
SGC Energia and Frontline (with partners) –
Owners and operator of biomass facilities
• Priorities
– Safe design and environmentally compliant
– Reliable and robust design suitable for remote locations
– Consistent and predictable return on investment
– Feedstock does not compete for food chain; truly renewable
• Technology is a facilitator to achieve operations – adopt best
available for each project
– Proven biomass gasification technology
– Proven gas clean-up conditioning
– Proven syngas-to-fuels
– Proven upgrading to final products
• Developing projects with attractive unleveraged IRR
Project Execution
Frontline BioEnergy:
– feedstock preparation
– gasification
– syngas cleaning
– syngas conditioning
SGC Energia:
– Owner or JV Partner
– process integration •gasification & clean-up
•syngas conversion process
•product upgrading
•Balance of plant
– project management
– operations & maintenance
– process wrap
SGC Energia & Frontline provide an integrated BTL solution from design
through to operations and maintenance.
Potential Feedstocks?
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• Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from sorted
municipal solid waste (MSW)
• Bagasse from sugarcane processing
• Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) from palm oil
extraction
• Peanut shells
• Sunflower hulls
• Wood chips – eucalyptus whole tree
• Wood chips – poplar whole tree
• Urban wood waste
• Waste wood chips – dunnage, pallets,
crates
• Wood pellets
• Wood derived from construction and
demolition (C&D) waste
• Sawdust
• Crude glycerin from biodiesel production
(note this is a liquid feed)
• Waste paper
• Paper sludge
• Switchgrass
• Corn cobs
• Corn Stover
• Corn grain, including discard seed corn
• Corn hulls
• Obsolete seed soybeans
• Dried distiller’s grains and soluble (DDGS)
• Poultry litter
• Cow manure
• Meat and bone meal from animal rendering
operations
“If we can feed it,
we can gasify it!”
Preferred Feedstocks?
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• Low moisture content
• High density
• High energy content
• Good material handling characteristics
– Uniformity in shape, density
– Good “flowability”
• Very forgiving in terms of ash content and ash
composition
– Successfully gasified high alkali and high chloride feedstocks
• BTL is proven – wood chips to diesel
– Defined solutions available
– Multiple successful demonstrations
• Economic Feasibility is Challenge
– Nat. gas and coal enjoy economy of scale
– Biomass does not: transportation & preparation of low-
density, sparse and widely-dispersed materials
– Currently the smallest commercial FT plants are larger
than the largest biomass gasifiers
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Scale mismatch
Biomass Technically Feasible
Meeting the Scale Required
for Economic Deployment
• Larger and more economic biomass gasifiers
– Pressurized fluidized beds for maximum scalability
and feedstock flexibility
• Smaller, more economic FT reactors
• Larger, concentrated sources of biomass
– MSW-derived fuels (RDF)
• Higher value for products and side-products
– Marketing premium quality and renewable aspects
– Renewable power, gas, and steam energy
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Syngas for FT Sythesis
SYNGAS
GA
SIF
IERLOCK
HOPPER
OXYGEN
BOILER
FEED
WATER
WATER
ASH
COOLING
AND
HYDRATION
PMFREEGAS®
HIGH
EFFICIENCY
FILTER
SYNGAS
ASH STORAGE
AND LOAD-OUT
DRY
BIOMASS
STORAGE
HIGH
PRESSURE
STEAM
BED
MEDIA
SORBENT BED MEDIA
MANAGEMENT/
PURGE
BIOMASS
TA
RF
RE
EG
AS
™ STEAM
Frontline Gasifier Technology Scalable. Omnivorous. Commercially Proven.
• Bubbling fluidized bed reactor
• Pressure up to 6 bara
• Scalable – single reactor up to 2000 tpd
• Fuel flexible – Experience with dozens of feedstocks
• Air or oxygen/steam gasification
• Very stable operation
• Minimal footprint
• Excellent turndown capability – Stable operation at 10-20% of nameplate capacity
• Ideal for repowering existing plants
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Since 2005, Frontline has been
developing and demonstrating scalable,
pressurized gasification
and advanced gas conditioning
technologies
Frontline’s PMFreeGas® Technology High Efficiency - Hot Gas Filtration
• Commercially proven at CVEC
• Patent pending
• Producer gas is cooled to condense
and capture alkali, chloride, and
particulates, in the presence of tars
• PMFreeGas® removes bad actors from
producer gas ahead of combustion – ~99.999% of particulate matter: <2 mg/Nm3
– ~95% of chlorides: <50 ppmv with RDF feed
– Virtually complete capture of volatile alkali
• Allows for simpler back-end controls,
even for RDF feedstocks
• Allows for fixed-bed approaches for
further treatment
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Frontline’s Technology Pipeline
• Active R&D program
• Laboratory and pilot level
development
• Air and oxygen/steam gasification
• TarFreeGas™ development
– Single reactor yielding tar-free syngas
– Next generation of Frontline’s patent-
pending CLEANGAS® technology,
supported by seven year lab and pilot-
scale efforts
– Patent pending
– 15 lb/h lab-scale reactor in construction
– Applications: Fischer-Tropsch biofuels,
chemical synthesis, syngas fermentation,
and waste-to-energy via combustion
turbine
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Lab-scale CLEANGAS™
Catalyst Test Stand
TarFreeGas™
Commercial Reactor
Best Project Locations
• In regions limiting new or expanded landfills
• In regions mandating biofuel blends – Large market for off-take of renewable fuel
• Sites with available “Poly-feed” to leverage seasonality
& hedge cost – Access to ample woody feedstock / MSW/RDF to match design capacity
• Site designated for such a facility with pro-active “landlord”
– Assistance in permitting the facility
– Supportive infrastructure for utilities
– Availability of local resources and labor
Recommended