Production of Advanced Drop-in Biofuels from Biomass · 2016-01-25 · Production of Advanced Drop-in Biofuels from Biomass and Waste Using Frontline’s TarFreeGas™ Process: an

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

CAPTURE THE ENERGY | RELEASE THE POTENTIAL

Copyright Protected—Use by Permission Only

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?



• 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?



• 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



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





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

11 CAPTURE THE ENERGY | RELEASE THE POTENTIAL


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



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



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

Thank you!

Frontline BioEnergy, LLC

1421 S Bell Ave Ste 105

Ames, IA 50010

515-292-1200

www.frontlinebioenergy.com

Documents

Production of Advanced Drop-in Biofuels from Biomass · 2016-01-25 · Production of Advanced Drop-in Biofuels from Biomass and Waste Using Frontline’s TarFreeGas™ Process: an