Institut für Umwelttechnik und Energiewirtschaft

Institut für Umwelttechnik und Energiewirtschaft, Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH)

Eißendorfer Straße 40, D-21073 Hamburg, www.tu-harburg.de/iue

Gasification of urban biomass residues

– Possibilities in Hamburg/Germany–

Hannes Wagner, Andrea Stooß, Stefan Luebben, Martin Kaltschmitt,

Rüdiger Siechau, Jan Grundmann, Stefan Weber

Project Partners

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 2

Outline

Background

Biomass residues for gasification

Gasification tests

Process analysis and results

Summary and outlook

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 3

Background

• Increasing interest in utilisation of biogenic residues for

energy production

• Stadtreinigung Hamburg (SRH) is a municipal solid waste

treatment company, responsible for treatment of major

amounts of biogenic residues and wastes of the city of

Hamburg.

• Biogenic waste from housholds is already very efficiently

treated in a combined fermentation and compost facility

• What to do with lignocellulosic waste streams especially

waste wood, garden residues and leaves?

Feasibility study: Gasification of urban biomass

residues in Hamburg

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 4

Biomass residues for gasification

Waste Wood

(WW)

Garden residues

(GR)

Leaves

(L)

0

500

1 000

1 500

2 000

2 500

3 000

3 500

4 000

Janu

ary

Feb

ruary

Ma

rch

April

Ma

y

June

July

Augu

st

Septe

mb

er

Octo

be

r

No

ve

mbe

r

De

ce

mbe

r

Colle

ction in t

/month

2007 2008 2009

2010 2011 2012

0

200

400

600

800

1 000

1 200

1 400

1 600

1 800

2 000

Janu

ary

Feb

ruary

Ma

rch

April

Ma

y

June

July

Augu

st

Septe

mb

er

Octo

be

r

No

ve

mbe

r

De

ce

mbe

r

Colle

ction in t

/month

2007 2008 2009

2010 2011 2012

0

1 000

2 000

3 000

4 000

5 000

6 000

7 000

8 000

9 000

10 000

Janu

ary

Feb

ruary

Ma

rch

April

Ma

y

June

July

Augu

st

Septe

mb

er

Octo

be

r

No

ve

mbe

r

De

ce

mbe

r

Colle

ction in t

/month

2007 2008 2009

2010 2011 2012

All together about 40.000 t/a of biogenic residues available,

but with very different characteristics in fuel properties and availability

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 5

Biomass residues for gasification

0

1 000

2 000

3 000

4 000

5 000

6 000

7 000

8 000

Ja

nu

ary

Febru

ary

Ma

rch

Apri

l

Ma

y

Ju

ne

Ju

ly

Aug

ust

Sep

tem

be

r

Octo

ber

Novem

be

r

Decem

be

r

Co

lle

cti

on

(2

01

2)

in t

/mo

nth

WW GR L

WW-GR-L WW GR-L

41 €/t 43 €/t 62 €/t

Estimated fuel production costs

Analysis of different options:

WW-GR-L: waste wood, garden

residues and leaves

together

WW: only waste wood

GR-L: only garden residues

and leaves

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 6

Gasification tests

• Fuel samples for gasification tests

• Samples were gasified in a 100 kW steam blown

dual fluidised bed pilot plant at Vienna University

of Technology.

• Gasification behaviour was found to be very

similar to conventional wood pellets

Waste wood Garden residues Leaves

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 7

Gasification tests: Results

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

WW GR L WW GR L WW GR L WW GR L WW GR L

H2 CO CO2 CH4 C2+

Co

nce

ntr

atio

n in

vo

l-%

(d

ry)

Conventional wood chips or pellets

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 8

Gasification tests: Results

1

10

100

1000

10000

100000

WW GR L WW GR L WW GR L WW GR L

Tar NH3 H2S HCl

Co

nce

ntr

atio

n in

mg

/Nm

3 (

dry

)

Conventional wood chips or pellets

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 9

Process concepts

WW-GR-L WW GR-L

Description Basic Basic + ORC - -

- Waste wood

- Garden residues

- Leaves

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Pre-treatment Mechanical,

drying

Mechanical Mechanical,

drying

Gasification Allothermal dual fluidised bed gasification,

Classification, recovery of bed material

Gas cleaning Preacoated fabric filter, RME scrubber, Sulfuric acid scrubber

Electricity generation Gas engines Gas engines,

ORC

Gas engines

Fuel input in MW 20,1 12,9 7,1

Main product /

by-product

Electricity,

district heating Electricity

Electricity,

district heating

• Sulfuric acid scrubber for removal of ammonia to reduce NOx Emissions

• Bed material is taken from the combustion chamber and classified to

remove inert material (Sand) from the process

• An organic-rankine-cyce (ORC) is considered to evaluate the possibility

of electricity generation instead of district heating

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 10

Mechanical

pretreatment Drying

Gasification

chamber

Precoated

fabric filter

RME

scrubber

Sulfuric acid

scrubber

Gas engines

Producer gas

cooler

Combustion

chamber

Flue gas

coolerFabric filter

Bed material

classification

Heat integration / Cooling / (ORC)

Biogenic

residues

Inerts

Flue gas

Power

Metalls,

Fines

Ammonium

sulfatePrecoat

material

RME

Sulfuric

acid

Bed

material

Fly ash

District

heating

Flue gas

Pretreatment

Gasification

Heat integration,

Power production

Flue gas

cleaning

Producer gas

cleaning

Process overview

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 11

Possible site in Hamburg

11

Waste

incineration

plant

Biogas plant

Source: google maps

District heating /

electricity grid

Weighing

machine

• Possible site at waste

incineration plant in

Hamburg-Stellingen

• Existing waste treatment

location with related

infrastructure (Biogas plant,

Weighing machine, service

facilities)

• Connection to the district

heating system with high

base load

• Direct connection to the

highway

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 12

Results: Energy flow diagramm

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 13

Results: Heat integration

Without ORC With ORC

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Tem

pera

ture

in

°C

Heat in MW

Hot composite curve

Cold composite curve

District heating

Cooling

• Better utilisation of the high temperture with ORC but significantly higher

cooling demand and increased process complexity

• ORC may be operated in backpressure mode for CHP

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22

Tem

pera

ture

in

°C

Heat in MW

Hot composite curve

Cold composite curve

ORC

Cooling

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 14

Results: Efficiency

27,0

35,7

28,5

21,0

36,9

0,0

33,9

38,7

63,0

34,2

61,8

58,1

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Basic Basic+ORC - -

WW-GR-L WW GR-L

Effic

ien

cy in

%

Electric power

District heating

Total net efficiency

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 16

Results: Investment costs

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Basic Basic+ORC - -

WW-GR-L WW GR-L

Investm

ent in

mio

. €

Contingency

Engineering

Buildings / Yardimprovements

Electronics

Piping

Instruments

Heat exchanger

Auxiliaryequipment

Power generation

Gas cleaning

Gasification

Storage / Feeding

6085 €/kWel

5655 €/kWel

5660 €/kWel

10695 €/kWel

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 17

Results: Production costs

17,3

17,9 14,0

43,1

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Basic Basic+ORC - -

WW-GR-L WW GR-L

Pro

duction c

osts

in c

t/kW

h

Revenues for by-products

Other costs

Operating costs

Otherconsumptioncosts

Fuel costs

Capital costs

Production costs

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 19

Results: Sensitivity analysis for WW-GR-L

14

16

18

20

22

-60% -40% -20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Pro

du

ctio

n c

osts

in c

t/kW

h

Parameter variation

Fuel price: 41 €/t

RME price: 0,87 €/kg

Bed material: 0,20 €/kg

Heat revenues: 3, ct/kWh

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 20

Summary and outlook

• Up to 40 000 t/a of biogenic residues equal to approx. 20 MW fuel

input are available for gasification in Hamburg

• Gasification tests indicate similar characteristics to wood chips or

pellets, however fuel properties are still challenging, especially:

– Large fractions of inert material have to be removed from the gasification

process, recovery of bed material is necessary

– Higher fractions of contaminants (NH3, H2S, HCl) have to be treated,

sulfuric acid scrubber for ammonia removal to reduce NOx emissions

• Gasification of leaves and garden residues seems to be unfavourable

form an economic point of view mainly caused by high pretreatment

and operation costs as well as lower process efficiency

• The management of inert material (sand) has to be investigated further

to get first hand data about the behaviour and fate of these materials in

the process

• Evaluation of further options for example sand as bed material to

reduce costs

System and Integration Aspects of Biomass-based Gasification, Gothenborg/Sweden, November 19th-20th 2013 21

Gasification of urban biomass residues

– Possibilities in Hamburg/Germany–

Contact: Dipl.-Ing. Hannes Wagner

Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics

Hamburg University of Technology

Eißendorferstraße 40

D-21073 Hamburg

www.tuhh.de/iue

Tel.: +49(0)40 42878-4549

E-Mail: h.wagner@tuhh.de