New biomass-to-liquid process from wood chips to motor ...

New biomass-to-liquid process from wood chips to motor fuels COMSYN project concept evaluation

Friedemann Albrecht, Zoé Béalu, Ralph-Uwe Dietrich, Simon Maier (DLR e.V., www.DLR.de/tt)

Johanna Kihlman, Sanna Tuomi, Pekka Simell

(VTT, www.vttresearch.com)

9th International Freiberg Conference

Berlin, 5.6.2018

COMSYN project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 727476

Agenda

COMSYN – Project concept and objective

Techno economic evaluation at DLR

Results based on preliminary data

Summary & Outlook

9th International Freiberg Conference on IGCC & XtL Technologies • Ralph-Uwe Dietrich • 3-8 June 2018, Berlin Germany DLR.de • Chart 2 COMSYN project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 727476

PRIMARY CONVERSION

Decentralized FT wax

production at small-to-

medium scale units

located close to biomass

resources

(50-150 MWth input)

+ locally utilized excess

heat for

80 % overall efficiency

New BTL production concept with biofuel production cost reduction up to 35 %

compared to alternative routes (< 0.80 €/l production cost for diesel)

COMSYN – Compact Gasification and Synthesis process for Transport Fuels

www.comsynproject.eu – EU No. 727476

9th International Freiberg Conference on IGCC & XtL Technologies • Ralph-Uwe Dietrich • 3-8 June 2018, Berlin Germany DLR.de • Chart 3

PRIMARY CONVERSION

Decentralized FT wax

production at small-to-

medium scale units

located close to biomass

resources

(50-150 MWth input)

+ locally utilized excess

heat for 80+ % overall

efficiency

PRODUCT

UPGRADING

Centralized FT

product refining to

high quality drop-in

liquid fuels* at

existing oil refineries


http://www.comsynproject.eu

http://www.comsynproject.eu

INDUSTRY / DISTRICT HEATING


Project concept


WET BIOMASS GASIFIER

BIOMASS DRYING

OXIDISER

FILTER REFORMER

FLY

ASH

CH

AR

COMBUSTION AIR

SULPHUR REMOVAL

GUARD BED 1

FLUE GAS

FT SYNTHESIS

FT WAX

SYNTHESIS OFF-GAS

AIR

WATER SCRUBBER

STEAM

1 → 5 bar

SYNGAS COOLING

HEA

T

CO2

REMOVAL

5 → 30 bar

GAS COMPRESSION

GAS COMPRESSION

BIOMASS CONVERSION PLANT

GUARD BED 2

OIL REFINERY

HEAT / STEAM

TRANSPORTATION LIQUIDS

Steam instead of oxygen

Highlights

No need for an oxygen plant

Intermediate cooling/

reheating steps eliminated

Separate WGS unit

eliminated

Simplified Sulphur removal

No CO2 removal or partial

removal by pressure water

scrubbing

Filter operated at gasifier outlet temp

H2/CO ratio adjusted – utilizing gasifier steam

Combination of activated carbon + ZnO-based sorbents Innovative FT synthesis

using syngas with inerts!


Dual fluidized gasifier (DFB) consitisting of two circulating

bed reactors

COMSYN – Compact Gasification and Synthesis process for Transport Fuels Dual Fluidized Bed Gasification with circulating bed material


PRODUCT GAS

LINE

FILTER

BIOMASS

FLUE GAS LINE

BED MATERIAL & FUEL

N2

CATALYTIC REFORMER

O2, N2

AIR

BED MATERIAL

STEAM, O2, AIR, N2

.

. .

.

. .

CFB GASIFIER

.

. . .

. .

.

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.

.

.

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. . .

. .

.

. .

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.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

CFB OXIDISER

.

. .

.

. .

.

. .

.

. .

. .

.

.

. .

5 m3/h SLIP-STREAM

DFB PILOT PLANT @ VTT


Gasifier Features:

• commissioned in 2015

• woody feedstocks operation 2015 – 2017

• fuel feed rate ca. 50 kg/h

• gasification temperature 750 - 820 °C

• oxidizer temperature ca. 900 °C

• bed material: dolomite/sand mixture

5 m3/h SLIP-STREAM TO SYNTHESIS


Project concept – Gas cleaning & synthesis section


DFB PILOT @ VTT MOBILE SYNTHESIS UNIT

FILTER DFB

GASIFIER Product

Upgrading REFORMER

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

ULTRACLEANING STEPS FISCHER-TROPSCH

SYNTHESIS


Hot gas filtration • Intermediate cooling/reheating steps eliminated • Filtration at high temperature (ca. 800 °C) with

simultaneous decomposition of tars • Development of catalytically activated filters

using ALD technology

Catalytic reforming • Development of an oxygen-permeable membrane reactor

to enable better control of reaction temperature in the reformer (hot spots)

• Catalyst development: ALD coating to increase the activity as well as sulphur and coke tolerance of the catalyst

Ultracleaning concept:

• Specifically for biomass-based gasification gas, thus considers: • Low to medium sulphur content • Residual hydrocarbons (tars)

• Wet scrubbing acid gas process (Rectisol, Selexol) replaced by: • Simpler dry bed desulphurization • No removal of CO2 or partial CO2 removal in simple pressure

water scrubbing to 5 vol-% content

Fischer-Tropsch microreactor: • Compact and modular design • High efficiencies • Load flexible


Techno-economic assessment @ DLR


Literature survey

1. Step

Identification of best suited process design Energy and material balance

3. Step 4. Step

Identifying crucial process

parameters

Feedback to project

partners

5. Step

Exchange with project

partners

2. Step

Detailed process

simulation

Stationary flowsheet model Technical optimization (Process control, Heat integration, …)

Techno-economic evaluation

TEPET-ASPEN Link

Exchange of process parameters

Automatic sequencing and economic optimization

Calculation of NPC (CAPEX, OPEX, etc.) Sensitivity analysis & upscaling

Iteration

Aspen Plus®

Simulation


Techno-economic assessment @ DLR


According to AACE Recommended Practice Class III + IV (Expected Accuracy: ±30%)

Unit sizes Energy/ Material

flows

Net production costs

(NPC) [€/l]

Operational costs • Raw materials

• Utilities

• Maintenance

• Labor

Capital costs • Equipment costs

• Piping and installation

• Service facilities

• Engineering

Process simulation

results



Evaluation of three process configurations


Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 • Initial project configuration

(project proposal) • Autothermal reforming with air

• Autothermal reforming with air • CO2 removal after guard bed

Operating at 5 bar 80 % CO2 is absorbed

• Allothermal reforming Required heat is provided by

an additional burner No air is led into the reformer


TEA – Preliminary results (100 MWth input) before FT performance optimization


Units Case 1

Initial conditions

Case 2

incl. CO2 removal

Case 3

allothermal reforming

Power consumption MWe 8.1 7.4 7.1

FT-product t/h 2.6 2.7 3.1

Energy flows

Fuel

Unused FT-tailgas

Excess heat (> 400 °C)

MWLHV

MWLHV

MWth

31.9

33.3

20.4

32.6

33.6

19.3

38.3

22.2

22.7

Efficiencies

BtLLHV-based

Fuel + FT-tailgas

incl. excess heat

%

%

%

30.2

62.0

81.4

31.2

63.4

81.9

36.8

58.1

79.9

Carbon usage % 21.0 21.3 25.0

- 9 % less compression work

+ 18 % higher Fuel efficiency

0

15

30

45

0,8 0,83 0,86 0,89 0,92 0,95

En

erg

y f

low

of

tota

l FT-

tail

ga

s in

MW

Chain growth rate

0.7 0.76 0.82 0.88 0.94

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

0,8 0,83 0,86 0,89 0,92 0,95

BtL

eff

icie

ncy

Chain growth rate

0.7 0.76 0.82 0.88 0.94


TEA – Results using initial conditions


CO conversion:

Required energy for gasifier

Efficiency limit due to process design

basic conditions Red line indicates required FT-tailgas energy for DFB heat

limiting the maximum BtL-efficiency

CO conversion:

Impact of two FT synthesis parameters on process performance:

• CO conversion: indicates FT products yield

• Chain growth rate: longer hydrocarbon chains

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

0,8 0,83 0,86 0,89 0,92 0,95

BtL

eff

icie

ncy

Chain growth rate

0.7 0.76 0.82 0.88 0.94

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

0,8 0,83 0,86 0,89 0,92 0,95

BtL

eff

icie

ncy

Chain growth rate

0.7 0.76 0.82 0.88 0.94


TEA – Results


Case 2: incl. CO2 removal Case 3: allothermal reforming

CO conversion: CO conversion:

basic conditions

basic conditions

58 % ƞBtL

achievable

ease of FTS

development goals


Project – Summary & Outlook


• Techno-economic assessment of different process configurations identifies / quantifies bottlenecks, optimization potential, process parameter impact

• First results on energy optimization show • tail gas energy losses shall be reduced, if local heat utilization is limited • CO2 separation reduces compression work (electricity) • Allotherm reforming allows complete usage of internal heat production – eases FTS development goals

OUTLOOK

• Determine economic benefits and drawbacks of each case: Techno-economic assessment

• Experimental validation: test period 2018 – 2020 -> process data to be implemented into process model

• Develop business cases for Lithuania and Finland -> market introduction

Ralph-Uwe Dietrich [email protected]

German Aerospace Center / Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)

Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics Thermal Process Technology

Thank you for your attention!


mailto:[email protected]



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