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Fuel Production From Gasified Biomass-A Feasibility Study

Hulteberg, Christian LU orcid and Brandin, Jan LU (2006) World Bioenergy 2006 p.308-314
Abstract
To produce fuel from gasified biomass is a way to manufacture carbon dioxide neutral fuels for transport purposes. The biomass is gasified by heat in a gasification unit, with or without nitrogen, and the resulting mixture consist of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, steam, higher hydrocarbons in low concentration and tars. The gas will also contain nitrogen, argon, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide and carbonyl sulphide. This gas mixture can be treated and upgraded in various ways depending on what fuel is the desired product.

To increase the hydrogen content a reforming reactor can be added. This reactor will enhance the reaction between methane and higher hydrocarbons with steam or oxygen producing additional carbon... (More)
To produce fuel from gasified biomass is a way to manufacture carbon dioxide neutral fuels for transport purposes. The biomass is gasified by heat in a gasification unit, with or without nitrogen, and the resulting mixture consist of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, steam, higher hydrocarbons in low concentration and tars. The gas will also contain nitrogen, argon, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide and carbonyl sulphide. This gas mixture can be treated and upgraded in various ways depending on what fuel is the desired product.

To increase the hydrogen content a reforming reactor can be added. This reactor will enhance the reaction between methane and higher hydrocarbons with steam or oxygen producing additional carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Two ways to do this is by using catalytic conversion or by thermal reforming. In the first case a catalyst is used and the yield is higher but there are problems associated with catalyst deactivation by sulphur, alkaline metals, heavy metals etc. In the thermal reforming the temperature is raised by adding oxygen to the gas and at the elevated temperature the equilibrium concentration of methane is low. This approach is less sensitive to poisoning but has a lower overall yield.

The reformed gas or the gas leaving the gasifier is fed to a water-gas-shift reactor which adjusts the ratio between carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This ratio is decided depending on the desired fuel, 2 for DME, MeOH and Fischer Tropsch.

This paper investigates various approaches to producing fuels from biomass through gasification, investigating such things as chemically bound energy and co-production of fuels. The various methods will be looked into and advantages and disadvantages will be compared. There will be no attempt to suggest any optimal method for fuel production from biomass through gasification since every case is unique regarding available biomass and desired fuels. Various ways to produce different fuels and the efficiency to chemically bound energy will be reported as will the effects of co-production of fuels. The results show that a catalytic reforming outperforms a thermal reforming and that co-production of fuels is beneficial. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
biomass, fuel production, gasification
host publication
World bioenergy 2006 : taking you from know-how to show-how, 30 May-1 June 2006, Jönköping, proceedings
pages
7 pages
publisher
Swedish Bioenergy Association (SVEBIO)
conference name
World Bioenergy 2006
conference location
Jönköping, Sweden
conference dates
2006-05-30 - 2006-06-01
ISBN
91-631-8960-7
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ba5ae8d9-5330-4f46-8d67-482da3afcde7 (old id 1272299)
alternative location
http://www.etde.org/etdeweb/servlets/purl/20812170-k7Afgh/
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 11:22:07
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:04:23
@inproceedings{ba5ae8d9-5330-4f46-8d67-482da3afcde7,
  abstract     = {{To produce fuel from gasified biomass is a way to manufacture carbon dioxide neutral fuels for transport purposes. The biomass is gasified by heat in a gasification unit, with or without nitrogen, and the resulting mixture consist of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, steam, higher hydrocarbons in low concentration and tars. The gas will also contain nitrogen, argon, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide and carbonyl sulphide. This gas mixture can be treated and upgraded in various ways depending on what fuel is the desired product.<br/><br>
To increase the hydrogen content a reforming reactor can be added. This reactor will enhance the reaction between methane and higher hydrocarbons with steam or oxygen producing additional carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Two ways to do this is by using catalytic conversion or by thermal reforming. In the first case a catalyst is used and the yield is higher but there are problems associated with catalyst deactivation by sulphur, alkaline metals, heavy metals etc. In the thermal reforming the temperature is raised by adding oxygen to the gas and at the elevated temperature the equilibrium concentration of methane is low. This approach is less sensitive to poisoning but has a lower overall yield.<br/><br>
The reformed gas or the gas leaving the gasifier is fed to a water-gas-shift reactor which adjusts the ratio between carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This ratio is decided depending on the desired fuel, 2 for DME, MeOH and Fischer Tropsch.<br/><br>
This paper investigates various approaches to producing fuels from biomass through gasification, investigating such things as chemically bound energy and co-production of fuels. The various methods will be looked into and advantages and disadvantages will be compared. There will be no attempt to suggest any optimal method for fuel production from biomass through gasification since every case is unique regarding available biomass and desired fuels. Various ways to produce different fuels and the efficiency to chemically bound energy will be reported as will the effects of co-production of fuels. The results show that a catalytic reforming outperforms a thermal reforming and that co-production of fuels is beneficial.}},
  author       = {{Hulteberg, Christian and Brandin, Jan}},
  booktitle    = {{World bioenergy 2006 : taking you from know-how to show-how, 30 May-1 June 2006, Jönköping, proceedings}},
  isbn         = {{91-631-8960-7}},
  keywords     = {{biomass; fuel production; gasification}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{308--314}},
  publisher    = {{Swedish Bioenergy Association (SVEBIO)}},
  title        = {{Fuel Production From Gasified Biomass-A Feasibility Study}},
  url          = {{http://www.etde.org/etdeweb/servlets/purl/20812170-k7Afgh/}},
  year         = {{2006}},
}