ECN and BIOMASS ACTIVITIES Ingo Bunzeck Corporate Program Development Brussels Office Roeselare 18 Juni 2015

www.ecn.nl

ECN: A rich and evolving history ~600 employees

~500 reports in 2011

~270 conferences 

~20 patents a year

~5 licenses a year

in 2011

We are in our 60th year of pushing technology boundaries

ECN Energy research Centre of the Netherlands

JRC‐IE (275) NRG (370)

ECN (570)

Company name (#personel)

COVIDIEN (290)

Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) • Dedicated to Sustainable Energy Innovation With and for the market, ECN develops knowledge          and technology that enable a transition to a       sustainable energy system

• Core activities in biomass

Petten

Wieringerwerf

Amsterdam

Eindhoven

Sustainable energy technology development R&D services to industry Feasibility studies, system & technology assessments Brussels Beijing

Biomass

Solar

Wind

Energy  efficiency

Policy  studies

WITH THE MARKET and FOR THE MARKET

ECN R&D

Solar Energy

Wind Energy

Biomass and waste

Energy Engineering

Environment

Energy Efficiency

Policy Studies

ECN R&D

Solar Energy

Wind Energy

Biomass and waste

Energy Engineering

Environment

Energy Efficiency

Policy Studies

BIOMASS/WASTE R&D

Gasification

Combustion

Torrefaction

Biorefinery

BIOMASS/WASTE R&D

Gasification

Combustion

Torrefaction

Biorefinery

ECN bio-energy - 50 persons Feedstock

• Characterization • Property  databases

Pre‐treatment

• Torrefaction • Torwash • Pyrolysis • Fractionation • Biochar

Conversion

• Combustion • Gasification • Biorefinery

Separation

• Gas cleaning • Tar removal • Gas conditioning • Separation

Product  Synthesis

• Biofuels • Synthetic Natural  Gas (SNG) • Biochemicals • Power & Heat

Higher efficiencies, higher availability, lower environmental impact, higher public  acceptance, lower CAPEX/OPEX, new applications Technology development, licensing, techno‐economic evaluations, LCA, consultancy,  testing and analyses, due diligence

ROLE of ECN in TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT commercial demonstration pilot‐scale (100 kg/h) lab‐scale (1 kg/h) fundamental research ECN

effort / €

TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT takes time! now

bioSNG

capacity [MW]

bioCHP

BIOMASS DOES NOT FIT! we need a trick

GASIFICATION

wood, agricultural residues,  waste, coal, …

• Gasification converts solid fuel to gaseous fuel (chopping molecules) • Opens the door to existing energy systems: H2, CO,  – – – – – – –

Boilers Engines Turbines Chemistry Fuels Refineries Steel industry

CH4, …

14

STARTING POINTS for ECN MILENA  OLGA  SNG • General: – Feedstock flexibility (means: low cost feedstock) – Efficiency (means: low cost production) – Scalability (means: low cost plant)

• MILENA gasification: – Complete conversion (rest carbon is burnt) – High heating value gas (no N2‐dilution)

• OLGA tar removal:

– Tar removal above water dew point (no water/tar/particles mixture) – Tar/particles recycle to gasifier

• SNG: – Existing methanation technology and catalysts – Combinations of existing/commercial processes in gas cleaning

ENERGY BALANCE Main target! Gaseous fuel (LHV)

Solid fuel (LHV) 100%

Gasifier

Heat in gaseous fuel Heat loss Carbon loss (in ash)

70‐95% Useful  10‐20% 1‐5% 0‐20%

LHV: Lower Heating Value  Excluding electric energy use of: pumps, fans, oxygen production (if any), … Excluding energy recycle: e.g. air preheat and tar recycle

MILENA TECHNOLOGY raw • Highly efficient producer gas • Complete conversion • Fuel flexible, tested:  flue gas wood, waste wood, grass,  straw, soya residue,  pyrolysis RDF/SRF, sunflower husks,  DDB (straw residue from  combustion biomass 2nd generation ethanol),  air high‐ash coal, lignite steam or CO or … • Compact • Cheap • Know‐how based 2

www.milenatechnology.com

17

MILENA TECHNOLOGY 3

raw producer gas

settling chamber

Methane-rich gas, 10-15 MJ/Nm3 Entrained char will be separated downstream and recycled

Bed material separation (>99.9%) from gas Char separation from gas Separation efficiency independent of solids flow

Solids moving down to combustor Contains char Fast fluidization regime in riser reactor Gas produced, char remaining Producer gas acts as fluidization medium

2 4

flue gas

Downcomer acts as gas seal between the two reactors

pyrolysis combustion

Bubbling fluidization regime Solids buffer Uniform temperature Full conversion

One vessel: cheap, easy to pressurize Only little heat loss

biomass Bed material recycle and energy source for pyrolysis

1

air carrier gas

Enables solids from combustor to enter pyrolysis zone Little amount needed, negligible efficiency penalty No chemical function intended

18

Conversion Cold Gas Efficiency Temperature control

Fuel flexibility

Gas

Scale

MILENA gasifier

CFB/BFB gasifier

100% / white ash

~90% / black ash

~80%

~70%

Good temperature control,  no char accumulation

Less temperature homogeneity  due to char hold‐up

Lower temperature =  higher efficiency

Lower temperature =  lower conversion

Any size

Any size

Wastes and agricultural residues

Less freedom

12‐15 MJ/Nm3

5‐6 MJ/Nm3

Essentially N2‐free

~50% N2

Scalable (>100 MW)

Scalable (>100 MW) 19

IMPLEMENTATION MILENA gasification 5 kg/h lab‐scale facility  at ECN, 2004

1 ton/h 2016 (NL)

1 ton/h 2014 (India)

150 kg/h pilot facility  at ECN, 2008

5 ton/h 2016 (UK)

MILENA LICENSES (biomass) Royal Dahlman and Thermax

ECN DEVELOPMENTS

– – – – – –

Unique for its solid fuel flexibility in terms of size, shape, sort Tested with wood, straw, waste, plastic, grass, coal, lignite, … Very high efficiency due to complete conversion High heating value gas (N2‐free), yet operating with air Commercially available from Royal Dahlman and Thermax Units operating: 25 kW, 0.8 MW, 4 MW

• Gas cleaning concept: OLGA – – – – –

Complete tar removal Complete particles removal No loss of gases Commercially available from Royal Dahlman Units operating: 2 Nm3/h, 200 Nm3/h, 1000 Nm3/h, 2000 Nm3/h

www.olgatechnology.com

• Gasification concept: MILENA

www.milenatechnology.com

commercially available innovations

ECN DEVELOPMENTS new innovations – Complete 1 Nm3/h system available from biomass to bio‐ NaturalGas (other words: Green Gas, bioSNG, bioMethane,  Renewable Natural Gas) – Preparing 4 MW demonstration plant (NL)

• Co‐production of bio‐chemicals: – – – –

Separation/production of bio‐aromatics (available technology) Separation/production of bio‐ethylene (under development) Production of bio‐diesel by Fischer‐Tropsch (planned) Production of bio‐LNG  (planned) 

www.mbioSNG.com

• Upgrading to natural gas quality (ESME):

ECN DEVELOPMENTS complete test system available • Gasifier: www.milenatechnology.com • Tar removal: www.olgatechnology.com • New BTX scrubbing process

Series of further gas cleaning  and methanation MILENA gasifier

OLGA tar removal

BTX scrubber

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION Ingo Bunzeck ECN Brussels Office Science 14 Atrium Wetenschapsstraat 14b 1040 Brussels T +32 280 89 829

[email protected] 

Bram van der Drift ECN Westerduinweg 3 1755 LE Petten The Netherlands

P.O. Box 1 1755 ZG Petten The Netherlands

T +31 224 56 45 15 M +31 610 909 927 

[email protected]  www.ecn.nl

25