SYNGAS CLEAN-UP THE CORNERSTONE OF A

SUCCESSFUL BIOMASS GASIFICATION PROJECT

Most gasification project shortfalls have been associated with project economics,
inconsistent and/or insufficient fuel supply, or the Syngas Clean-Up process.
he south-central !iomass "asification Combined Cycle #ower #roject will be
located in the middle of its own fuel plantation. his will allow the homogeneous
fuel-crop to be harvested on an as needed basis. he in-house fuel supply and si$e
of the project allows for economies of scale to improve project economics.
herefore, the remaining hurdle surrounds a successful Syngas Clean-Up process.
%e all have seen how large amounts of moisture condense on the outside of a glass
of ice tea on a hot summer day. his moisture, that moments ago was invisible in
its gaseous state, suddenly appears as droplets on the outside of the cold surface.
&owever, if the glass is warm or if it is a dry winter day, the amount of condensation
is greatly reduced. his phenomenon is called condensation. 'n this case, the
moisture in the air is considered a condensable. Condensables are normally
considered li(uids. &owever, some condensables go directly from a gaseous state
to a solid )dusts* in a phenomenon called sublimation.
"as urbine gaseous fuel specifications address the concentration of four types of
Syngas contaminants+ dusts, acid gas, condensable li(uids )tars*, and condensable
dusts )al,alis*. he !'" Syngas Clean-Up process uses a uni(ue se(uence of si-
steps to e-ceed biomass Syngas Clean-Up to "as urbine gaseous fuel specs.
/. bul, dust separation using a high efficiency cyclone inside the gasifier,
0. Syngas cooling raising process steam,
1. fine dust removal using a solvent venturi scrubbing,
2. solvent tars scrubbing,
3. further gas cooling to reduce the Syngas temperature, and remove the
condensable al,alis and acid gas constituents using a water (uench, and
4. pressuri$ing using a screw compressor.
5ll these process steps are common in several process industries, including
biomass, e-cept the fourth step 6 solvent tars scrubbing. he tars which need to be
cleaned from the Syngas are also gaseous at the gasification temperature. Unless
these tars are reduced to concentrations below the dew-point temperature, they will
condense out as li(uids, wa-es and gums in gas turbine inlet valve and combustor
causing the e(uipment to shut-down.
Most mothers prior to the age of industrial high-tech laundry stain removers
understood that certain chemicals removed certain stains. hey would maintain a
supply of ammonia, ba,ing soda, chlorine bleach, vinegar, lemon juice, alcohol,
lighter fluid, as well as detergents to clean the blemishes caused by active children.
hrough trial and error mothers learned that organic solvents removed tar.
!iomass tars are a very broad comple- of hydrocarbon compounds which include+
volatiles or light oils, different density heavier oils, wa-es, and gums.
Some common organic solvents in dissolving tars, in order of effectiveness, are
rubbing alcohol, lighter fluid, gasoline, and diesel fuel. Significant Syngas
concentrations of the heavier oils, wa-es and gums cause problems in the "as-
urbine. 7ubbing alcohol, lighter fluid and gasoline would actually remove more
tars than necessary from the Syngas lowering its heat value. herefore, the solvent
that we will incorporate into our solvent scrubber is a diesel fuel. 5ctually, bio-
diesel is much more effective in dissolving tars than petroleum based diesel and is
considered a renewable fuel when a small amount is recycled bac, to the
gasification process.
'ndustrial solvent scrubbers have been around for nearly /88 years with si$es larger
and smaller than that re(uired for our project. 9#5 recogni$es solvent scrubbers as
a reliable method of removing soluble compounds from gases. :arge-scale pilot
testing on biomass based steam gasification Syngases has shown that the proposed
scrubber will remove over ;;.3< of the targeted tars.
't should also be noted that the Syngas Compressor is used to raise the pressure of
the syngas from atmosphere to nearly 288 psi )pounds per s(uare inch*. his
compressor is a li(uid ring screw compressor and their manufacturers are actually
guaranteeing their performance with a full tars loading. 5dditionally, they are
stating that the e(uipment will actually remove condensable tars in the li(uid ring,
thus only re(uiring a filter system as a bac,-up tars removal step.
he proposed robust !'" Syngas Clean-Up system utili$es commercially available
e(uipment assembled into a uni(ue process which comfortably e-ceeds the "as
urbine manufacturer=s gaseous fuel specification.