BIOMASS

ENERGY
Royal Institute of Technology

1
 BIOMASS - SOME BASIC DATA

• Total mass of living matter (including moisture) -

2000 billion tonnes
• Total mass in land plants - 1800 billion tonnes
• Total mass in forests -1600 billion tonnes
• Per capita terrestrial biomass - 400 tonnes
• Energy stored in terrestrial biomass 25 000 EJ
• Net annual production of terrestrial biomass - 400
000 million tonnes
• Rate of energy storage by land biomass - 3000
EJ/y (95 TW)
• Total consumption of all forms of energy - 400 EJ/y
(12 TW)
• Biomass energy consumption - 55 EJ/y ( 1. 7 TW)

2
 Biomass as an Energy Resource:
Concept and Market
• Biomass supplied most of world’s energy as late as the
mid 1800s.

• It delivered 1,448 Mtoe (Million ton oil equivalent) of

primary energy in 2004 alone.

• It accounted for 13.1% of the 11,059 Mtoe of

world Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES).

• Its contribution of 1,150 Mtoe represented 79%

of the total world supply of renewable energy,
– followed by hydropower with a 16.8% share

The role of biomass in

origins of will-power
3
• The concept of Renewability is a matter of the observed
time span
– Earth’s carbon is in a perpetual state of flux

• (1)We consider renewable material to be that which:

– Can be renewed over a time short span
– Give a continues high yield output
– Represent a Low cash value generation cost

• (2) Photosynthesis during which carbon dioxide

(CO2) is converted to organic compounds is
defined as:

CO2+H2O+light+ chlorophyllÆ(CH2O)+O2

What are the properties (conditions) of renewability of biomass?

Write the generic chemical formula for photosynthesis

And… you got the will-
power
4
 A realistic assessment

• Calculate the average surface areas needed to

produce sufficient biomass at different annual yield
to meet certain percentages of fuel demand for your
country

• What do you have to know in order to solve this

problem?

5
• Defined as all land and water based vegetation

• The annual insolation on only 0.01% of the total

earth’s surface is approximately equal to all the
primary energy consumed by humanity each year

6
 Energy Potential of Biomass
Virgin and Waste Biomass
• (3)Virgin Biomass

• (3, 4) Waste Biomass

– Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
• Every person in western societies
discards about 2.3 kg MSW/day
– Municipal bio solids (SEAWAGW)
– Industrial waste
– Animal manure
– Agriculture crops and forestry residual
– Landscaping and tree clipping etc.

Give examples of two type of biomass

7
 Photosynthesis of biomass and Its conversion related
properties
Virgin Biomass
• Almost all plant life on Earth can be broken into two
categories based on the way they assimilate carbon
dioxide into their systems, C3 and C4 plants.

• C3 plants include more than 95 percent of the plant

species on earth. (Trees, for example, are C3
plants.)

• C4 plants include such crop plants as sugar cane and

corn. They are the second most prevalent
photosynthetic type.

• During the first steps in CO2 assimilation, C3 plants

form a pair of three carbon-atom molecules. C4
plants, on the other hand, initially form four carbon-
atom molecules
Name and describe two major pathways for carbon fixations by biomass. 8
 Virgin Biomass

• The important difference between C3 and C4 species

for rising CO2 levels is that C3 species continue to
increase photosynthesis with rising CO2 ,
while C4 species do not.

• So, C3 plants that can respond readily to higher

CO2 levels, and C4 plants can make only limited
responses.

9
 Photosynthesis of biomass and Its conversion related properties
Virgin Biomass

• Thus increased CO2 likely will mean that some plant species
will be stronger, more prolific, and may overwhelm those less
able to benefit.

• The nature of plant populations in various areas probably will

change; more sedges in place of grasses in marshlands, for
example, consequences we don't yet know

10
Photosynthesis of biomass and Its conversion related properties
Metabolic Pathway

• C3 plants tend to thrive in areas where:

– Sunlight intensity is moderate,
– Temperatures are moderate,
– Carbon dioxide concentrations are around 200 ppm or higher
– High CO2 compensation point. CO2 compensations point is the
point at which more co2 is respired than fixed (loosing mass)
– Ground water is plentiful

• C4 plants have a competitive advantage over C3 pathway

under conditions of
– Drought,
– High temperatures
– Nitrogen or carbon dioxide limitation

11
 Photosynthesis of biomass and Its conversion related properties
Correlation of Carbon and Energy Content
• What is the heat of combustion?

• Mono saccharides have the lowest carbon content

and highest degree of Oxygenation:
– have lowest Heating value just about 16 MJ/kg dry

• Terpene and lipid hydrocarbon have the

highest Heat value
– about 40 MJ /kg dry

• HHV in MJ/dry kg =0.4571 (%C on dry basis)-2.75

12
 Virgin Biomass Production

Introduction
• Approximately 250 000 known botanic species
– Only 300 cash crops, cash crops are those which
are grown for money

• Problems with biomass species

– Small number are suitable for energy production
– Discontinuous? nature of growing season and
compositional changes,
– Growth area available, grow cycle
– Soil type, fertilization, herbicide, pesticide
– Quality, disease resistance
– Insolation, temperature, topography, propagation and
plantation

13
 Virgin Biomass Production
Insolation
• Insolation is amount of sun light that reaches the
earth surface

• Insolation varies with, geographic location, time of

day, season of the year etc.

• It is higher near tropic and near equator

• At a given latitude, the incident radiation is not

constant and often exhibits large changes over
relatively short distances

• There is usually a relative good

correlation between the annual
yields of dry biomass/unit area/year
and average insolation
14
 Virgin Biomass Production
Precipitation
• Precipitation has the greatest impact on biomass growth

• Aquatic biomass captures the moisture needed for growth

from sea or fresh water

• Conversely, Terrestrial biomass growth rate is often limited

by water availability

• The annual requirement for most of terrestrial biomass is

in range 50 to 70 cm annually

• Water Use Efficiency (WUE) is defined as a ratio of biomass

accumulation of water to the water consumed, expressed
as transpiration or total or total water input to the system

Define WUE.

15
 Virgin Biomass Production

Temperature
• The minimum growth temperature for most biomass
is approximately 15°C

• Temperature has an increasing effect on biomass

growth up to a maximum of 40-45°C and above that
has a sharp decreasing effect on CO2 uptake
efficiency (find a graph)

• Ideally, the biomass species grown in an area,

should have a maximum rate of net photosynthesis
as close as possible to the average temperature
during the growing season in the area.

What is the relationship between the ambient temperature and

maximum rate of a plant photosynthesis process.

16
 Virgin Biomass Production

Nutrients
• Major nutrients for generic biomass are:
– Nitrogen, 2 wt%
– Phosphorus, 1 wt%
– Potassium, 0,5 wt%

• Minor nutrients for generic biomass are :

Sulfur, Sodium, magnesium, calcium , iron,

• Micronutrients for generic biomass are :

manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc, and molybdenum

Name the three major and two miner Nutrients for a typical biomass (not
species specific nutrients)
Calculate the amount of N, P, K for the yield of 20t biomass/ha-year.

17
 Virgin Biomass Production
Aquatic Biomass as Energy
Resource
• Micro and macro-algae e.g. giant brown kelp
– Most efficient in photosynthesis
– Do not have any commercial use

• The aquatic alternative can be used in:

– Biomass production
– Waste treatment
– Conversion to fuels by
fermentation

18
Waste Biomass Resources Abundance Energy Potential, and availability

Introduction
• Waste biomass is energy-containing material that is,
discarded, disposed of and that are mainly derived from or
have their origin in virgin biomass

• They are results of anthropological

activities and some natural events

• Waste biomass (WB) is lower in cost than virgin and

often you can be paid to take away waste biomass!
Ie: negative cost

• In any case some biomass waste must be treated

from an environmental point of view

Define waste biomass and where dose it come from?

19
 Abundance of Waste Biomass (WB)
• WB is also know as municipal waste, urban refuse or
garbage)
• WB is municipal bio-solid, sewage or sludge
• It is also wood waste and related residues produced in
the forests logging and forestry operation
• It is agricultural waste such as animal waste etc.

Total Amount of Waste

20
 Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW)

• Heat values:
– MSW =12 MJ/kg dry
– Biosolids = 19 MJ/kg dry

• Disposal methods
– Dumping, Land-filling
– Burning
• With energy recovery
• Without energy recovery

Name the types, heat value ranges and disposal methods of MSW.

21
 The Pulp and paper Industry

• Black Liquor is a major waste biomass resource and

by-product or co-product of the paper making
process STEAM

• It contains sulfur components

• The energy potential of black liquor, ~14 MJ/kg

• It is used commercially today

What is Black Liquor and what is its heat value range ?

22
 BIOMASS ENERGY
Royal Institute of Technology
Reza Fakhrai

See Yourselves as biomass particle

and tell me
What are your physical
properties?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLO7IxKwruc

23
 Source of energy

• The source of energy and serving point is cellulosic

material. For Scandinavian conditions the forests
consist of mainly spruce, pine and birch

• These wood types have the chemical composition

shown below (weight %, ash included in
extractives):

24
 Cellulose, hemicellulose,
Lignins
• Cellulose is the main part of the cell wall, with the
elementary formula (C6H10O5)n.

• It is a highly linear polysaccharide and similar to

hemicellulose, but the latter has a more branched
structure and is more susceptible to chemical
degradation than cellulose.

• Lignins acts like the bounds in the cells, and gives

rigidity to the cell wall. They are complex three
dimension polymers of phenylpropane.

25
 Review of Last Lecture

• Biomass contains the elements;

Carbon (45-55 weight %),

Hydrogen (5-7 weight %),
Oxygen (40-50 weight%) and
Small amounts of sulphur (0-0.05 weight %) and
Nitrogen (0-1.0 weight %).

• The carbon and the hydrogen are the combustible

components of the wood.

What are the constitute compounds of biomass (just name them)

26
 Softwood, hardwood
• An important distinction in the field of wood
processing is made between softwood and
hardwood.

• Pine, spruce , cedar, fir, larch, douglas-fir, hemlock,

cypress, redwood and yew are ex. of SW

• The different density of the woods has influence on

which technology to apply in the processing, as the
density may differ considerable between different
types of forest.

Based on density of biomass classify it.

27
 Softwood, hardwood

• For the same type of forest the altitude, age and

location also influence the density variation with as
much as +/- 50 kg/m3. Some typical Norwegian
densities are given below:

28
 Physical Conversion Process

Introduction

• Biomass feedstocks and fuels exhibit a wide

range of physical, chemical, and agricultural/
process engineering properties

• Nearly all kinds of biomass feedstocks destined

for combustion fall in the range 15-19 GJ/tonne

• Some of the compositional differences are large

– Moisture content
– Ash content
– Heating value

Name three properties of biomass that may cause compositional

differences between different biomass types.

29
 Moisture content

• Moisture content (MC) is the key property of biomass that

should be considered in design of conversions devices.

• Mechanism of moisture transfer to biomass

– Adsorption
• In adsorption moisture is transferred from air
to the wood surface (polar water molecules and
negative charged wood surface)
– Absorption
• In absorption water molecules are drawn into
the permeable pores (differential osmotic force)

Name the mechanisms of moisture transfer in biomass and discuss them.

30
 Moisture content
• As water evaporate considerable amounts of energy
is required (2444 kJ/kg water at 25 °C), and less
energy is available.

• The moisture content is therefore a major element in

deciding the effective heating value (EHV).

• The effective heating value is defined as the lower

heating value (LHV) subtracting the energy of
evaporating the moisture content of the wood. The
LHV assumes that the produced water is 100 %
evaporated.

31
 Moisture content

• The water might leave the

process as liquid water and not
as vapour. The resulting energy
content is defined as higher
heating value (HHV).

• The LHV has been used

traditionally, and serve as the
definition of energy content .

Define the Higher heating value

The relation between moisture content and EHV [kWh/m3]

32
 Moisture content
.

• The critical limit is 50 -55

% moisture, further
increased moisture content
above this level lowers the
energy content
dramatically.

• But the moisture content

should not always decrease
to below a certain limit, as
very dry biomass produces
a syn-gas with less H2.

• Cost increases also quickly

with very dry biomass.

What is the critical moisture content?

33
 Biomass Moisture Requirements

• The maximum acceptable MC for an

efficient conversion system is:
– Combustion 60 wt %
– Gasification 15 wt %

• MC affects the
– Design parameter for conversion devices
(boiler, heat exchanger etc.)
– Economy (what are you buying water or
biomass?)

• On a moisture and ash free basis, the heating

value is in the same range

34
 Heating value

• EHV can be calculated as an approximation with the

following formula [kWh/kg]:

Where mr is the moisture content, calculated as the

relation between mass of water and total mass of
wood and water.

35
 Heating value

• As a moisture content of 88.5 % leads to zero EHV,

and biomass with 0 % moisture leads to an energy
content of 2128 kWh/m3 for spruce (density = 400
kg/m3). The higher heating value might be
calculated from the molecular composition:

It is evident how hydrogen and carbon atoms are

contributing to the heating value, and how the oxygen
content is contributing negatively.

• It is therefore an important step in some biomass

conversion routes to de-oxidize the biomass in order
to increase the heating value.

36
 Flame temperature and MC

• One of the most important properties of

biomass for combustion application is flame
temperature (begin with moisture definition)

• Flame temperature is a function of MC

– 50 wt % moisture results in 980 °C

– Complete dried wood results in 1260-1370 °C

• A decrease of flame temperature is due to the

amount of heat necessary to evaporate any
contained moisture in the biomass

What could affect a specific biomass flame temperature and why?

Give a maximum range of moisture content for combustion and gasification
applications.
37
 Biomass Ash Characteristics
• The inherent inorganic material, which exists as part of the
organic structure of the fuel, and is most commonly
associated with the oxygen, sulphur and nitrogencontaining
functional groups

• The extraneous inorganic material, which has been added

to the fuel through geological processes, or during
harvesting, handling and processing of the fuel.

three useful categories, viz:

• Water soluble, i.e. in free ionic form,
• Organically associated, and
• Precipitated as relatively pure compounds, in crystalline or
amorphous forms.

Characteristics biomass ash and give example of each

38
 Ash Characteristics
• The alkali metals, sulphur, phosphorus and chlorine
(inherent inorganic material) tend to be present
largely in soluble form, as simple inorganic salts.

• Silicon is present predominantly as silica, in

precipitated form.

• The extraneous inorganic material takes the form of

contamination with sand, soil or other mineral
materials, tramp metal components, etc.

39
 Physical Conversion Process
Unit Operation
The Physical conversion Processes are:

• Dewatering
• Drying
• Size reduction
• Densification
• Separation

Name the physical conversion processes

40
 Dewatering and Drying

• Dewatering refers to the removal of all or part of the

contained moisture from biomass as a liquid

• Drying is a similar process, except that the moisture is

removed as vapor

• For energy recovery purposes, biomass dewatering and

drying is necessary

• There should be a balance between the cost of moisture

removal to the incremental improvement in conversion
efficiency and the advantages of handling dried feedstock

What is dewatering?
What is drying?
Why dewatering and drying are necessary?
What could argue against the above mentioned processes?

41
 Dewatering
The technology includes
– Open air storage
– Filters
– Screening devices,
– centrifuges,
– hydro cyclones extrusion and expression process
• Advantages

• Disadvantages
– Disturb the cell wall structure which leads to carbon loses
– Carbon loses leads to lose of Heat value

What are the disadvantages of dewatering?

42
 Drying
Technologies and approaches

– Open air solar drying (circulating low humidity hot air)

• Advantage: low cost, final moisture content about 35 wt%
• Disadvantage: very slow process, local climate dependant, semi-
labor intensive,
• Most of the biomass decomposes

– Batch drying, Kiln drying (circulating hot gases by

natural or forced draft)
• The Heat comes from the steam boiler or combustion of waste
biomass
• Batch drying with final temperature of 90°C and 15 wt%
moisture (rewrite this)

Name the advantages and disadvantages of open air solar drying and
circulating hot gases

43
 Physical Conversion Process

Drying
• Continuous drying by Stack gases
–Hot air or stack gases contact biomass as it enters the boiler
–The stack gas (exhaust gas) contain 15 wt% moisture
at almost 250 °C
–Limited amount of moisture could be removed

WG = (2940M ) / Ti − To
WG = drying.gas.weight.kg / h
M = water.evaporated .kg / h
Ti = temperature.of .drying.gas.entering.o C
To = temperature.of .drying.gas.leaving.o C

Why in “stack gas drying (flue gas recirculation) approach” only limited amount
of moisture could be removed. Think about the gas humidity ratio?

44
 Physical Conversion Process

Size Reduction (SR)

• SR are the techniques used to prepare biomass for direct fuel
use, fabrication into fuel pellets, cubes and briquettes

• Reduction of volume,

• Facilitates the transport of the

material in solid state or slurry or
pneumatically

• Size of the particle is critical in drying

process (ask me about that)

– Particle should satisfy the requirements of supplying

– Feedstock to the conversion reactor and the conversion itself

Give some advantage of size reduction

45
 Physical Conversion Process

Size Reduction
• The optimum size characteristic of the particle for
energy conversion is determined by the following
reactor parameters:

– combustion chamber and heat exchanger designs

– the operating conditions
– the method of delivering of biomass
– removing the ash

• For thermal gasification and liquefaction processes the

following can influence the rate of conversion
– particle size
– size distribution

46
 Physical Conversion Process
Size Reduction

Steam explosion
• The treatment of the wood chips with
– steam
– at elevated pressures
– at elevated temperatures
– for short time periods followed by rapid decompression

• What is changed?
– the physical state of wood structure
– chemical changes of hemicelluloses and lignin may occur

47
 Physical Conversion Process

Densification
• Densification is a relatively new process in which the
air is squeezed out at very high pressure to make
pellets (using feed type machines), cubes (using alfalfa
cuber) or logs (PrestoLog etc.).

• Best of all, for many applications almost any biomass

can be used provided, it is chopped fine: sawdust;
agricultural residues and even municipal solid waste.

• Advantages
– Ease of handling and storage
– Improve biomass stability
– Facilitates the feeding of solid biomass fuels to furnaces
– High energy density, 15-17 MJ/kg
– Clean burning

What is densification and what are the advantages of the process?

48
 Mass and Volume Energy Densities

• Disadvantages of densification
– Production cost
• 30 to 60 % of the wholesale is production cost
• Particle size dependent
– Electricity consumer

• A important figure for biomass is the volume energy

density, (kJ/liter, MJ/m3 , Btu/ft3).

• Because most biomass is so light, weight is not

nearly as much a factor as volume in collecting,
shipping, storing and using

What are the disadvantages of densification

49
 Volume (m³) required to
substitute one cubic meter of oil
by some other fuels

50
 Densification, Upgrading
• Baling is used to densify, hays, straws etc
– Baled straw 70 – 90 kg/m3, 10 wt% moisture
– Piled straw 5-15 % of this range
– Pellets and briquettes 350-1200 kg/m3

• Wood
– Dried wood 600-700 kg/m3
– Wood pellets 700-1400 kg/m3

51
 Physical Conversion Process
Densification

• Materials
– Virgin biomass
– RDF (refuse derived fuel)
– MSW
– Agricultural waste etc

What is the RDF?

Answer: (Refused Dry Fuel) MSW is shredded and then separated
into combustible fraction, RDF).

52
Physical Conversion Process

Densification

53
 Problem
• In a village, there is a power plant operating on diesel as
fuel. There is a plan to convert the power plan to a
combined MSW/diesel burning plant.

• The power plan has one 75 kW diesel engine

• The specific fuel consumption is 0,4 liters of diesel/kWh

(el).

• The conversion efficiency of a MSW gasifier is about 45%

• Calculate number of people living in the village if 80% of

the Diesel will be replaced with MSW fuel with at the
present electric load.

54
 Solved problem
Present operation 24 h/day at 75 kW(el) and a specific
Fuel consumption of 0,4 liters of Diesel/kWh (el). The
Lower heating value of Diesel is assumed to be fuel is
10 kWh (fuel) and 365 Days/year, the annual energy
input is:
24(h/day)*365(day/year) *75 (kWel)*0,4
(liters/kWhel) *10 (kWhfuel) = 2628*103 (kWh fuel)

The conversion efficiency of a MSW gasifier is about

45%. If 80% of the diesel is substituted when the
Engine is operated in dual fuel mode, the MSW fuel
energy input to the gasifier will be:

2628*103 *0,8/0,45 = 4672*103 kWh (fuel)

55
 Solved problem
The lower heating value of MSW at 40% moisture is
given 10 GJ/ton or 10000/3600 = 2,77 MWh/ton.

4672*103 / 2,77*103 = 1686,64 ton/year

The equivalent amount of MSW for operation at 75

kW will be with average MSW production of 2,3kg/day:

1686,64*103/(2,3kg*365)=2009 persons

Amount of dry MSW will be:

1686.64 *(1-0,4) = 1011,984 ton dry MSW/year

56
Thermal Conversion of Biomass

Direct Combustion

Thermal Gasification Various

Conversion Gaseous and
Liquefaction Liquid Fuels,
Tars and
Pyrolysis Charcoal

Biomass Energy
and Heat

Anaerobic Methane
Processes
Biological
Conversion

Fermentation Ethanol
Figure 6: Schematic diagram showing how biomass are converted to produce heat and energy.

57
 Combustion
Fundamentals
• 1 kg dry wood requires 1.42 kg O2 or 6.13
kg air at standard temperature and
pressure

• 1 kg dry wood produces 1.83 kg CO2

• The combustion process described above

releases about 20 MJ per kg of dry wood
burnt.

• This varies slightly from one wood species

to another, but most lie in the range 19 to
21 MJ/kg.

58
 Thermal Conversion,

Combustion

• Based on elementary analysis

C2.61H4.63N0.10O2.22ash26.7S0.01 + 2.7625 O2Æ

2.61 CO2+0.10 NO2+0.01 SO2+2.315 H2O+26.7 ash

Two tiny Questions:

1. What is elementary analysis?

2. What are the pollutions?

• Combustion is known as incineration direct and firing burning

What is the chemical description of combustion?

What are the products of combustion?
What is incineration?
59
 Thermal Conversion, Combustion

Fundamentals
• Biomass fired boilers are typically limited to steam Production.
Also, they are limited to a maximum economical pressure of 10
bar

• Production rates up to 227-270 ton/h and power generation: 5

to 25 MW

• Fuel cost consideration, material Handling difficulties

• 80 km is economical maximum travel distance

Biomass fired boilers are typically limited to steam Production. What are the
limitation and what is the ranges
What is the economical transport distance for biomass (today)

60
 Thermal Conversion, Combustion
Process Steps

• For a 20 millimetre sized particle, combustion can

be classified into two phases namely:

– pre-ignition phase
– post-ignition phase

Name two phases and 4 process in combustion of biomass (or solid as whole)
OBS: Learn about the temperature ranges for each process and flame
appearance

61
 Thermal Conversion, Combustion
Process Steps

• For the combustion of this biomass particle, the

following stages may occur simultaneously or
concurrently.

– Drying (up to 100°C)

– Devolatilisation (above 150 °C)
– Volatile combustion (Flaming combustion)
– Char combustion (Glowing Combustion)

Name the stages in biomass combustion process

Which stages in combustion is endothermic (answer, drying)

62
 Thermal Conversion, Combustion

Emissions
• Chemically Bound S (sulfur)

• Chemically bound N (nitrogen)

• Three types of NOX (Nitrogen Oxides) formation

Thermal Equilibrium Concentration of Nitric

Oxide

6000
Nitric Oxide (PPM)

–Thermal-NOX 5000
4000
–Prompt-NOX
3000
–Fuel-NOX 2000
1000
0
727 827 927 1027 1127 1227 1527
Temperature (C)
63
 Fuel NOX Formation

• The oxidation of nitrogen compounds contained in fuel

• this relationship between the nitrogen content and fuel

NOx is neither linear nor simple.

• In fuels, such as coal and heavy oil, that are high in

nitrogen content, approximately 20% to 60% of the fuel-
bound nitrogen is oxidized

• The concentrations can vary from less than 0.5% to more

than 2%.

64
 Fuel NOX Formation

• As the nitrogen content of the fuel increases, the fraction

of the fuel nitrogen converted to NOX often decreases.
(suggesting two competing pathways)

• The rate of NOX formation because of fuel nitrogen is

strongly affected by the local oxygen concentration
present in the flame and by the mixing rate of the fuel and
air.

• One way to reduce fuel NOX emissions is to reduce the

nitrogen content in the fuel.

65
 Thermal Conversion, Combustion
Large Scale Combustion of Biomass
Wood chip, Wood chip, Wood Powder,
inclined grate Fluidized bed Powder Burner

How do you combust biomass in

large scale?
What is inclined grate?
What is fluidized bed?

66
 Thermal Conversion, Combustion

Hardware
Fuel
supply
Flue gas
recirculation
Fuel
Secondary air feeding

Grate
Exhaust Hydraulics
to boiler for grate

Ash removal
67
Thermal Conversion, Combustion

Hardware

68
Thermal Conversion, Combustion

Hardware

69
70
 Thermal Conversion, Combustion
Operational Problems
• Fouling of Heat exchanger surfaces , (e.g. straws).

• Because of formation of Low fusion point alkali

metal salts

• By keeping the temperature in the combustor below

about 900 °C you avoid the formation of these metal
salts
• At 900 °C, it is difficult to remove the ash as molten
slag

• Slagging Index (developed by petrochemical

industry) is developed to rate the solid fuels for
fouling
What are the common operational problems in large scale
combustion of biomass
71
 Thermal Conversion, Combustion, Hardware
Slagging Index

• Slagging Index corresponds to the mass of alkali metal

as oxides (K2O)+Na2O per energy units

(% ash)*(%Alkali in ash)/ MJ/dry kg = kg alkali /GJ

• Index range
0 -0,17 kg /GJ is of low slagging risk
0,17-0,34 kg /GJ is probably slag
index grater than 0,34 kg /GJ is slagging

• Another problem is corrosion

– High temperature corrosion (chemical)
– Erosion (mechanical corrosion)

What is slagging index, define the formula and its ranges

72
 Thermal Conversion, Combustion

Emission Control
• Particulate Matter (PM) in the flue gas
– cyclonic separation, electrostatic precipitation, agglomeration, flirtation

• Acid gas emissions

– Flue gas recirculation, treatment with Lime

• NOx emission
– Stage combustion, Low excess air, flue gas recirculation, control of residence
time, selective catalytic and non catalytic reduction

• Toxic x-chlorinated dioxin, agent Orange

– The compound is destroyed when the temperature is 1000°C for a milliseconds

How do you remove the particulate Matter in flue gas?

How do you remove the acid gases?
How do you remove the NOx?
How do you remove toxic x-chlorinated dioxin?
73
 Thermal Conversion

Pyrolysis and Liquefaction

• Pyrolysis is defined as the direct thermal decomposition of
organic components in the absence of oxygen

• Pyrolysis is also called carbonization destructive or dry

distillation.

• Pyrolysis transforms hazardous organic materials into gaseous

components, small quantities of liquid, and a solid residue
(coke) containing fixed carbon and ash.

• There is long time or short time pyrolysis (flash, rapid or ultra

pyrolysis)

What is pyrolysis?
Name two types of pyrolysis process.
What are the products of pyrolysis process?

74
 Thermal Conversion, Pyrolysis and Liquefaction
Mechanisms
• Pyrolysis of organic materials produces combustible gases,
including carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane, and other
hydrocarbons.

• If the off-gases are cooled, liquids condense producing an

oil/tar residue and contaminated water.

• Pyrolysis typically occurs at operating temperatures above 430

°C.

• The pyrolysis gases require further treatment. The off-gases

may be treated in a secondary combustion chamber, flared, or
partially condensed.

• Particulate removal equipment such as fabric filters or wet

scrubbers are also required.

75
 Thermal Conversion, Pyrolysis and Liquefaction
Mechanisms

• As the temperature increases so does the H2

production rate.

Name the product gases in pyrolysis process

What should the temperature level be if H2 production would be the aim of the
process.

76
Thermal Conversion, Pyrolysis and Liquefaction

Pathways and Kinetics

Dehydration

dmv
− = A exp(− E / RT )(1 − mv )
dt
mv= mass of volitiles remaining (kg)
A = Arrhenius constant
E= Activation energy (kj/kmol)
R= universal gas constant (kj/kmol-K)
T= Temperature (K)

77
 Thermal Conversion, Pyrolysis and Liquefaction

Thermodynamics
• For most biomass pyrolysis is endothermic at
temperatures below 400°C to 450°C and exothermic
at higher temperatures

When is pyrolysis endothermic or exothermic?

78
 Thermal Conversion, Pyrolysis and Liquefaction

Product and Yields

• The Products are.
– Water
– CO
– CO2
– Charcoal
– Hydrocarbon
– Tars
– Polymers
This figure is important Plz see that you Gas
learn it Tar
What are the product of pyrolysis if the Solid
temperature of process is 1000°C and
residence time is in range of 10-2S?

What are the product of pyrolysis if the

temperature of process is 500 °C and
residence time is in range of 10-2S?

79
Thermal Conversion, Pyrolysis and Liquefaction
Product and Yields
Conventional Slow Pyrolysis

80
 Cost-benefit Analysis

CO2 reduction
• A villa is heated by a oil fired heat boiler. The specific fuel
consumption is 0,61 liters of oil / kWh (heat)

• The owner wants to replace the oil fired burner with pellets
burner

• Calculate annual CO2 reduction in case of replacement of the

oil fired burners

• The villa consumes 16000 kWh for heating.

• Assume that: Oil has 0,54 kg Carbon /kg oil and it has a
density of is 920 kg/m3

81
 CO2 Reduction
• Calculate how much CO2 are you producing per molecule
of Carbon
C+O2 ÆCO2
12+32Æ44

• Given: 0,54 kg Carbon/kg and the density is 920 kg/m3

• Combustion of 1 kg of C gives 44/12 = 3,67 kg of CO2.
Then combustion of 1 liter oil gives:

0,54(carbon/kg)*(920 (kg/m3) /1000(liter/m3)*3,67 (kg

of CO2) = 1,82 kg of CO2/liter

82
 CO2 Reduction

• The present oil consumption for heat generation is:

16000(kWh)*0,61(liter/kWh) = 9760 liter

• The reduction of the CO2 emissions will then be

1,82(kg of CO2/liter)* 9760= 17763.2kg CO2

83
The primary Conversion Routes, (Review)

84
Proximity, Ultimate & Elemental Analysis

85
 Thermal Conversion,
Gasification
• Gasification (direct oxidation, starved-air or starved
oxygen combustion) are those that utilize less than the
stoichiomertic amounts of oxygen need for complete
combustion

• Solid fuels can be converted to a form that can be used

more easily

• Examples of applications: furnaces, Internal combustion

engine, gas turbine

Define the gasification process and what is the aim of gasification

process?

86
 Gasification Sub-processes

• Drying: The water within the fuel is removed by evaporation.

• Pyrolysis: The volatile gases, mainly CO2, CO, and

hydrocarbons are released from the dry fuel through thermal
degradation, in absence of an oxidant. The solid remaining is
called char.

• Combustion: Total and partial combustion of gas and char.

Provides the energy required in the other steps.

• Reduction: Remaining char is reduced with CO2, H2O and heat

to form H2 and CO.

87
 Gas Composition and Heating Value

• The gas produced in the gasifier is a mixture of combustible and

non-combustible components.

• The combustibles gas are: H2, CO, (if air is used as oxidizing
agent) and several hydrocarbons.

• H2O, CO2, N2

• Depending on the content of N in the fuel and on the gasification

process, ammonia (NH3) will as well be part of the product gas.
NH3 is a potential source of NOX emission.

• The gas composition and heating value of the product gas

depends on the gasification agent, i.e. if air, oxygen or steam
have been used.
What are the main components of produced gas by gasification process?
What could affect the concentrations and heat value of the produced gas?
What is the effect of NH3 on the emissions level? 88
What is the effect of N2 on heat value of the produced gas ?
 Gasifier Design

H2 CO CO2 CH4 N2 Tars Dust

(amount) (amount)
Downdraft 12-20 15-22 8-15 1-3 45-55 Low Fair
Updraft 8-14 20-30 5-10 2-3 45-55 High Low
Fluidized bed 9-15 9-18 15-19 4-8 46-57 Fair High

89
 Pyrolytic Gasification

• Pyrolysis has been discussed before (see slides 54-58), Below

is an advance construction called indirectly heated, fluid-bed
system, aiming at removal of Nitrogen

90
950 °C
 Partial Oxidation
• Biomass is supplied with less than the stoichiometric

315-1000 °C
40-200 °C

1650°C

91
 Thermal Conversion, Gasification
Steam Gasification

• Steam Gasification is a process where steam is used as

the gasification agent.

• It improves the overall process via the endothermic

steam-carbon reaction,

C6H10O5+H2OÆ6CO+6H2

• Steam Gasification occurs as a two step process

– At 300-500 °C volatile compounds are evolved and some
residual char is formed

– At 600 °C the volatiles compounds are steam reformed to yield

synthesis gas

• Gasification in Liquid Water and hydro-gasification will

not be discussed
Give a chemical formula of steam gasification process.
What are the steps in the steam gasification process? 92
 Gasification and Power Generation
• Depending on the end application of the product gas and
plant size, there are different gasifier designs.

• Small, packed-bed gasifiers (updraft, downdraft or cross

draft) may be suitable for stationary IC-engine operation
(with electricity generation) or for gas burner application.

• Fluidized bed gasifiers (bubbling, circulating or

pressurized) can be quite large and are thus applied for
larger plants, which for example may involve gas turbines,
steam boilers, methanol synthesis etc.

• Pressurized entrained flow gasifiers are commercialized for

coal as fuel and under development for black-liquor
gasification to produce bio fuels.

93
Gasification and Power Generation

94
 Gas Composition, Methanol Production

• Idealized gas Composition from Indirectly heated, steam

gasification process applied to methanol synthesis from
biomass is:

95
 Gasifier Efficiency

• The cold gas efficiency (CGE) is a measure of gasifier

performance.

• It can be defined as the ratio between the flow of

energy in the gas and the energy contained within
the fuel.

• It is called cold gas efficiency as it does not take into

account that the product gas exiting the gasifier is
hot.

• The higher the CGE, the better the fuel conversion

96
 Gasifier Efficiency

– ηCG = Cold gas efficiency %

– LHVgas = lower heating value of the product gas (MJ/ m3n)
– Vgas = normal volume flow of gas (m3n/s)
– LHVfuel =lower heating value of the gasifier solid fuel
(MJ/kg)
– mfuel = solid fuel flow (kg/s)

Define the cold gas efficiency of a gasifier

97
 Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of liquid fuels
The Fischer-Tropsch process is a catalyzed chemical reaction in which synthesis gas, a mixture of
carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is converted into liquid hydrocarbons of various forms. The most
common catalysts are based on iron and cobalt, although nickel and ruthenium have also been
used. The principal purpose of this process is to produce a synthetic petroleum substitute, either
from coal, natural gas or biomass, for use as synthetic lubrication oil or as synthetic fuel.

Gasoline + Diesel + Wax

CnH2n and CnH2n+2 + CO2, H2O, oxygenates

CO
H2

H
H
Hans Tropsch
H H H H
O
C H
C O C
H H

Catalyst Surface: Cobalt, Iron, Ruthenium, etc

98
 Natural Biochemical Liquefaction

• In addition to Cellulose, Lignin and hemicelluloses

– Polymeric and non polymeric organic solids
– Low molecular weight organic liquids

• Used as transportation fuels

– Glycerides which are, straight-chain acids containing
even number of carbon
– Terpene which are, isomeric hydrocarbon of molecular
formula of (C5H6)n

99
 Natural Biochemical Liquefaction
Biodiesel Glycerides

• Some biomass species produce natural esters of fatty acids

and fatty alcohols

• E.g.
– Jojoba yields esterification product of C20-C22 straight chain
– Seed oils yield triglycerids, three long chain of fatty acids
– Soybean
– Rapeseed

• Range of potential oil yield is about 400 to

1800 L/ha/year

100
 Natural Biochemical Liquefaction
Biodiesel, Terpenes

• It is produced by natural biochemical mechanisms

– Natural rubber, Hevea rubber tree
– Tall oils, during production of wood pulps by sulfate (Kraft
process) tall oil is formed

• Problems using Biodiesel for direct/indirect injected

engine
– Higher viscosity
– Lower volatility

• Conversion to methyl or ethyl esters

101
 Thank You
and good Luck to you all

102