COMPETITIVE HYDROGEN FROM AGRO-FORESTRY RESIDUESNew four step process, dealing with the tar problem
The original process comprises four steps to arrive from humid biomass to nearly pure hydrogen. The proposed reduction will still give good added value. It is limited to the most innovative of the steps, skipping the first (drying and pelletising fresh biomass) and the last (steam shift of syngas to hydrogen), which are the steps with least technological risk.
It is expected that the development of the second step (carbonisation of the pellets) and the third step (steam reforming of the cabonised pellets) gives maximum added value, also because we intend to integrate them with each other. It will lead to results that can easily be combined with the first and last step (because to a good measure independent) to yield a process that can be implemented commercially.
The second and third step require the most research in order to define the best process parameters and to obtain an optimal energetic efficiency and the best composition of the syngas, with the least possible amount of impurities (resolving also the known tar problem for gasification).
The role of fund raising to implement the objectives of this reduced proposal within a complete (including first and last step) becomes important in order to guarantee a concrete impact of this project on the NIS countries and their relation to the EU. It is expected that investors will be found that are interested to realise a complete line, as the partners have been networking in the last years to obtain this. Below is the chemical composition of the biosyngas which is the product after the 3rd stage just before the shift conversion process.
The whole process includes the following steps (this reduced proposal skips steps 1 and 4):
1. (Biomass pelletisation with a new pelletiser process where no drying heat is needed).
2. Carbonization of the pellets by air at 280-550оС; to increase concentration of carbon content in the solid stock.
3. Steam (Н2О) gasification of the carbonized biomass is performed in the presence of gasification catalysts at 850-950оС; in order to produce maximal yields of the wanted products such as СО and Н2. This step will be integrated with step 2 into one reactor, in order to use the heat of that step.
4. (Shift-Conversion Process of bio-syngas to generate additional hydrogen. In this step we intend to apply new approaches to the Shift-process performance, namely, the catalytic reaction will be performed in a reactor with a controlled temperature profile and integrated with a reactor with regulated temperature).
Participants
1. European Biomass Industry Association (EUBIA), Belgium
2. Energia, Trasporti, Agricoltura S.r.l., ETA, Italy,
3. Luikov’s Heat and Mass Transfer Institute, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus,
4. Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Russia
5. Centre for the Development of Innovative Technology “Renewable Energy”, CDIT, Russia;
Contract Number
INTAS Ref. Nr 05-1000005-7745
Duration
1st January 2007 – 1st January 2009
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