Gasification and FT-Synthesis of Lignocellulosic Feedstocks

With GAFT the objective is to swiftly introduce liquid biofuels production in the Norwegian market through local production. The challenge is to be able to make the overall process economically viable at a scale that is suitable for Norway by taking into account the Norwegian conditions and existing infrastructure. This will give the opportunity to replace parts of the fossil fuels with a sustainable alternative. Two specific markets are targeted, biojetfuel for the aviation sector and biodiesel for the heavy road transport sector. Biomass, which is the starting point of the energy conversion route, will mainly consist of Norwegian low-grade biomass resources in addition to cleaner biomass fractions. Key aspects that have been identified as crucial for the success of the project are: (1) The plant size should be in the medium range (100-500 MW) in order to keep the fuel transport costs in check (2) The entire process has been optimized with the idea of having three separate sub-processes: a. Decentralized feedstock pre-treatment sites using torrefaction b. A centralized gasification and FT site for bio-crude production c. The use of existing refineries for further upgrade of the bio-crude into transport fuels We have so far arranged workshops with the industry in order to build realistic cost and energy models for the entire value chain that is relevant for the Norwegian conditions. We have also invited IEA Bioenergy, Task 33 Gasification of Biomass and Waste to a joint workshop in Trondheim where activities within gasification and FT-Synthesis were disseminated. The theme for this workshop was "the production of aviation biofuels through gasification of biomass". Work on pretreatment of Norwegian feedstocks is showing some promising results in terms of producing pretreated mixtures that behave less problematically in entrained flow technology. In addition, several catalysts have been tested for the FT-process and some promising ones have been picked and tested further. In 2017, a workshop was arranged with the purpose of a) educating the industry on the methods used for cost estimation of producing biofuels and b) obtaining input from the industry to improve the techno-economic models used in this project. The cost of biocrude has been estimated to ranges between 18 and 22 $/GJ for plant scales between 150 and 600 MW based on the input feedstock energy to the entrained flow gasifier. This estimate takes into consideration co-processing of woody biomass and sludge residues from anaerobic digestion where the gate fees for the sludge residues were set to 50 $/ton. The results from this work have now been published in the journal Energy & Fuels. The second steering committee meeting for 2017 was held at Follum and was hosted by Viken Skog. The meeting extended over 2 days where in the first day a workshop was arranged for the dissemination of project results to the industry. The second day combined a formal SC meeting with a midway evaluation of the project which witnessed the participation of Trond Værnes from the research council of Norway. The first steering committee meeting for 2018 was held at Oslo airport (Radisson Blu) on the 8th of June while the second meeting was held in Trondheim on the 28th and 29th of November. During the workshop, arranged on the 28th of November, the technoeconomic evaluation of biofuel production based on entrained flow gasification of biomass followed by a FT-process was presented. A sensitive analysis was also performed and helped us understand how parameters such as Logwood availability, logwood cost at road, logwood moisture, distance to the plant, transport costs (fixed & variable), torrefaction energy yield, entrained flow gasification cold gas efficiency and FT-CO conversion efficiency, influence the biofuel production costs. The conclusions so far: a. Economy of wood to biofuels very dependent on wood price and logistics of supply b. Decentralized torrefaction leads to higher biofuels production cost c. Torrefaction gases to EFG improves feedstock supply cost and biofuels production costs d. Co-processing with sludge beneficial above 50 $/ton e. Upgrading at refinery leads to 10-15% lower biofuels production costs GAFT was officially ended in June 2019. 2019 was used to perform the delayed experimental activity in relation to entrained flow gasification. These experiments have now been performed and we are in the process of writing a scientific publication which will be finalised by the end of the year. We also plan on running an additional campaign which should also result in a publication in 2020.

Prosjektet har jobbet med å fremskynde teknologi for produksjon av flytende biodrivstoff, fremstilt av råstoff og gjennom utnyttelse av arealer som ikke kan utnyttes til produksjon av mat eller dyrefor. Prosjektet har bidratt til en betydelig kompetanseutvikling i hele verdikjeden fra ressursinnhøsting til biodrivstoff produksjon. Det er også jobbet med konvertering av sidestrømmer som næringslivet er meget opptatt av, f.eks. reststrømmer fra anaerob nedbrytning av organisk avfall. Disse har fått mye fokus spesielt med tanke på mikroplast innholdet. Dette arbeidet gir industri som sliter med omdisponering av slike sidestrømmer kunnskap om konvertering til en syngass. Det er også utviklet beregningsmodeller for prediksjon av biodrivstoff pris for den valgte prosesskjeden. Gjennomført sensitivitetsanalyse gir en pekepinn på politiske føringer som må til for å få realisert anlegg for biodrivstoff produksjon som er konkurransedyktige i forhold til eksisterende fossilbaserte løsninger.

GAFT aims at accelerating implementation of liquid biofuels production in the Norwegian market through studying and developing reliable and more cost efficient technologies that will open for the replacement of fossil fuels with a sustainable alternative. Two specific markets will be targeted, bio-jetfuel for the aviation sector and bio-diesel for the heavy road transport sector. The project will facilitate technological advancement in entrained flow gasification as well as the Fischer-Tropsch synthetic process. The project will aim at utilizing a diverse range of available fuels, from relatively clean wood chips to low-grade forestry and agricultural residues which besides being more economical, will be available in substantial amounts. Substantial efforts will be concentrated on addressing some of the main technical challenges and on optimizing the overall process economy through increased energy efficiency over the entire value chain. This will be attained by carefully looking into the needs of the Norwegian market. Two key areas have been identified as necessary for a successful implementation: (1) Technology development for a medium scale plant (100-500 MW) which is considered more suited for Norwegian conditions. (2) The division of the overall process into three separate units consisting of (a) Decentralised feedstock pre-treatment sites using torrefaction. (b) Centralised gasification and FT for bio-crude production. (c) The use of existing refineries for further upgrade of the bio-crude into transport fuels. In addition, integration of the gasification/FT installation with concrete cases such as Tofte and Follum for optimal and flexible energy utilisation will be evaluated through a techno economic assessment. GAFT builds on the experience accumulated through the previous competence building GasBio project.