This project has the ambition to demonstrate a technology that simplifies the gas cleaning step in any large scale biofuel production plant based on gasification and evaluate it against competing technologies. It is an innovative technology, but based on the widely used Fast Catalytic Cracker, principle, which is modified for the requirement of a large scale biomass gasifier. The demonstration to be conducted is in line with the commercialisation path for the technology. The technology was technically proven on product gas from a 2-4 MW biomass gasifier in 2010-2011 and activates directed towards commercial types of FCC reactors was started late 2011. The demonstration is closely linked to the commercial implementation of large scale bio methane production via gasification that at the moment is taken place in Gothenburg Sweden by Göteborg Energi. An estimate based on the first unit in this implementation, a 160 GWh/year bio methane unit (bio methane to natural gas grid planned for November 2013), is that a switch of technology to the one that is going to be demonstrated in this project could reduce the overall investment cost with as much as 30%, at the same time as the variable cost can be reduced with more than 10 % and that the amount of biofuel produced in the process could increase with up to 10 %. Regarding overall efficiency no gains are expected as the first plant already has an overall energy efficiency in the range of 90 %, whereof 65% correspond to the energy stored in the bio methane, which is a result of an efficient integration of the process with the district heating system of Gothenburg.
Associate Professor at Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Energy Technology
Göteborg, Sweden
Lund, Sweden
Berlin, Germany
Hamburg, Germany
Funding Chalmers participation during 2014–2017
Driving Forces
Areas of Advance
Infrastructure