Turning biomass into energy and fuel
The European Union is leading the way globally with ambitious targets for CO2 emission reductions as well as energy production from Renewable energy sources (RES). Biomass is an RES that will certainly play an increasingly important role in Europe's energy portfolio. The EU's Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Programme funded the Biomass Technology Group BV (BTG) in the Netherlands through the BIO-ENERGY CHAINS project to evaluate the potential of biomass gasification. BTG's initial efforts with different energy crops revealed problems with bed agglomeration in a standard fluidised bed gasifier due to minerals such as chlorine. This results in low temperature gasification, which in turn produces low quality gas loaded with tar. Fortunately, BTG's experience in gasification helped them devise a solution. Their approach involved breaking the gasification process down into steps, starting with low temperature vaporisation based on pyrolysis. A second, higher temperature stage employs the latest generation catalytic tar reforming. An analysis performed by BTG's experts led to the identification of several basic requirements for a commercial gasification system. Biomass of varying origin must be supplied at a rate of 1-2 tonnes per hour. This is in order to be profitable and to avoid the risks associated with relying on a single crop type. Economic viability can be ensured if the system is online at least 6000 hours per calendar year. BTG believes such systems could be implemented in a relatively short period of time across Europe.