Refurbishment of catalytic tar reformer and projecton green gasoline

John Bøgild Hansen, Haldor Topsøe A/SIEA Meeting, Skive, October 25, 2017

We have been committed to catalytic process technologyfor more than 70 years

• Founded in 1940 by Dr. Haldor Topsøe• Revenue: 700 million Euros• 2400 employees• Headquarters in Denmark• Catalyst manufacture in Denmark and

the USA

Tar reforming – Enabling technologyfor biomass gasification

• Gasification of biomass results in a syngas that contains tars andcontaminants• 1000 -2500 ppm tar• 50 – 100 ppm S, particulates• 850-930°C, 1-30 bar g• Ammonia decomposition BIOMASS

ASH

GASIFIERTAR REFORMER

“Dusty” tar reforming

PROCESSING& UTILIZATION

TARREFORMER

BIOMASS-FEED

ASH

GASIFIER

“Dusty” tarreforming10-30 g dust / Nm3

HOT GAS FILTER

Skive Fjernvarme a.m.b.a. (Skive CHP)

Location Skive, Denmark

Capacity 21 MWth, Max 28 MWth

Operational year 2009

Fuel consumption 100 TPD

Fuel Biomass, wood pellets

Gasification techn. Air blown, bubbling fluidized bed

Pressure range 1 – 3 bar g

Power generation Gas engines

GASIFIER

GAS FILTERGAS COOLER

3 GAS ENGINES

TAR REFORMER

BIOMASS(pellets)20 MWth

Fuel input

AIR & STEAM

ASH (C<2%)

FLY ASH

2 BOILERS

TO STACK

WATER

GAS SCRUBBING

GAS BUFFER TANK(pressure stabilizer)

DISTRICTHEATING11 MWth

POWER6,0 MWe

Copyright Carbona INC Finland

Temperature: 875 °C

200 °C

40 °C

30 °C

Cyclone

900 °C

Pressure: 2 bargBed material: olivine

Biomass Gasification Gas Engine

Tar reforming reactor before revamp 2014:

• Poor control ®Unstable operation

• Damaged internals

• Troublesomecatalystreplacement

• Poor workingenvironment.

Lower productivity

7

The rebuild tar reformerhas several advantages…

Improvements:• Improved design of reactor internals• Faster and easier catalyst replacement• Much better working environment• Efficient dust blowing• Improved design of catalyst• Better dust handling ® increased utilization• Improved process control• Robust long-term activity ® longer lifetime

Increased stableoperation hours

GASIFIER

GAS FILTERGAS COOLER

3 GAS ENGINES

TAR REFORMER

BIOMASS(pellets)20 MWth

Fuel input

AIR & STEAM

ASH (C<2%)

FLY ASH

2 BOILERS

TO STACK

WATER

GAS SCRUBBING

GAS BUFFER TANK(pressure stabilizer)

DISTRICTHEATING11 MWth

POWER6,0 MWe

Copyright Carbona INC Finland

Temperature: 875 °C

200 °C

40 °C

30 °C

Cyclone

900 °C

Pressure: 2 bargBed material: olivine

Biomass Gasification Gas Engine

Tar reformer revamp:

• Pressure shellmaintained

• New reactorinternals

• New catalystdesign

9

The robust tar reformer

The new design of the reformerhas led to• less dust deposition• better dust blasting• controlled regeneration of the

monolithsIncreased operation hours andlonger lifetime of the monoliths.

“Clean” tar reforming

PROCESSING& UTILIZATION

TARREFORMER

BIOMASS-FEED

ASH

DUST

HIGH TEMPERATUREHOT GAS FILTER

QUENCHGAS “Clean” tar reforming

1 -10 mg dust / Nm3

GASIFIER

Nickel-based

Gas Technology Institute, Chicago

Location Chicago, USA

Capacity ~ 4 MWth

Fuel consumption 18 TPD

Fuel Biomass, wood pellets

Gasification techn. Oxygen blown, bubbling fluidized bed

Pressure range 1-9 bar g

Gas Technology Institute, Chicago

• Tar reformer ~ 1150 run hrs

• No soot formation

• 15 min. lack of oxygen

• No deactivation!

750 – 950 °C

1050 – 1375 Nm3/h

Full tar conversion

30 – 160 ppmv H2S

MethanolSynthesis

Gasoline

C3-C4

Water

MTGMethanol To Gasoline

MeOH↔DME GasolineSynthesis

Separation

Day Tank(Raw Methanol)

Synthesis Gas

MeOH/DMESynthesis

TIGASTopsøe Integrated Gasoline Synthesis

TIGAS Demonstrationsanlæg

•1 T/d; > 7000 timer, Houston, Texas, USA

T/d & kg/hPilots

H-ZSM-5

Historical Perspective

25 bbl/d Demonstration Plant

OXYGEN

BIOMASS

ASH

GASIFIERTAR REFORMER

BIOMASS

ASH

GASIFIERTAR REFORMER

TARR

EFOR

MER

BIOMASS

GASIFIER

ASH

http://www.energy.gov/news2009/releases.htm

GasolineMeOH/DMEGas

CleaningOXYGEN

MeOH/DME

Green Gasoline from Wood Using Carbona Gasification and Topsoe TIGAS Processes

Pseudo-Adiabatic Pilot, Ravnholm

• 290-430°C

• 15-20 barg

• WHSV = 0.8 – 2.6 h-1 fixed bed

• Gasoline reactor: ZSM-5

• Cycle length: 10-40 days

• Lifetime: 1-2 years

Methanol to gasoline (MTG)

GasolinereactorMeOH Gasoline

Green Gasoline from Wood Using Carbona Gasification and Topsoe TIGAS Processes

OXYGEN

BIOMASS

ASH

GASIFIERTAR REFORMER

BIOMASS

ASH

GASIFIERTAR REFORMER

TARR

EFOR

MER

BIOMASS

GA

SIFIER

ASH

http://www.energy.gov/news2009/releases.htm

GasCleaning

OXYGEN

Entire value chain: biomass in à gasoline out

Biogasoline Demonstration Plant

MeOH/DME Gasoline

• Gasification & Tarreforming (existing)

• Morphysorb® AGRunit (existing)

• Utility units & controlsystem (existing)

• Syngas compression(new)

• TIGAS synthesis unit(new)

• Gasoline & wastewater tanks (new)

Biorefinery facility

Gasoline testing• Engine emissions testing at Southwest Research Institute

• Tested a 80/20 high biomass TIGAS/gasoline blend.• Emission levels better than for conventional gasoline.• Found to be ”substantially similar” to conventional gasoline

• Fleet test• Testing 8 vehicles (EPA Standard Road Cycle)

• 2 Camry (2.5 L PFI),• 2 Corolla (1.8 L PFI)• 2 F-150 (3.5 L V6 EcoBoost®),• 2 Fusion (1.5 L EcoBoost®)

• Commercial gasoline vs. 50% biogasoline blend

• Accumulate 75,000 miles per vehicle

• Engine inspections

• Engine emission tests @ 4000 & 75,000 miles

GridPower

GasTurbine

Fuel gas and/or LPG fractionused for power generation

Economics

5 cases: Gasoline production cost, IRR, and GHG reduction

Summary

• MTG: direct conversion of methanol to gasoline• Topsøe MTG: TIGAS is a versatile technology for conversion of syngas to gasoline• Escalating share of unpredictable renewable energy

• is a challenge to balancing supply/demand balance in the power grid• adds increasing demand to standby backup capacity• increases overflow frequency

• Co-production of power and fuel• is a feasible solution to counteract imbalances• improves overall system flexibility• maximizes operator revenue

• Simplicity and efficiency makes TIGAS suitable for co-generation• through integration with IGCC or traditional power plants• enabling air-blown gasification of biomass• providing fast response to load variations• and providing maximum fuel/power flexibility

Thought experiment

TARREFOR

MER

Biomass

ASH

GASIFIER

N2 CO2

H2 CO

~16 MWth

~7 MWth

Metanol/DME Gasoline

Gasoline

~100 bbl/d

Skive > 20.000 citizens

6.000 households6.000 cars30 km/d (180.000 km/day)11,3 km/l Gasoline

15.900 l Gasoline/day100 bbl./day

Skive

Fuel Cell and Electrolyser

½O2

H2 H2O

½O2

H2O + 2e- → H2 + O2-

O2-

O2- → 2e- +½O2

H2 + O2- → H2O + 2e-

O2-

½O2 + 2e- → O2-

SOFC SOECH2H2O

H2 + CO + O2 H2O + CO2 + electric energy (∆G) + heat (T∆S)SOFCSOEC

SOEC more efficient than present ElectrolysersInternal waste heat used to split water

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Deg C.

kWh

perN

m3

H2

Minimum Electricity Input

Waste heat which can be utilised to split water

Energy needed to evaporate water

Biogas upgrade by means of SOEC

CH4 + CO2 + 3H2O + El 2CH4 +H2O + 2O2

New EUDP project50 kW SOEC and 10 Nm3/h methane

Participants:Haldor Topsøe A/SAarhus University

HMN NaturgasNaturgas Fyn

EnergiMidtXergiDGC

PlanEnergiEa Energianalyse

Coordinator:

Duration:June 2013 -Dec. 2017

Project sum:5.3 mio €Location:Foulum

Methanation and SOEC at Foulum

GreenSynFuel Project

Mass Flows in Wood to MeOH

Mass Flows in Wood + SOEC to MeOH

Effciencies: Stand alone wood gasifierand gasifier plus SOEC

LHVEfficiency %

WoodGasifier

alone

Wood gasifierPlus SOEC

Methanol 59.2 70.8District Heat 22.6 10.8Total 81.8 81.6