China investing in German Biomass-to-Liquids biorefineries
China and Germany have two things in common: they are energy- intensive export- nations that are leading the transition to renewables, and their agricultural and forestry sectors generate vast amounts of biomass 'waste' that could be used to make liquid biofuels. Wood waste, corn stover, wheat straw, beet tops, rice straw... the flow is diverse and massive. Germany could get some 10% of its liquid fuel needs out of its wood waste stream alone; China might be able to make up to 35% of theirs from similar biomass.
The search has been on for the most efficient bioconversion technology that liquefies the ligno-cellulosic biomass and turns it into clean fuels and specialty biochemicals. It would be uneconomical though to build dedicated biomass-to-liquid (BTL) plants for one single dedicated biomass stream, because that would imply using dedicated plantations on dedicated land, implying high costs - whereas the elegance of BTL-technologies precisely lies in the fact that they can in principle convert any kind of biomass waste into fuel, merely using existing waste-streams. But until now, such 'multi-feedstock' BTL-plants faced two major problems: (1) the diverse origins and (2)the wide-ranging energy contents of the different kinds of biomass streams. Moreover, given low energy contents, the biomass is bulky and transporting it to one central BTL-facility would be too costly.
A decentralised system
German engineers from the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe have now found an elegant solution to these problems simply by dividing the process (called "Bioliq") into two separate stages - each carried out in a decentralised plant.
Eckhard Dinjus, director of the Institute's chemistry department, explains that in the first stage, raw biomass is converted into an intermediate high-energy density pyrolysis fuel via fast-pyrolysis (biomass brought to a moderate temperature of 500°C after which it is pyrolised by a very short steam injection, resulting in 75% liquids, 12% char and 13% gas). This fuel, called pyrolisis 'slurry' or 'bio-oil', has an energy content of 25 Gigajoules per cubic meter (compare with crude oil: 40Gj per cubic meter), which makes it much easier to transport than the primary bulky biomass with its low energy content.
This 'intermediate' bio-oil is then transported to a central facility where it is gasified and synthesised at temperatures reaching 1200°C and pressures of up to 80 bar, resulting in a tar-free 'synthetic biofuel' that can be used as a transport fuel.
Biorefineries
Besides the synthesis-fuel that is ready to be used as a transport fuel, the bio-oil contains a whole range of basic chemicals (acids, sugars, aldehydes, esters, alcohols, ketones, phenolics, oxygenates, hydrocarbons, steroids) that can be used as building blocks for a series of commercial specialty chemicals (acetic acid, hydroxyacetaldehyde, levoglucosan, levoglucosenone, maltol...). The gas that is released during the process can be used to generate electricity to power the plants, and the biochar can be converted into fertilizers or used in power plants as a high energy density solid biofuel.
Thus, the BTL-technology is rapidly becoming one of the most promising routes towards genuine "biorefineries", resembling petro-chemical refineries and delivering liquid fuels, green chemicals and solid biofuels.
The "Bioliq" system was demonstrated in a pilot plant, proving its efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Clean synthetic biofuels were produced for under 50 €urocents per liter. But Dinjus says that in countries where much more biomass waste is available, such as China, the costs would be significantly lower.
The research is supported by several German ministries, including the Ministry of agriculture and the Ministry of energy and renewables, and during Chancellor Merkel's recent visit to China, Dr Peter Fritz, director of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe which developed the technology and his Chinese counterpart M. Chengzhong Chu, director of Zibo Treichel Industry & Trade, have signed an agreement for the technology transfer of the Bioliq system. The Chinese government estimates that, using such efficient BTL-technologies, it can derive up to 35% of its current liquid fuel needs from waste biomass streams.
More information:
The search has been on for the most efficient bioconversion technology that liquefies the ligno-cellulosic biomass and turns it into clean fuels and specialty biochemicals. It would be uneconomical though to build dedicated biomass-to-liquid (BTL) plants for one single dedicated biomass stream, because that would imply using dedicated plantations on dedicated land, implying high costs - whereas the elegance of BTL-technologies precisely lies in the fact that they can in principle convert any kind of biomass waste into fuel, merely using existing waste-streams. But until now, such 'multi-feedstock' BTL-plants faced two major problems: (1) the diverse origins and (2)the wide-ranging energy contents of the different kinds of biomass streams. Moreover, given low energy contents, the biomass is bulky and transporting it to one central BTL-facility would be too costly.
A decentralised system
German engineers from the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe have now found an elegant solution to these problems simply by dividing the process (called "Bioliq") into two separate stages - each carried out in a decentralised plant.
Eckhard Dinjus, director of the Institute's chemistry department, explains that in the first stage, raw biomass is converted into an intermediate high-energy density pyrolysis fuel via fast-pyrolysis (biomass brought to a moderate temperature of 500°C after which it is pyrolised by a very short steam injection, resulting in 75% liquids, 12% char and 13% gas). This fuel, called pyrolisis 'slurry' or 'bio-oil', has an energy content of 25 Gigajoules per cubic meter (compare with crude oil: 40Gj per cubic meter), which makes it much easier to transport than the primary bulky biomass with its low energy content.
This 'intermediate' bio-oil is then transported to a central facility where it is gasified and synthesised at temperatures reaching 1200°C and pressures of up to 80 bar, resulting in a tar-free 'synthetic biofuel' that can be used as a transport fuel.
Biorefineries
Besides the synthesis-fuel that is ready to be used as a transport fuel, the bio-oil contains a whole range of basic chemicals (acids, sugars, aldehydes, esters, alcohols, ketones, phenolics, oxygenates, hydrocarbons, steroids) that can be used as building blocks for a series of commercial specialty chemicals (acetic acid, hydroxyacetaldehyde, levoglucosan, levoglucosenone, maltol...). The gas that is released during the process can be used to generate electricity to power the plants, and the biochar can be converted into fertilizers or used in power plants as a high energy density solid biofuel.
Thus, the BTL-technology is rapidly becoming one of the most promising routes towards genuine "biorefineries", resembling petro-chemical refineries and delivering liquid fuels, green chemicals and solid biofuels.
The "Bioliq" system was demonstrated in a pilot plant, proving its efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Clean synthetic biofuels were produced for under 50 €urocents per liter. But Dinjus says that in countries where much more biomass waste is available, such as China, the costs would be significantly lower.
The research is supported by several German ministries, including the Ministry of agriculture and the Ministry of energy and renewables, and during Chancellor Merkel's recent visit to China, Dr Peter Fritz, director of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe which developed the technology and his Chinese counterpart M. Chengzhong Chu, director of Zibo Treichel Industry & Trade, have signed an agreement for the technology transfer of the Bioliq system. The Chinese government estimates that, using such efficient BTL-technologies, it can derive up to 35% of its current liquid fuel needs from waste biomass streams.
More information:
- Umweltmagazin: Pilotanlage zur Produktion von synthetischem Kraftstoff aus Biomasse
- Médiaterre: Un concept de biocarburants issus de la biomasse développé par le centre de recherche de Karlsruhe et exporté en Chine - August, 30, 2006
- Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe: Mit bioliq zukunftsfähige Mobilität für China - May 22, 2006
- Bio-Energy Research Group, Aston University, Birmingham: Fast-pyrolysis based biorefineries [*.pdf]
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