PROCEEDINGS OF ECOS 2012 - THE 25TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCEON EFFICIENCY, COST, OPTIMIZATION, SIMULATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF ENERGY

SYSTEMS JUNE 26-29, 2012, PERUGIA, ITALY

Industrial Scale Demonstration Plant with Downdraft Gasifier coupled to Pebble Bed Regenerative Heater for CHP Production
Marta Trninia, Goran Jankesb, Mirjana Stamenic, Tomislav Simonovid and Nikola Tanasi d
Mechanical Faculty University of Belgrade, Kraljice Marije 15, 11000Belgrade, Serbia, a mtrninic@mas.bg.ac.rs b gjankes@mas.bg.ac.rs c mstamenic@mas.bg.ac.rs d tsimonovic@mas.bg.ac.rs e ntanasic@mas.bg.ac.rs

Abstract:
The paper presents the development of downdraft gasifier, with input thermal power up to 0.5 MWth. Modelling of corn cob gasification process shows that corn cob is a good quality fuel (HHV of 18.63 MJ/kg), 3 whos use can produce high quality gas (HHV of 6.2 MJ/m ). The survey of the energy potentials of available biomass and prospects of biomass down-draft gasification in Serbia is presented. The widespread availability of agricultural biomass in Serbia, which is renewable and potentially neutral in relation to global warming, initiated the extensive research for the industrial development of biomass combined heat and power plant. The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade and the Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad proposed new project Technologies for using biomass for combined heat and power generation ( 18026) in 2008. According to the results of biomass and waste gasification experiments carried out years ago on laboratory scale reactors, but also based on the results of wide number projects recently presented in literature, the concept of CHP demonstration plant was developed and a down draft gasification unit of thermal power up to 0.5 MW is designed. Corn cob as a widely available, but also very suitable agricultural residue for gasification was chosen as a biomass raw material. The energy potentials of corn cob as a fuel, gasifier designs, modelling of corn cobs gasification process and properties and heat potentials of the producer gas after downdraft gasification are presented and discussed. Utilization of agricultural residues, as corn cob, would undoubtedly contribute towards lessening Serbian dependence on imported fossil fuels.

Keywords:
Gasification, Corn Cob, Pebblebed Heater (PBH), Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Generation

1. Introduction
Political, economic and environmental drivers have pushed energy to the forefront of international politics in recent years. In 2005 the Serbian Parliament adopted, The Strategy of the long-term energy development of the Republic of Serbia by 2015, outlining the countrys major energy challenges over the next years, and possible ways of meeting them. According to the EU Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (2009/28/EC) each Member States has a target calculated according to the share of energy from renewable sources in its gross final consumption for 2020. The target is in line with 20-20-20 goal of the Community. Moreover, the share of energy from renewable sources in the transport sector must amount to at least 10 % of final energy consumption in the sector by 2020. With its activities to join the EU, Serbia had adopted regulations of the EU and committed to fulfil designated targets. One of the first steps in implementing a Directive 2009/28/EC was introduction of Feed-in Tariffs for production of electricity from renewable energy sources. Republic of Serbia introduced Feed-in Tariffs in 212 - 1

November 2009 with two main documents: The Decree on Conditions for Acquiring Status of Privileged Producers and Criteria for Granting Status and The Decree on Feed-in tariffs for the renewable energy sources (RES) energy generation. But in spite of that, production of energy from renewable resources, at this moment, is just a significant potential for Serbia The Serbian energy policy scene is dominated by concerns for security of supply, energy for development and poverty alleviation. The major energy demand is provided from the fossil fuels. Currently, Republic of Serbia is not able to settle energy needs with available domestic primary energy sources and therefore 30-40% annual energy needs are imported. According to data in Energy balance for 2011, Republic of Serbia has highly import dependence (5.31 Mtoe in 2010) of primary energy sources (oil and natural gas) [1]. On the other hand, the total renewable energy potential in Serbia is more than 4.3 million toe per year [2]. The most important source of biomass in Serbia is in agriculture and forestry (2.7 million toe) [2]. It is easily to conclude that RES could have a strategic role in keeping the balance between energy supply and demand in Serbia. Unfortunately, production of energy from renewable resources in Serbia is still present only on some small project attempts and pilot facilities. Production of energy from renewable resources in Serbia is still present only on some small project attempts and pilot facilities. The main reasons for this are the following: the lack of appropriate technologies for the use of biomass as a fuel in the market, low energy prices and the lack of the support for R&D work were the reasons for no commercial application and interest. The paper presents the research work in frame of the project Technologies for using biomass for combined heat and power generation supported by the Ministry of Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. This Project presents one of possible methods of using the corn cobs in the process of biomass gasification and combined heat and power generation. As a result of developing Project Technologies for using biomass for combined heat and power generation, fixed bed downdraft gasifier of 0.5 MW was developed; modeling of the gasification process with maize residues (corn cobs) as a fuel and modeling of coupling of gasification process to power engines was realized. Downdraft gasification is generally favored for heat and electricity generation, owing to the low content of tars and dust in producer gas.

2. Biomass potentials agricultural residues

Producing energy from renewable sources in Serbia is in its initial phase, and therefore this paper points towards the basic assumptions and potentials for the development of this activity in Serbia. Total primary energy consumption in Serbia in 2010 was 14.97 Mtoe million toe [1], while the agricultural residues represent a significant potential of primary energy source - 1.7 million toe. Agricultural residues are the main biomass renewable sources. Agriculture land in Serbia is occupying the area of 5.100.000 ha. Large quantities are burned, or left rotten in fields and only 0.5 million toe (27%) are evaluated as potentials for energy production [1]. Analysis of the structure of the biomass residues from agricultural production shows that the most widely planted agricultural crop in Serbia is maize and wheat. It is estimated, that almost 60% of agricultural field are planted with maize. It is estimated that from 100 ha of agricultural areas planted with corn can be obtained about 130 t of corn cobs, which is equivalent to 52 toe. Many farmers, from their point of view it is useless to collect maize residues after harvesting. The reasons are: no need for using corn cob for cattle breeding, their existing domestic stoves or boilers are not adjusted for burning of large pieces of unprepared corn residues, and there is no market for selling biomass residues. As a result, they often burn down the corn cobs at the field. This trend of unusing corn cob means represent a pure loss of energy. The question concerns whether it is easier and safer to dig and transport fossil fuels over long distances or, to gather biomass residues from all over the land and use them in the place of fossil fuels. Especially because there is such a large amount of biomass available, which renews every year and, especially since it's incorrectly utilized 212 - 2

by being burned in the field. It could be the largest resource for energy, when currently it is the least used. The question to be raised is: what are advantages of corn cob comparing to rest of maize residues? Maize residues, as stalks and leaves and cobs represented 47% and 16% of the aboveground biomass. The corn cob has a higher dense comparing to corn leaves and corn stalks. The volumetric energy density of an energy feedstock is significant when considering the volume of biomass needed to be harvested, transported, stored, and utilized in an energy production process. The higher the energy density, the less volume of biomass is needed to produce a given amount of energy. Corn stalks and leaves have high volume, and lower energy density. Volumetric energy of the corn stalks and leaves can be achieved by pelletilization [3], but pelletilization process requires additional energy and equipment [3]. Corn cobs are sufficiently dense and therefore do not require densification. In order to prove that corn cob as a potential good quality fuel, proximate and ultimate analysis was done, Table 1. Corn cob has a high heat value, low Nitrogen and Sulphur contents. As a direct heat source, corn cobs have a high heat value of about 18.6 MJ/kg. Table 1. Proximate Analysis and Heating Value of maize (corn cob) Proximate analysis (wt%, db) VM 81.1 Fix-C 17.4 Ash 1.4 Ultimate analysis (wt %, db) C 47.5 H 6.3 O 43.9 N 0.5 S 0.1 Heating value (MJ/kg) HHV 18.6

3. Downdraft gasifier design and properties of producer gas

At the Department for Process Engineering of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade, several experimental laboratory gasifiers were designed and tested with different kind of gasification processes using biomass and waste material. In order to benefit from the chemical energy contained in biomass this energy has to be transformed into more convenient energy forms like heat or electricity. Gasification is a thermal chemical process that converts a solid fuel rich in carbon into a gas. Producer gaseous can be easily used for combined heat and power generation. Gasification and pyrolysis are efficient methods of harnessing energy efficiently from corn cob. The performances of mathematical models to predict the product gas quality rely on characterization of feed materials and the reaction kinetics of their thermal degradation. According to the results of biomass and waste gasification experiments carried out, years ago, on laboratory scale reactors at the Department for Process Engineering of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade, but also according to the results of wide number projects recently presented in literature, the concept of downdraft demonstration unit is designed, [4]. The downdraft gasification unit of thermal power up to 0.5 MW is designed. Corn cob as a widely available, but also very suitable agricultural residue for gasification was chosen as a biomass raw material. 212 - 3

The principle of gasifier design is presented in the Figure 1. Downdraft gasifier has input thermal power up to 0.5 MW.

Fig. 1. Downdraft gasifier design. Maize residues (corn cobs) are added from the top throughout closed tube section. In the higher zone, some drying and heating (from radiation) is taking place. The air, needed for gasification process, is introduced lower down in order to produce the heat for gasification [5]. The air, is supplied trough nozzles into the combustion area at the temperature of approximately 350oC. As gases from drying and pyrolysis section pass through this zone, tars are cracked effectively [5]. In the lower zone, reductions take place where the resulting coke is endothermically converted into gas, using the heat from the combustion referred to above [5]. The ash is removed from the system using a cone grate system, also having the role as a stirrer for the formed char. As the ash fusion and melted ash formation on grate is possible, operation parameters to prevent ash melting need to be studied carefully in demonstration experiments. The producer gas leaves the gasifier at approximately 700oC. Down-draft fixed-bed gasification is generally favoured for heat and or electricity generation, owing to the simple and reliable gasificators and to the low content of tars and dust in producer gas. In the scope of previous project Technologies for using biomass for combined heat and power generation it is suggested that gas clean-up problems would be largely avoided if biomass gasifiers would be coupled with Pebblebed Heater (PBH). PBH is regenerative heat exchanger, filled with bulk material consist-of spherical pebbles of different materials and may operate at high temperatures to heat and cool gaseous media. PBH consists of at least two units due to the requirement for continuous operation. During the heating phase, producer gas (after gasification) passes through the first unit where the gas is heated up to 900 oC. In this phase, the oxygen is introduced into the PBH chamber and thermal destruction of tar is happening. Tar free gas passes though the second PBH where is cooled to a temperature of approximately 700oC (cooling phase). After a certain period of time, the units will switch and exchange their phases of operation, thus allowing continuous tar removal with minimal reduction of gas heating value. Presented concept of biomass gasification is to feed clean, tar-free gas into the gas engine to produce electricity and heat. The principal scheme of downdraft gasifier in demonstration plant for CHP is shown on Fig. 2. 212 - 4

Fig.2 The principal scheme of downdraft gasifier in demonstration plant for CHP.

The gas composition, amount of producer gas and amount of air were defined by modelling of the corn cob gasification process. The thermodynamic equilibrium model was used for downdraft gasifier in order to calculate the composition of producer gas. The advantage of equilibrium models is that they are independent of gasifier design and characteristics. Equilibrium models are valuable because they can predict thermodynamic limits as a guide to process design, evaluation and improvement. For the model developed in this work, the following assumptions are made the residence time of the reactants is high enough to reach chemical equilibrium, reactions proceed adiabatically, ash is inert and is not involved in any of the reactions, either as a chemical species or as a catalyst, and the gasification products contain CO2, CO, H2, CH4, N2, H2O, O2. Model equations contain mass balance (C, O, H and N) equations, equilibrium equations and equation of Dalton's law. MathCAD software was used for modelling gasification process. Corn cob has proven to be an ideal raw material for gas production, with a HHV of 18.6 MJ/kg (1.4% wt. ash). The amount of air needed for gasification is estimated to be 215 m3/h. The composition of producer gas, after process of gasification is presented in Table 2. Results obtained in this analysis are in the good agreement with results obtained by literature review ([6], [7], [8], [9]). The output of the gasifier is determined to be approximately 360 m3/h (raw gas at normal conditions), with high heating value (HHV) of 6.2 MJ/m3. Table 2. Gas composition after downdraft gasification of corn cob Gas composition (vol%, db) CO 24 CO2 22 H2 10 CH4 4.7 N2 37.7 O2 1.6 High heating value (MJ/kg) HHV 6.2 212 - 5

Mass and energy balance of gasification plant shows that the efficiency of gasifier up to 80% can be expected. With the application of recuperation, or the use of hot gas directly after the gasificator, the gasification efficiency of 90% can be achieved. Not a single biomass gasification system for commercial use has yet been built in Republic of Serbia, but the process and system have been developed to the point that they can be safely offered to the potential customers. Considering the importance of the implementation of biomass for energy production, from year of 2011, Project Development of CHP Facility with Biomass Gasification started as a continuation of the previous project Technologies for using biomass for combined heat and power generation with support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia. The aims of new project are: to build a demonstration CHP plant with biomass gasification, optimize the gasification processes in terms of maximum utilization of energy from biomass, to determine conditions for gas engine to gasification coupling. The gas cleaning and heat recuperation will be tasted, and necessarily testing will be done in order to determine pollutants emissions of the plant, and if it is necessarily, segments of equipment will be improved. The new project will determine possible ways of development of the future commercial plant. The CHP Facility with Biomass Gasification is based on downdraft fixed bed gasifier with use of corn cob (HHV app. 18.6 MJ/kg d. b.) and with thermal output of 0.5 MWth, PBH regenerative heat exchanger (for gas cleaning), and gas engine. The expected electrical power is 160 - 200 kWel. Producer gas in demonstration phase would be suitable to be used as additional fuel for the existing hot water boilers, or alternatively, after cooling and dust separation, for electricity production.

4. Conclusion
Renewable energy resources, especially biomass, play a key strategic role in maintaining the balance between energy supply and demand in Serbia. With its activities to join the EU, Serbia is adopting regulations of the EU, where the Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (2009/28/EC) is one to be harmonized with national regulations. Serbia is in the phase to determine its own national targets and to make activity plan for fulfilment of designated targets. It is clear that significant attention will have to be devoted to this sector in the future. The success of biomass implementations in the energy sector of Serbia has been limited by a combination of factors, like inadequate planning policies pricing distortions which have placed renewable energy at a disadvantage, high initial capital costs and the lack of incentive funds. Small-scale gasification is convenient and well tested technology. Small scale gasification plant, is suitable for decentralized and independent energy generation in rural or isolated areas, companies with a need for heat and electricity energy with use of cheap fuels (local biomass). The paper presented the development of downdraft gasifier, with input thermal power up to 0.5 MWth. Modelling of corn cob gasification process shows that corn cob is a good quality fuel (HHV of 18.63 MJ/kg), whos use can produce high quality gas (HHV of 6.2MJ/ m3). The efficiency of gasifier up to 80% and with the application of heat recuperation, or the use of hot gas directly after the gasification, the gasification efficiency of 90% can be achieved. After demonstration phase, it is expected that the facility could be commercialized and used for heat and (or) electricity production in farms. From this research is concluded that gasification of biomass residues is technically feasible and is likely to have limited environmental impacts. However, more experimental data on biomass characteristics and gas engine tests will have to be collected. The sensitivity to fluctuations in producer gas quality and mass flows, pretreatment and feeding biomass materials should be investigated by practical experience.

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Acknowledgments
It should be stated that the mentioned projects are funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Serbia. The authors are also very grateful to Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, especially to Professors Vojislav Novakovic and Morten Grnli, for given opportunity for experimental research work (biomass characterizations, biomass pyrolysis, etc.).

References
[1] Energy Balances of the Republic of Serbia for 2011, Statistical office of the Republic of Serbia and Ministry of Mining and Energy, Belgrade, 2010 [2] Ministry of Energy and Mining, Renewable Energy Sources in Serbia Available at: http://www.mre.gov.rs/navigacija.php?IDSP=299 [3] Zych, D., The viability of corn cobs as a bioenergy feedstock, 2008 Available at:
http://renewables.morris.umn.edu/biomass/documents/zychtheviabilityofcorncobasabioenergyfee dstock.pdf

[4] Jankes, G., Milovanovic, N., Biomass Gasification in Small-Scale units for the use in Agriculture and Forestry in Serbia, Thermal Science, J. Sci., 2001; 5 (2): 4957 [5] Schaub, K., Gemperle, H., Pyroforce Power from Wood System CommerciaBreaktrough Reached, ThermalNET Newsletter, 2008; 6: 12-14 [6] Bridgwater, A.V., The Technical and Economic Feasibility of Biomass Gasification for Power Generation, Fuel, 1995; 74 (5): 631653 [7] Raveendran, K., Ganesh, A., Khilar, K., Influence of Mineral Matter on Biomass Pyrolysis Characteristic, Fuel, 1995; 74 (12):18121822 [8] Raveendran, K., Ganesh, A., Khilar, K., Pyrolysis Characteristic of Biomass and Biomass Components, Fuel, 1996; 75 (8): 987998 [9] Faaij, A., R.vanRee, Waldheim, L., Olsson, E., Oudhuis, A., A. van Wijk, Daey-Ouwens, C., Turkenburg, W., Gasification of biomass wastes and residues for electricity production, Biomass and Bioenergy, 1997; 12 (6): 387-407

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