Energy from Agricultural Biomass Sources Experiences and Success Factors

Vietnamese-German Forum on Bioenergy in Vietnamese Industries

S t 16th,
Sept.
16th 2013
2013, Intercontinental
I t
ti
t l Asiana
A i
S i
Saigon,
Ho
H Chi Mi
Minh
h Cit
City (Vi
(Vietnam)
t
)
(Mirko Barz)

Agricultural Residues as Energy Sources

Manyy agricultural
g
residues can p
potentially
y be used as bioenergy
gy sources.
Examples:
crop residues such as
- straw (field based residue) or
- husks (process based residue)
Animal manures and slurries

Byproducts from industrial processing of agricultural products

- bagasse from sugar industry
- EFB from palm oil industry
- wastes from food processing
industries
The most significant division is between those residues that are predominantly dry (such as straw)
suitable for thermo-chemical conversion routes and those that are wet (such as animal slurry)
suitable for biological conversion routes

Examples for Agricultural Residues, Suitable as Energy Sources

EFB

A i l manure
Animal
Coco-nut shell

Rice straw
Ri husk
Rice
h k

Sugar can
bagasses
Source: Pham Quang Ha, Nguyen Van Bo

Agricultural Residues as Bioenergy Sources

- Currently, around 5.1 billion dry tones of agricultural
residues are produced globally (IEA 2010)
- This amount represents approx. 75 EJ
or respectively 15 % of the current global primary energy demand of 500 EJ

Picture source: Ecopanel Systems Ltd.

- Depending on the location it is assumed that 25 50 % of the agricultural residues could

generally be used for bioenergy production on a sustainable basis

The role of biomass within a renewable energy economy

Biomass can make a significant contribution to future energy supply !!!
(I)

Residues from agriculture and forestry ~ 100 EJ,

(II)

Surplus forest production ~ 80EJ,

( ) Energy
(III)
gy crops
p ~ 120 EJ,
(IV) Additional energy crops (areas with degraded soils
and moderate water security) ~70 EJ,
(V) Additional potential when agricultural productivity
increases faster than historic trends, thereby
producing more food from the same land area
~140
140 EJ

Source: IEA - MAIN REPORT 'Bioenergy - a sustainable

and reliable energy source.
A review of status and prospects (2009)

Agricultural Residues as Energy Sources

Source: www.fao.org
www fao org ... Biomass energy in ASEAN member countries

Agricultural Residues as Energy Sources

Advantages:

Food or fuel discussion using agricultural residues no competition with food;

No additional land required;

Energetic use can reduce environmental problems (e.g. harmful emissions from open field
burning and reduce fossil fuel based GHG emissions)

Decentralized local utilization contributes to:

- income generation,
Community Based
Energy Systems
- rural development

Disadvantages:

low energy density not suitable for long distance transportation of fuels

Seasonal availability

Competition to other uses, e.g. animal feed or conservation of soil fertilizity (nutrient cycle)

The most significant division is between those residues that are

predominantly dry (such as straw) suitable for thermo-chemical conversion routes
and those that are wet (such as animal slurry) suitable for biological conversion routes

Conversion routes

Agricultural residues

Dry
residues,
such as
straw

Pre-conversion logistics
Harvesting / collecting Transportation Preparation - Storage

Thermo-chemical conversion

Combustion

Gasification

Pyrolysis

Bio-chemical conversion

Alcohol
fermentaiton

Biogas
fermentation

Physico-chemical conversion

Compacting

Solid / liquid / Gaseous fuels

Electric energy

Thermal energy

Wet
residues
such as
manure

Combustion

The favorable conversion pathways for heat and power generation from dry agro-residues are:
- A) direct combustion of straw combined with conventional steam cycle processes
- B) Pyrolysis/Gasification of straw to generate (secondary) liquid or gaseous biofuels
to use them in IGE, gas turbines or FCs
- C) combined BIGCC (Biomass Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) technologies
The favorable conversion pathway for heat and power generation from wet agro-residues are:
- Biogas systems (covered lagoon and plug flow versus CSTR and UASB)

Example Straw as Energy Source

Straw applies to a wide range of crops delivering straw
straw, including all cereals such as wheat
wheat,
rice, maize, sunflower and other oil seeds (e.g. rape) etc.

Straw is one of the most promising agricultural

residues, suitable for energy generation

Its estimated that approx. 2.5 3 billion ton

of straw (dry matter) are produced globally
each year

Only a fraction of these amount is used for

g
p
purposes
p
or energy
gy p
production
agricultural

The availability of excess-straw for energy

generation depends on regional conditions and
g ((0 to 60% of the p
produced
varies in a wide range
mass).

Photo source: Thrn, D. (DBFZ)

Example rice straw as energy source

Rice straw in Asia
Country

Rice Production
in Mio t/year

Total amount of rice straw

in Mio t/year

China

184.1

138.1

India

139.1

104.4

Vietnam

35.8

26.9

Cambodia

63
6.3

47
4.7

Laos

2.7

2.0

Thailand

29.3

22.0

Myanmar

30 6
30.6

23 0
23.0

Malaysia

2.2

1.6

Indonesia

54.5

40.8

Phili i
Philippines

15 3
15.3

11 5
11.5

Asean total

176.6

132.4

Total ammount

499.8

374.9

Example Straw as Energy Source

Aspect:
Biomass can provide various forms of Energy

(heat, electricity and transport fuels)

Storaged chemical Energy

Straw
Biomass

Conversion to
secondary fuels
(e.g. gasification)

Direct combustion

CHP cogeneration

Heat

Heatt
H
Electricity

Storaged chemical Energy

Combustion engine
(in cars)

Mechanical/
kinetic
Energy

Example rice straw as energy source

Advantage of direct combustion of rice straw:
-

Thermal power plants for solid fuels are state

of art
Proven and robust technology
Commercial operated systems for straw
combustion
in many countries since > 20 years (e.g.
Denmark)
Technology could be provided to Vietnam
t !
too!

Example rice straw as energy source

German technology provider such as ERK are offering first-class
b il and
boiler
d combustion
b ti systems
t
based
b
d on license
li
agreements
t

10 MW (el.) Biomass Power Plant at

Banbueng (Thailand) . ERK boiler
technology

Case study: Setup of a 10 MW straw fired power plant in Thailand

Source: M.K. Delivand; Assessing the feasibility of Process Chains for Energy production from
Rice straw in Thailand, Dissertation at the Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment,
King Mongkuts University of Technology Thonburi

Fuel demand for a 10 MW power plant

Assumptions
Nominal capacity of the plant

10 MWe

Annual operation hours

6000 hrs

Overall efficiency of the plant based on LHV

23%

Low heating value of rice straw

12.39 MJ/kg

Moisture content (MC)

11%

Annual rice straw demand on dry basis (db)

75,798 ton db /year

Annual rice straw demand on wet basis (wb)

84,135 ton wb /year

Loss of rice straw during handling and storage

10%

Actual annual rice straw demand for the projected 92,549 t/yr
plant

Case study: Setup of a 10 MW straw fired power plant in Thailand

Source: M.K. Delivand; Assessing the feasibility of Process Chains for Energy production from
Rice straw in Thailand
Thailand , Dissertation at the Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment
Environment,
King Mongkuts University of Technology Thonburi

Specific Investment Cost

1000 T
THB/kW

90
80
70

Cost provided from

Thai Boiler Manufacturer

60
50

Major components

40

5 MWe

10 MWe

20 MWe

Boiler including fuel handling, fan and

pumps

38.17

36.39

36.18

Steam turbine and condenser

15.27

14.05

17.63

Heat exchanger

3.31

3.31

3.25

Civil work and building facility

10.69

9.92

9.28

Electricity transmission

8.91

9.09

8.35

Fumes treatment

3.82

5.79

6.03

Others

19.85

21.49

19.29

Total

100

100

100

30
5

10
Capacity MWe

20

% of total capital cost

Case study: Setup of a 10 MW straw fired power plant in Thailand

Source: M.K. Delivand; Assessing the feasibility of Process Chains for Energy production from
Rice straw in Thailand
Thailand .

Results
Economic parameters in Investment scenario 30% equity, 70% loan
(based on model of DEDE Economic and Financial Analysis of RE Power Development in Thailand)

Parameter

Capacity 5 MWe Capacity 10 MWe

Capacity 20 MWe

NPV (MB)

18

255

733

IRR (%)

22

31

PB (year)

3.2

From the
F
th economic
i view
i
th
the use off rice
i straw
t
ffor power generation
ti is
i promising!
i i !
There are still a number of some barriers to be solved, as:
- high logistic efforts to collect and store the straw,
- higher investment and equipment costs compared to power plants using only
woodyy biomass sources,,
- lack of technical know-how and experiences in Thailand
- ...........
Cooperation between Universities, Manufacturers and Investors can help to solve problems

History of Biogas Utilization in Vietnam

1960 75 (1st Period)
- In the Northern part, the Ministry of Industry published translated documents on How to make artificial
methane and collect the gas
1964 first Methane
1964Methane power station
station of Vietnam in Bac Thai province (MoI)
(MoI), followed by some
biogas plants between 1965-1975 in the North (Hanoi, Ha Nam Ninh and Hai Hung
- In the Southern part, the Agriculture /Forestry/Animal Research Department started to study the
production of methane from animal manure in the same period, but no applications were deployed.
Problem:
After short time of operation many of the biogas plants were shut down due to improper management and
technical problems.

1976 1980 (2nd Period)

- Vietnam Institute of Energy started research work focused on design, development and testing of
suitable biogas plants
Problem:
Caused by a lack of technology cooperation and financial support the systems often did not
work properly.

History of Biogas Utilization in Vietnam

1981 1990 ((3rd Period))
- More than 2,000 biogas units with family-scale and the size from 3qm 10qm,
- Technologies, were simple style technologies, such as:
Indian Style Floating Drum Systems

Photos, Source: GIZ

Chinese style fixed dome digeste

Low cost plastic tube digester

History of Biogas Utilization in Vietnam

Since 1991 up to now (current Phase)
- Biogas technologies have been rapidly developed in Vietnam (strong assistance from the Government
and International organizations)
- Today, approx. 200,000 household scale systems (5 20 qm) are installed
- simple systems
systems, gas utilization for cooking/lighting
- Only one industrial scale application (total capacity 2MW, consisting from 4 units x0.5MW) exist,
- A number of medium scale applications (farm scale) using the plug-flow technology were deployed
during the last years

Photos, Source: SNV

500m3 digester at Mr Chaus farm in

Quang Ninh close to completion
October 2012

- For medium biogas plants no standard model has properly enforced, the development and variation is
strongly influenced on the location
- Thus,
Th
there
th
are rectangular,
t
l round
d and
d cylindrical
li d i l shapes,
h
etc.
t off concrete,
t b
brick,
i k PVC or
plastic film covers, each have different advantages and disadvantages and different efficiency
and investment needs.
- The systems are still very simple constructed, using mostly animal manure as substrate.

Status quo of Biogas Utilization in Vietnam

Although Vietnam is an agricultural country with a large volume of potential biogas feedstocks, only two major sources are currently used for biogas production.
These are:
- animal manure e.g. from pig farms
- wastewaters from cassava starch factories.
As an agricultural country, Viet Nam has great potential to develop bio-gas from
agricultural residues or special grown energy crops.
Up to now, the huge potential of agricultural residues in Vietnam is widely unused.
Until now, in Vietnam there are only a few research activities for the optimized production
and use of medium and large scale biogas technology in terms of
- efficiency,
- durability and
- reliability
The medium and large-scale biogas sector in Vietnam is in relation to existing
technologies and procedures (mainly covered lagoons or unstirred plug-flow systems) more
or less in its infancy,

Germany is recognized by the Vietnamese side as the leading

modern biogas technology country in a global comparison.

Success story Biogas in Thailand as Example for German

development cooperation

First introduction of Biogas technologies

in Thailand started around 1950 using
the Indian floating
g drum System
y

1988 the Thai-German

Thai German Biogas Program, a joint initiative of the Thai government, the German
international development agency GTZ (GIZ) and Chiang Mai University was launched to
promote the Thai biogas industry by introducing improved technologies
(The program introduced new biogas recovery technology to mitigate growing environmental concerns due
to the open-air dumping of waste)

Today- Thailand has ist own biogas industry and strong R&D
capabilities (e.g. at ERDI (CMU))

Between 2005 and 2010, the amount of biogas-based grid electricity went from 2 to 214 GWh.
Since the target for 2022 under the REDP (2008) has been already exceeded , a new target
for biogas has been set (the new plan set the biogas target at 600 MW in 2021)

New Support for the Biogas Sector in Thailand

A new support program Distributed
Distributed Green Generation for Community Enterprises
Enterprises
was passed by the National Energy Policy Council (NEPC) in February 2013.

New target is to push the development of biogas power generation using energy crops as feedstock and
to enhance the development of distributed and community-based renewable energy systems.

political target: setup new biogas projects with a capacity of 10,000 MW within 10 years.

With th
li a FIT off 4
5B
ht (11
24 C
t) per kWh shall
h ll b
t d ffor th
ti off 20
the new policy,
4.5
Baht
(11.24
Cent)
be granted
the d
duration
years to systems smaller than 1 MW.

Great Interest of investors

is expected since technologies are available

Is such a policy support in Vietnam conceivable too???

Suitable substrates for biogas production (beside animal manure)

In Vietnam
Use of suitable wastes from agro
g processing
p
g industries such as
- EFB from palm oil production,
- Waste from cassava starch factories,
- Coffee pulp,
- Pineapple
pp p
peel,,
- Banana waste etc.,
Organic fraction of municipal waste
Additional opportunities to use special grown energy crops or grasses as substrates.
For the efficient biogas production from agro processing residues and/or energy crops as
feedstock, advanced technologies with improved mixing devices and operated under
constant mesophilic (or even thermophilic) conditions are favorable.

Technological requirements to use energy crops and/or

agro wastes with high solid content as substrates
Since CSTR ((continuous-flow
Si
ti
fl
stirred
ti d ttankk reactor)
t ) biogas
bi
systems
t
can d
deall with
ith
materials with contents of high solid suspension Its expected that this
technology might be used for the future deployment of the biogas sector in
Vietnam too.

Alternative Options to use Biogas in Vietnam - Biomethane

A promizing option of biogas utilization is the production and feeding-in of Biomethane into the natural
gas grid
grid.
The great advantage is that the Biomethane can be used in energy provision where it achieves the
greatest benefit (efficiency):
in combined heat and power units (CHP) with cogeneration of heat and electricity.
as fuel to substitute natural gas and to run NGV (Vietnam is now starting its next stage of NGV
development, recently Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is preparing to manufacture 300 buses running on compressed
development
natural gas (CNG) to replace the diesel- fueled buses)

Biomethane as fuel for NGV

Traveled kilometer of a car using

Biometrhan produced from energy
crops from 1 ha agricultural land.

German Technologies, Experiences and know how can help to

develope a Biomethan Infrastructur in Vietnam
Status of biomethane production in Germany

Currently 105 plants to upgrade biogas to biomethane are in operation.

Most of the plants (32) use the principle of chemical scrubbing and (31) pressurized water scrubbing,
Caused by the high efforts to regenerate the amine solution for chemical scrubbing (demand on energy),
its expected that the share of water scrubbing will increase in the future
Pressurized water scrubbing might be the favorable solution for installing biomethane
production in Vietnam.

Recommendations for joined R&D Activities in the Biogas Sector

R&D to study fundamentals of process stability using specific Vietnamese Agro-waste as Substrates
for Biogas Production in Vietnam

Techno-Economic Assessments/Evaluation of various technological concepts (including studies of

trends and innovations appropriate for Vietnam)

Appropriate Technology Transfer

Development of system safety concepts

Ecological Assessment (Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA))

Social and macroeconomic rating (Societal LCA)

Development of trainings material and content for implementation packages

General Accompanying scientific research

contact:
Prof. Dr. Mirko Barz
barz@htw-berlin.de