PRELIMINARY OPERATING RESULTS FROM THE BATTELLE / FERCO GASIFICATION

DEMONSTRATION PLANT IN BURLINGTON, VERMONT, U.S.A.

M.A. Paisleya, M.C. Farrisa, J.W. Blacka, J.M. Irvingb, R.P.Overendc

a B C
FERCO Burlington Electric Department National Renewable Energy Laboratory
3500 Parkway Lane, Suite 440 585 Pine Street 1617 Cole Blvd.
Norcross, GA 30052 Burlington, VT 05401 Golden, CO 80401

ABSTRACT: The Burlington Vermont gasifier is the first commercial scale demonstration of the Battelle
/ FERCO indirectly heated biomass gasification process. The plant is coupled to the McNeil station of the
Burlington Electric Department and is being used to evaluate and demonstrate the gasification technology
both as a producer of fuel gas in the first operational phase and in a combined cycle with a gas turbine power
generation system in subsequent operations. This paper discusses recent operating results at the Burlington
site and compares them with the results obtained in the Battelle pilot plant gasifier. FERCO the owner of the
gasification technology has recently reorganized and been refinanced and plans to develop projects
worldwide.

1. INTRODUCTION

Current biomass electricity systems are almost all based on

boilers fired with wood or agricultural residues. As a result
these systems are limited to approximately 25 percent
overall conversion efficiency to electric power. Much higher
efficiencies are being achieved in natural gas combined cycle
units where efficiencies approaching 60 percent are possible.

Transforming solid fuels such as coal or biomass into gas so

that these higher efficiencies in combined cycle systems can
be achieved is a goal of the United States Department of
Energy (DOE) and the European Union.

The FERCO biomass gasification process was developed to
convert biomass into such a gaseous. Unlike other biomass
gasification processes, the FERCO process is not based on
starved air combustion, but rather rapidly heats raw biomass
in an air free environment to minimize tar formation and
create a solid residue char that is used as a heat source for
the biomass heating. Significantly less emissions are
produced in the process because of the relative ease of
treating the high energy density, medium heating value
gaseous product.
2. PROCESS BACKGROUND
2.1 The FERCO Biomass Gasification Process
The FERCO gasification technology underwent initial
developments at Battelle’s Columbus Laboratories as a part
of the DOE’s Biomass Power Program. The technology is
specifically designed to take advantage of the unique
properties of biomass, such as high reactivity, low ash, low
sulfur, and high volatile matter.
The process:
• Produces a fuel gas that it can be used
interchangeably with natural gas or distillate oil
. In the process sand is used as a heat transfer medium to
• Provides efficiency gains of 60% over
conventional biomass power plants and with
advanced power systems such as fuel cells
improvements of over 160%
Figure 1: The FERCO Biomass Gasification Process
• Provides a non-diluted product gas stream suitable
for synthesis applications. Potential applications
include the production of Fisher Tropsch liquids,
alcohols, and hydrogen
• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions over an order
of magnitude compared with current fossil fuel
based technologies and over 50% compared to
direct combustion of biomass.
The flexibility of the process makes possible the production
of mixtures of the above products as co-products as part of a
“biorefinery” providing increased flexibility depending on
the specific needs of end users.
The process, shown schematically in figure 1, uses two
circulating fluidized bed reactors as the primary process
vessels. The process, unlike most conventional gasification
processes, uses indirect heating of the biomass to generate a
medium heating value (11-14 MJ/Nm3) gas rather than a low
oxygen partial combustion of the biomass.
rapidly heat the incoming biomass and convey char from the
gasification reactor into the process combustor. The FERCO
process takes advantage of the inherently high reactivity of
biomass feedstocks. In the process extremely high
throughputs (in excess of 14,600 kg/hr-m2) have been
achieved.
2.2 The Vermont Development Program
The successful operation in the Battelle pilot plant led to the
decision to scale up the process to commercial scale.
Burlington Electric Department’s McNeil station was
selected as the site for this demonstration plant. The plant
is designed for 182 dry tonnes per day of biomass feed. The
program has been conducted in three phases, design,
construction and initial operation firing the product gas in
the McNeil boiler, and the third phase adding additional gas
cleanup, gas compression, and a gas turbine power
generation system.
2.3 Development Partners
The partners in the development of the process at the
McNeil site are Future Energy Resources (FERCO),
Burlington Electric, Battelle, the US DOE, and the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Battelle engineers
invented the process and conducted the initial developments
under contract to the US DOE in the early 1980's. In 1992,
FERCO purchased the rights to the technology from Battelle
and is now the owner of the worldwide rights. In 1999,
FERCO was reorganized and refinanced, bringing in
additional shareholders including the Turner foundation.
FERCO is developing renewable energy projects based on
the gasification technology worldwide. These projects will
build on the operations at Burlington.
BED has a long history with biomass based power
generation. The McNeil station, at 50 MW is one of the
world’s largest wood fired power stations. BED hopes to
improve its generating efficiency by implementing a
gasification combined cycle system. The US DOE and
NREL provide valuable technical support to the program
along with program management.
2.4 Program Goals and Objectives
The development program at McNeil has as its primary
objective the demonstration, at commercial scale, of the
FERCO gasification process. The scale selected is sufficient
ly large so that commercial scale process equipment could be
utilized to eliminate so called “pilot plant compromises” in
the design.
The program has a number of established technical goals.
These are:
• Develop a reliable technology
• Develop detailed commercial design information
• Demonstrate power production systems
• Demonstrate synthesis applications
• Establish the Burlington site as a developmental
platform
These technical goals parallel the Department of Energy’s
goals for bioenergy. The progress made by the Vermont
Gasification project establishes its role as a key element for
future development of biomass derived products. Thermal
gasification of biomass provides flexibility for the production
of a complete slate of products as described above in a
virtual “biomass refinery”. The favorable size and
processing methods characteristic of thermochemical
processing results in cost competitive products from
renewable biomass resources.
As the program has progressed, the facility has demonstrated
itself to have application beyond the direct development of
the FERCO technology and will be used as a Development
and Applications Testing Platform (DATP) for other
supporting technologies such as gas cleanup, gas
compressing, biomass feeding and handling, and drying.
Each of these supporting technologies are being evaluated as
a part of the current program, but are anticipated to be
expanded to encompass additional technologies after the
initial operating data has been generated.
2.5 Design of the McNeil Gasifier
Plant design was initiated in 1994. Construction began in
1996 and was completed late in 1997. The first wood was
fed to the unit in December of 1997. A photograph of the
facility is shown in Figure 2. The gasifier structure is 34 m
in height and has a rather compact footprint of 10.5 x 14.5
m. An additional scrubber building of 10.5 x 10.5 m
completes the facility. The compact size of the FERCO
gasifier increases its utility for industrial applications and
helps to lower overall capital cost of the process.
Figure 2. The McNeil Gasifier
Startup testing of the process began in earnest in 1998 and
continued into 1999. The first operation of the plant in full
steam gasification occurred in August of 1999.
3. Operating Results in Vermont
3.1 An Extended Startup Period
Startup operations in the plant have extended beyond the
original schedule for the plant leading to an impression that
there has been some “problem” with the technology. On the
contrary, no problems with the process have been
encountered, but rather “non-related” situations have
combined to extend the startup period. These situations
have included:
• The McNeil station is a dispatched plant and does
not operate 7 days a week. McNeil must operate
for the gasifier to operate. This results in a
gasifier operating schedule of approximately 3
 days a week. Comparison of Burlington Data to PRU
100
• Although core process systems have performed as
expected, a number of support systems have 80

Carbon Conversion, %
required significant modifications. These include
60
materials handling, solids separation, and product
gas scrubbing. 40

• Multiple changes in design engineering staff were 20

made due to organizational changes with the EPC

0
contractor. 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Gasifier Temperature, F
• Poor performance of the process cyclone
separators and impacts of the increased solids Figure 3. Comparison of Conversions in PRU and
loading on the scrubber. Burlington Gasifiers

Despite these difficulties, operations at the plant have
continued and positive operating results have been obtained.
As is the case with all development scale projects, some
equipment modifications continue at the Burlington site, but
the operational availability has now increased to the point
where detailed process evaluations are underway.
Figure 3 illustrates the gas production rates expressed as a
fraction of the incoming wood carbon found in the product
gas. The McNeil gasifier data fall well within the data set
previously generated in the Battelle pilot plant even though
initial operating temperatures are below the design operating
point of about 800C (1450 to 1500F).

3.2 Program Accomplishments Other key accomplishments include:

As operations have progressed, a number of significant
accomplishments have been achieved.. Primary among these • Product gas has been generated by the process and
accomplishments is the demonstration of the production of supplied to the McNeil station demonstrating the
a product gas with essentially the same composition and use of the gas as a co-firing fuel, and the
production rates as the projections made based on pilot scale generation of power from biomass gasification.
data generated at Battelle. • Demonstration that char can be transferred
between the process vessels and therefore provide
The following table illustrates the composition of the product the driving force for the process.
gas generated in the Battelle PRU compared to the gas • Wood feed system reliability has been increased
currently being generated in the McNeil gasifier. providing feed rates in excess of “design rates” to
the process
Table 1. Comparision of McNeil Gasifier Gas • Startup operations have been improved reducing
Composition to Battelle Pilot Data startup periods from 12 to 24 hours down to 4 to 6
hours
Pilot Data McNeil Data
• Improvements in the scrubber system have been
H2 17.5 18.0 made to aid in the handling of tars generated in the
process.
CO 50.0 47.0 • Understanding of process response allowing
improvements to the process control system to be
CO2 9.4 14.3 made
• Improvements in wood handling operations have
CH4 15.5 14.9 been made to provide consistent biomass
properties to the plant.
C2H4 6.0 4.7 • Diagnostic tests on the sand circulation system
have been performed that have guided the design
C2H6 1.1 1.1
of circulation system improvements.
HHV • Process design improvements have been identified
that will improve efficiency of the process and
MJ/Nm3 18.5 16.8 reduce capital cost.

Btu/scf 499 455
As can be seen, the compositions are essentially the same
differing only in the carbon dioxide content of the gas. This
difference was due to a small air flow that remained in one
of the sand circulation loops during the test resulting in
combustion of a small portion of the product gas.
As additional operating experience has been gained in the
facility, operating periods have been extended and system
operability has increased. A series of equipment
modifications has recently been completed that will further
improve system operability and allow further process data to
be generated. The current program schedule developed by
FERCO, reflects this improved operation and has as one of
the milestones, continuous, around-the-clock operation in the
McNeil gasifier in early July, 2000.

4. Future Plans
4.1 Parametric Testing
A detailed parametric testing program has been established
that will provide operating data on a range of process
parameters including steam rates, wood moisture, and turnup
and turndown ratios. These operations will provide an
accurate picture of the process operation and provide
additional inputs to subsequent process design activities. As
discussed above, as an intermediate step in the testing
program, FERCO has established a corporate goal of
achieving 24 hours of sustained operating in full gasification
at design conditions by early July.
4.2 Equipment Modifications
Modifications have been identified that will significantly
improve the operation of the sand circulation system. The
modifications will result allow for increased sand
circulation rates and improved performance of the process
cyclones.
• No environmental problems exist with the
technology.
• No extensive preparation of the biomass
feedstocks is necessary for the process.
• FERCO refinancing and reorganization has added
significant momentum to implementation of
commercial projects utilizing the technology..
• FERCO is in active discussions regarding a
number of projects worldwide as both technology
provider and equity participant.
REFERENCES
[1] Paisley, M.A., Slack, W., Farris, G., and Irving, J..
“Commercial Development of the Battelle/FERCO
Biomass Gasification Process – Initial Operation
of the McNeil Gasifier”, Proceedings of the Third
Biomass Conference of the Americas, 1997,
Pergamon-Elsevier Science: Oxford, U.K.; pp 579-
588.

Additional improvements are planned to the process
scrubber system. Minor modifications to the gasifier and
combustor vessels are planned to improve gas distribution in
the reactors.
4.3 Further Investigations
Later in 2000 and through 2001, FERCO will be evaluating
gas conditioning. These studies will initially focus on a
proprietary gas cleanup system developed by FERCO and
Battelle but will also include other commercial and
developing gas cleanup systems as well. These studies will
also demonstrate the ability of the Burlington gasifier to
provide smaller quantities of representative product gas for
evaluation of other technologies at the site including
chemical synthesis, advanced power systems, or hydrogen
generation.
Detailed evaluation of biomass drying options are planned as
a part of the McNeil efforts. Drying has been identified as
an areas that can have significant impact on the overall
capital requirements of biomass gasification systems.
[2] Paisley, M.A. and Overend, R.P., “Biomass
Gasification for Power Generation”, 1994, EPRI
13th Conference on Gasification Power Plants.
[3] Paisley, M.A., Farris, M.C., Black, J.W., Irving,
J.M., and Overend, R.P., “Commercial
Development of the Battelle/FERCO Biomass
Gasification Process: Startup and Initial Operating
Experience,” 4th Biomass Conference of the
Americas, 1999, Pergamon-Elsevier Science:
Oxford, U.K.; pp 1061-1066
[4] Farris, M., Paisley, M.A., Irving, J., and Overend,
R.P., “The Battelle/FERCO Biomass Gasification
Process: Design, Engineering, Construction, and
Startup Phase”, 1998, Seminar on Power
Production from Biomass III, Espo Finland.

FERCO’s development plans also include the design and

implementation of advanced power generation at the site.
Development partners will be added to the program team to
provide the necessary expertise in gas compression, and
power generation. These activities will move the program
into its third phase, installation and operation of a gas
turbine power generation system.

5. Conclusions

Operation at the McNeil site has validated the expected

performance of the FERCO gasification process and has
shown that:

• A medium heating value product gas can be

produced from biomass without the use of pure
oxygen.
• High biomass throughputs can be achieved in
compact reactors