www.ecn.nl

ECN and BIOMASS ACTIVITIESIngo BunzeckCorporate Program DevelopmentBrussels Office

Roeselare18 Juni 2015

ECN: A rich and evolving history

~600 employees

~500 reports in 2011~270 conferences in 2011

~20 patents a year

~5 licenses a year

We are in our 60th year of pushing technology boundaries

ECNEnergy research Centre of the Netherlands

ECN (570)

NRG (370)COVIDIEN (290)

JRC‐IE (275)

Company name (#personel)

Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN)

• Dedicated to Sustainable Energy Innovation

• Core activities in biomass

With and for the market, ECN develops knowledge         and technology that enable a transition to a      sustainable energy system

Biomass

Sustainable energy technology developmentR&D services to industryFeasibility studies, system & technology assessments

Solar Wind Energy efficiency

Policy studies

Petten

Beijing

Wieringerwerf

Amsterdam

Eindhoven

Brussels

WITH THE MARKET andFOR THE MARKET

ECN R&D

Policy Studies

EnergyEngineering

Environment Energy Efficiency

Wind EnergySolar Energy Biomass and waste

ECN R&D

Policy Studies

EnergyEngineering

Environment Energy Efficiency

Wind EnergySolar Energy Biomass and waste

BIOMASS/WASTE R&D

BiorefineryCombustionGasification Torrefaction

BIOMASS/WASTE R&D

BiorefineryCombustion TorrefactionGasification

ECNbio-energy - 50 persons

•Characterization•Property databases

•Torrefaction•Torwash•Pyrolysis•Fractionation•Biochar

•Combustion•Gasification•Biorefinery

•Gas cleaning•Tar removal•Gas conditioning•Separation

•Biofuels•Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG)

•Biochemicals•Power & Heat

Feedstock Pre‐treatment Conversion Separation Product Synthesis

Higher efficiencies, higher availability, lower environmental impact, higher public acceptance, lower CAPEX/OPEX, new applications

Technology development, licensing, techno‐economic evaluations, LCA, consultancy, testing and analyses, due diligence

ROLE of ECN in TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

fundamental research

lab‐scale (1 kg/h)

pilot‐scale (100 kg/h)

demonstration

commercial

effort / €ECN

TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT takes time!

capa

city

[MW

]

bioSNG

bioCHP

now

BIOMASS DOES NOT FIT!we need a trick

• Gasification converts solid fuel to gaseous fuel (chopping molecules)• Opens the door to existing energy systems:

– Boilers– Engines– Turbines– Chemistry– Fuels– Refineries– Steel industry

GASIFICATION

14

wood, agricultural residues, waste, coal, …

H2, CO, CH4, …

STARTING POINTS for ECNMILENA OLGA SNG

• General:– Feedstock flexibility (means: low cost feedstock)– Efficiency (means: low cost production)– Scalability (means: low cost plant)

• MILENA gasification:– Complete conversion (rest carbon is burnt)– High heating value gas (no N2‐dilution)

• OLGA tar removal:– Tar removal above water dew point (no water/tar/particles mixture)– Tar/particles recycle to gasifier

• SNG:– Existing methanation technology and catalysts– Combinations of existing/commercial processes in gas cleaning

ENERGY BALANCE

GasifierSolid fuel (LHV)

Gaseous fuel (LHV)

Heat in gaseous fuel

Heat loss

Carbon loss (in ash)

100%

70‐95%

10‐20%

1‐5%

0‐20%

LHV: Lower Heating Value Excluding electric energy use of: pumps, fans, oxygen production (if any), …Excluding energy recycle: e.g. air preheat and tar recycle

Main target!

Useful 

MILENA TECHNOLOGY

• Highly efficient• Complete conversion• Fuel flexible, tested: wood, waste wood, grass, straw, soya residue, RDF/SRF, sunflower husks, DDB (straw residue from 2nd generation ethanol), high‐ash coal, lignite

• Compact• Cheap• Know‐how based

www.milenatechnology.com 17

raw producer gas

flue gas

air

biomass

pyrolysis

combustion

steam or CO2 or …

MILENA TECHNOLOGY

18

raw producer gas

flue gas

air

biomass

pyrolysis

combustion

carrier gas Enables solids from combustor to enter pyrolysis zoneLittle amount needed, negligible efficiency penalty

No chemical function intended

Fast fluidization regime in riser reactor Gas produced, char remaining

Producer gas acts as fluidization medium

Bubbling fluidization regime Solids buffer

Uniform temperature Full conversion

settling chamber

Bed material separation (>99.9%) from gas Char separation from gas

Separation efficiency independent of solids flow

Solids moving down to combustor Contains char

Methane-rich gas, 10-15 MJ/Nm3 Entrained char will be separated downstream and

recycled

Downcomer acts as gas seal between the two reactors

One vessel: cheap, easy to pressurize Only little heat loss

Bed material recycle and energy source for pyrolysis

1

2

3

4

19

MILENA gasifier CFB/BFB gasifier

Conversion 100% / white ash ~90% / black ash

Cold Gas Efficiency ~80% ~70%

Temperature control Good temperature control, no char accumulation

Less temperature homogeneity due to char hold‐up

Lower temperature = higher efficiency

Lower temperature = lower conversion

Fuel flexibility Any size Any size

Wastes and agricultural residues Less freedom

Gas 12‐15 MJ/Nm3 5‐6 MJ/Nm3

Essentially N2‐free ~50% N2

Scale Scalable (>100 MW) Scalable (>100 MW)

IMPLEMENTATIONMILENA gasification

5 kg/h lab‐scale facility at ECN, 2004

150 kg/h pilot facility at ECN, 2008 5 ton/h 2016 (UK)

1 ton/h 2016 (NL)

1 ton/h 2014 (India)

MILENA LICENSES (biomass)Royal Dahlman and Thermax

ECN DEVELOPMENTScommercially available innovations

• Gasification concept: MILENA– Unique for its solid fuel flexibility in terms of size, shape, sort– Tested with wood, straw, waste, plastic, grass, coal, lignite, …– Very high efficiency due to complete conversion– High heating value gas (N2‐free), yet operating with air– Commercially available from Royal Dahlman and Thermax– Units operating: 25 kW, 0.8 MW, 4 MW

• Gas cleaning concept: OLGA– Complete tar removal– Complete particles removal– No loss of gases– Commercially available from Royal Dahlman– Units operating: 2 Nm3/h, 200 Nm3/h, 1000 Nm3/h, 2000 Nm3/h

www.m

ilena

techno

logy.com

www.olgatechn

olog

y.com

ECN DEVELOPMENTSnew innovations

• Upgrading to natural gas quality (ESME):– Complete 1 Nm3/h system available from biomass to bio‐

NaturalGas (other words: Green Gas, bioSNG, bioMethane, Renewable Natural Gas)

– Preparing 4 MW demonstration plant (NL)

• Co‐production of bio‐chemicals:– Separation/production of bio‐aromatics (available technology)– Separation/production of bio‐ethylene (under development)– Production of bio‐diesel by Fischer‐Tropsch (planned)– Production of bio‐LNG  (planned) 

www.m

bioSNG.com

ECN DEVELOPMENTScomplete test system available

• Gasifier: www.milenatechnology.com• Tar removal: www.olgatechnology.com• New BTX scrubbing process

MILENA gasifier OLGA tar removal BTX scrubber

Series of further gas cleaning and methanation

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Bram van der Drift

ECNWesterduinweg 3 P.O. Box 11755 LE Petten 1755 ZG PettenThe Netherlands The Netherlands

T +31 224 56 45 15 vanderdrift@ecn.nl M +31 610 909 927  www.ecn.nl 25

Ingo Bunzeck

ECN Brussels OfficeScience 14 AtriumWetenschapsstraat 14b1040 Brussels

T +32 280 89 829 bunzeck@ecn.nl