LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS OF

SYNGAS PRODUCTION FROM

BIOMASS GASIFICATION
02/04/2014
ABSTRACT
Biomass is an alternative power
generation fuel coming from forest
reserves or agricultural wastes that has
immense potential for energy production.
Considering the importance of biomass
as fuel source it has become imperative
to study the combustion characteristic
and emission rates. The technical and
environmental performance of biomass
gasification upto syngas production is
examined using life cycle analysis. A
proposed plant is setup in British
Columbia, Canada. The classification of
impact from this plant is analysed based
on ECO-99 indicator. The global
warming potential from various biomass
sources is compared to that of
conventional natural sources of energy.
Satarupa Dhir
CHE 594

1

Contents
1. INTODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 2
2. BIOMASS IN CANADA ................................................................................................................... 2
2.1 BIOMASS FROM AGRICULTURAL RESIDUES .................................................................... 2
2.2 BIOMASS FROM FOREST ......................................................................................................... 3
3. GASIFICATION OF BIOMASS ........................................................................................................ 3
3.1 GASIFIACTION REACTIONS ................................................................................................... 3
4. TYPES OF GASIFIER ....................................................................................................................... 4
4.1 UPDRAFT FIXED BED GASIFIER ............................................................................................ 4
4.2 DOWNDRAFT FIXED BED GASIFIER .................................................................................... 4
4.3 BUBBLING FLUIDIZED BED GASIFIER ................................................................................ 5
4.4 CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED GASIFIER .......................................................................... 5
5. SYNGAS APPLICATIONS ............................................................................................................... 5
6. PROCESS DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................................ 6
7. JUSTIFICATION ............................................................................................................................... 6
8. LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................................... 7
8.1 GOAL AND SCOPE DEFINITION ............................................................................................. 7
8.2 INVENTORY ANALYSIS........................................................................................................... 8
8.3 IMPACT ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................. 8
8.4 INTERPRETATION ..................................................................................................................... 9
9. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................................................... 9
10. SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS ............................................................................................... 10
11. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 10
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................... 11
APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................................... 12







2

1. INTODUCTION
With recent price rise and depletion of fossil fuels there has been trend towards use of
alternate energy resources. Syngas produced from renewable resource like biomass has the
potential to be put to various use. Gasification of various forms of biomass like wood,
agricultural matter is helpful in generation of power and electricity or manufacture of
chemical or fuel cells. Biomass is cheap, indigenous and easily available. It has the ability to
convert solid waste, like agricultural residues or forest residues to readily usable fuel or other
forms of energy. The increasing availability and the advancement in technology has made it
possible for biomass to be used effectively and efficiently with low level of emissions.
Although biomass gasification might be a new and developing concept in North America, it
has been extensively used in Europe since the time of World War II
[1]
.
2. BIOMASS IN CANADA
Biomass is a renewable fuel derived from currently living or any product of living organism.
It is typically referred as plant or plant based materials and they can be used as an energy
source. Conversion of biomass into bio fuel can be achieved by various thermal, chemical or
biochemical means.
Biomass contributes to about 15% energy used by people globally. At present, Canada meets
to about 5-6% of its total energy from biomass. In Canada, millions of tonnes biomass is
harvested each year in the form of trees, crops or agricultural residues from farms. Biomass
forms the second most renewable form of energy after hydro energy. Popularity of biomass
usage can be evident from the application of wood as heating systems in Canadian homes or
from usage of corn and agricultural products to generate ethanol and biodiesels.
Agricultural residues and whole forest are the major resources of biomass in Canada. About
42% of Canadas land is forested and 6.8% make up the agricultural land of which 3.6% are
cropland
[2]
.
Details of Various resources of biomass have been described below:
2.1 BIOMASS FROM AGRICULTURAL RESIDUES
According to survey by BIOCAP Canada foundation the total crop production was estimated
at 78.3Million oven dry tonnes (M Odt) of which 70% was wheat and barley and 56.1 M Odt
was straw, some of which was used as feed supplement while letting the remaining to rot in
3

field. Agricultural residues can be used as fuel for heat and combined heat and power plants
as well as feedstock for ethanol production
[2][3]
.
2.2 BIOMASS FROM FOREST
Canadian sawmills are responsible for majority of forest mill residues. Lumber production is
maximum in the province of British Columbia followed by Quebec. Sawmill residues can be
in form of bark, sawdust and shavings. Rich distribution of lumber production around Canada
can be shown in the following figure
[2]
.

Figure 1: Lumber production distribution in Canada.
3. GASIFICATION OF BIOMASS
Biomass gasification is the process of conversion of any organically derived feedstock by
partial oxidation into syngas (CO and H2) and some lesser amounts of CO2, H2O, CH4 ,
hydrocarbons and N2. The reactions are carried at temperatures of 500-1400C and at
atmospheric or elevated pressure (upto 33bar). Gasification can take place in presence of air,
pure oxygen , steam or mixture of these gases. Air based gasifiers result in low heating value
of the product gas(4-6 MJ/m
3
) with high concentration of nitrogen while oxygen and steam
based gasifiers produce a product gas with high concentration of CO and H2 and high heating
value(10-20 MJ/m
3
).
3.1 GASIFIACTION REACTIONS
Biomass gasification takes place via two steps: pyrolysis followed by gasification. Pyrolysis
occurs in presence of inert medium like N2. Its an endothermic reaction which produces lots
British
Columbia
52%
Quebec
26%
Alberta
11%
Ontario
11%
Lumber Production
British Columbia Quebec Alberta Ontario
4

of volatiles (70-90%) and char. These products are further used as feed for gasification and
subsequently convert it to syngas
[2]
.
Commonly occurring reactions in gasification are:
Partial Oxidation C + O2 CO
Combustion C + O2 CO2
Methanation C + H2 CH4
Water Gas Shift reaction CO + H2O CO2 + H2
Boudouard reaction C + CO2 CO
Steam Carbon reaction C + H2O CO + H2
When pyrolysis and gasification occurs in the same vessel its called directly heated
gasification. In this system the reactor temperature is controlled by the oxidant feed rate.
While in indirectly heated gasification two separate reactors are used for pyrolysis and
gasification. Pyrolysis may occur in a fluidised bed and the bed particles are separated from
char by cyclone separator.
4. TYPES OF GASIFIER
4.1 UPDRAFT FIXED BED GASIFIER
Updraft or counterflow gasification is the oldest and simplest form of gasifier. In this type of
gasifier biomass is introduced from top of the gasifier while air/oxygen/steam is introduced
from below the grate and diffuses up through the bed of biomass. Complete combustion
occurs at the bottom of the bed liberating CO2 and H2O at 1000C. These hot gases are
reduced to CO and H2 and they pyrolyse the descending dry biomass. The syngas leave the
reactor at relatively low temperature of 500C. The primary disadvantage of this gasifier is
that the syngas produced needs extensive clean-up before subsequent use in power plant or
chemical synthesis
[4]
.
4.2 DOWNDRAFT FIXED BED GASIFIER
It is a simple and low cost gasifier where the biomass and the oxidant flow concurrently
down the reactor. The feed should have low moisture content (< 20%) for proper gasification.
Syngas formed exits the reactor at high temperature (800C) and requires heat recovery
system .One the disadvantage of this gasification process is that 4-7% of the carbon/feed may
remain unreacted
[4]
.
5

4.3 BUBBLING FLUIDIZED BED GASIFIER
It is one the popular forms of gasifier as it has the ability to accept wide range of fuels and
fuel particle sizes including the fines. A bubbling fluidized bed consists of fine particles of
sand or alumina and gas is forced from below the bed. Slowly the velocity of the gas is
increased till the drag force and the weight of the solid counterbalance ( ie state of minimum
fluidisation). This state is called the boiling state where the inert particles attain enough
energy to break the biomass fed. A BFB provides uniform temperature distribution, high heat
transfer rates between the particles and fuel gas and the product formed is uniform in
nature
[4]
.
4.4 CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED GASIFIER
Circulating fluidised bed is operated at gas velocities higher than minimum fluidisation
velocity. This causes entrainment of bed particles along with the product gas. An additional
cyclone separator is employed to remove the bed particles from the product syngas. High
velocities might lead to erosion of the equipment and heat exchange efficiency is less as
compared to BFB gasifier.
5. SYNGAS APPLICATIONS
Highly pure Syngas has application in fuel and chemical synthesis. Supporting process
equipment such as scrubbers, compressors and coolers are required to condition the syngas
for further usage. An extensive use of syngas is its use as fuel gas. Biomass represents 4% of
primary use in USA, 17% in Finland and 21% in Sweden. About 13% of the world energy
demands is met with biomass fuels. Syngas generated from biomass when subjected to
combustion engine, combustion turbine or steam turbine helps in power generation. Biomass
integrated gasification combined cycle (BIGCC) technology can be considered for electricity
generation from sugarcane and pulp industries. Large amount of H2 gas can be produced
when syngas is subjected to Water gas shift reaction. Reacting syngas with steam over copper
oxide catalyst in presence of small amount of CO2 at temperature of about 260C and
pressure of 70bar helps in synthesis of commercial methanol. Synthetic fuels such as gasoline
and diesel can also be produced from syngas by Fischer-Tropsch process
[2][4]
.
6


Figure 2: Distribution of various usage of syngas
[9]
6. PROCESS DESCRIPTION
The forest residues are collected by means of forwarder and transported to plant site by
means of long hauls in forms of bales or loafing. Biomass is then resized and given various
shapes (chips, pellets) using various methods like rollers, chopping, shredding and rotating
knives. The resized biomass is either stored in huge silos or transported directly to the gasifier
using pneumatic belts. The biomass is kept in minimum fluidised condition in the bubbling
fluidized bed. The inert bed particles are in boiling state and they help in combustion of
incoming biomass. The syngas formed might be further used in power generation plant and
the ash formed passes through the grate at the bottom of the gasifier and is collected in a
storage bin.
7. JUSTIFICATION
This project would help us to analyze environmental impacts due to the biomass gasification
plant located at British Columbia, Canada. Presence of ample forest reserves as well as beetle
infested forest reserves makes it a better choice for plant location. About 47% of forest
lumber production occurs in BC itself
[2]
. The emission from biomass plant due to forest
residues is compared to that of other feeds including fossil fuel like coal. Life cycle Analysis
helps us to evaluate and analyze different types of emissions, material consumption and other
important factors of the related process from environmental point of view.
Ammonia
53%
Refinery
23%
Methanol
11%
Electricity
4%
Gas to Liquid
8%
Others
1%
Syngas Market
Ammonia Refinery Methanol Electricity Gas to Liquid Others
7

8. LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
8.1 GOAL AND SCOPE DEFINITION
The aim of this project is to assess and analyse the environmental impact due to generation of
syngas in a biomass fired gasifier. LCA helps us to estimate the greenhouse gas emission,
depletion of reserves and effects of acidification and eutrophication on ecosystem. The
damage due to various emission on human health, ecosystems and reserves was analysed
under Eco 99 methodology. A layout if the biomass gasification plant is shown in Figure 3.
The system boundary for this process includes the material transport, material production,
biomass transport and combustion in gasifier. Energy input to the system as well as further
application of syngas in other process is neglected. The plant life is assumed to be 30 years
with 7tons of biomass(wood pellets) feed in a day.


Figure 3: Boundary Line for Life Cycle Assessment of the process

Manufacturing of
eraw material
Transportation
Gasification of
biomass
Decommissioning
of gasification
plant
Emission
Syngas production
8


Figure 4: General schematic diagram of BFB biomass gasifier
[12]
.

8.2 INVENTORY ANALYSIS
The working principle of the gasifier is same as that of bubbling fluidized bed gasifier as
discussed earlier
[7][8]
. The material of construction of the plant along with the emission due to
its transport is mentioned in Table. Composition of the flue gas obtained is tabulated in Table
3
[5]
. Emission due to electricity consumption as well as dismantling of the plant is omitted in
the LCA study. For calculation of emission per kwh it was assumed that 30% energy of the
syngas produced might be used to produce electricity in a syngas turbine run power plant.
8.3 IMPACT ASSESSMENT
The air emission has been evaluated by using ECO 99 methodology. Impact assessment was
done using Hierarchist point of view. Global warming potential, Acidification and
Eutrophication and Ground level Ozone depletion values were calculated from the total
emissions including the material handling and gasification stage. The emissions calculated
were multiplied with suitable weighted damage factor using ECO 99 Indicator. All the values
have been tabulated in Table 4-7. The Global warming potential helps us to quantitatively
measure the global warming potential due to contribution from various gases like Carbon
Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide. This GWP values from different energy resources as well
as that from different types of biomass was compared.
9

8.4 INTERPRETATION
Biomass is one of the abundant, cheaply available and cleaner source of energy. It was be
seen from Table 4-5 and Figure 6 that the maximum emission in biomass is due to Carbon
dioxide and Methane. Combustion of biomass in the gasifier contributes maximum to these
emission.
It can be seen that emission from biomass types like rice husk, nutshell( in general
agricultural products) is less compared to that from forest residues. It might be attributed to
the high carbon content of the wood than the agricultural wastes. However wood is preferred
as it has high energy content(11-15 MJ) than others which helps to increase the power
generation in plants.
Carbon dioxide emitted from the process contributes to the damage to human health. But the
majority of the impact is to the human(4.4E+04 and 7.337E+03 DALYs)and
ecosystem(7.8E+05 and 4.19E+02 DALYs)is due to NOx and SOx emission
[11]
. Depletion to
natural resources is mostly due to fossil fuel and Manganese ore content coming from the
material of construction from plant(Carbon Steel Grade 70) and not from biomass.
Comparison of GWP shows that biomass has low gram equivalent emission of carbon
dioxide(365 g/kwh) compared to other fossil fuels whose range can be as high as 1000g/kwh.
9. DISCUSSION
One of the major disadvantages of the biomass gasification is that it has low calorific value
compared to other conventional energy resources. High moisture content in biomass
decreases its gross calorific value. Secondly drying this biomass is not cost effective.
The main challenges in future for utilisation of forest based biomass is relayed to availability
of labour and machinery resources, behaviour of forest owners and their willingness to sell
the wood. Given high demand of the forest based biomass there might be a problem in future
as it is not possible to grow large patches of trees in a short time. A lot of expenditure is
involved in sizing, shredding and baling of biomass bundles.
10

10. SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS
One of the popular methods to increase the energy content of the biomass is co-firing with
coal. This also helps in reduction of total emissions from the plant. Using hybrid crops/fast
growing trees and vines improves the gasification condition in the plant.
Since the biomass plant is far away from the forest it becomes obvious that lot of money is
involved during transportation. It would be effective to build a centralised plant and connect
to all the nearby sawmill or other sources of biomass production. The little Carbon dioxide
emission in the plant can also be controlled by recycling it to the gasifier
11. CONCLUSION
From the LCA results it can be concluded that the energy inputs and emissions from the
biomass are extremely low compared with the conventional system. Gram equivalent of
Carbon dioxide emission is 365.73 g/kwh compared to that of Coal and Heavy oil fired plant
having emissions around 1000 g/kwh and 800g/kwh respectively.
Even if it is considered a clean resource it has considerable impacts to human health and
ecosystem due to NOx and SOx. Particulate matter emission is very low and has been
contributed only due to transportation of the materials.
The LCA methodology is a very useful tool to measure the environmental impact of any
activity. ECO 99 is one of the tools which helps us to determine the damage to human health
(respiratory, climate change), ecosystems(acidification and eutrophication) and natural
reserves.
Addressing cost as well as availability and emission impacts biomass has all the potential to
generate power and be an attractive energy fuel.





11

REFERENCES
[1] D.Yogi Goswami, Alternative Energy in Agriculture , Chapter 4, Vol II Ed, 1986, Pg
83-102 .
[2] Birgit Kajat, Bioenergy and biofuels: Canadian industry and market opportunities,
Compiled for IRAP Pacific, Clean Technology Group.
[3] Amit Kumar, Jay B. Cameron and Peter C.Flynn, Biomass power cost and optimum
plant size in western Canada , Biomass and Bioenergy 24,2003, 445-464.
[4] Jared P. Ciferno and John J. Marano, Benchmarking biomass gasification technologies
for fuels, chemicals and hydrogen production , U.S Department of Energy, National Energy
Technology Laboratory.
[5] C. Koroneos, A.Dompros and G.Roumbas, Hydrogen production via biomass
gasification A life cycle assessment approach, Chemical Engineering and Processing 47,
2008, 1261-1268
[6] Average In-Use Emissions from Heavy Duty Trucks, United States Environmental
Protection Agency.
[7] Richard Venditti, Environmental Life Cycle Assessment.
[8] Handbook of Biomass Downdraft Gasifier Engine Systems.
[9] A.Van der Drift and H. Boerrigter, Synthesis gas from biomass for fuels and chemicals
[10] Nuno Couto, Abel Rouba and Valter Silva, Influence of the biomass gasification
processes on the final composition of syngas ,Energy Procedia 36, 2013, 596-606.
[11] Mark Huijbregts, Life cycle impact assessment of acidifying and eutrophying air
pollutants: Calculation of equivalency factors with RAINS-LCA.
[12] http://www.cset.iastate.edu/research/current-research/bench-top-fluidized-bed-reactor








12

APPENDIX

Table 1: Gasifier specification
Biomass Feed 7 tons/day
Temperature 700C
Air 0.8kg/kg feed
Steam 0.5 kg/kg feed
Plant life time 30 years
Distance from Forest to Plant 250km

Table 2: Material Specification
Carbon Steel Grade 70 150 tons
Concrete 1000 tons
Epoxy Paint 2 tons

Table 3: Properties of Products from Gasifier
Component % mol
Hydrogen 21.28
Carbon Monoxide 43.16
Methane 15.83
Carbon dioxide 13.45
Acetylene 0.36
Ethylene 4.62
Ethane 0.62
Tars 0.4
SOx 0.08
NOx 0.37

Table 4: Emissions due to Material of Construction
Materials kg
CO2
kg
CO
kg
CH4
kg N2O kg SO2 kg
VOC
kg
NOx
Steel 491250 139.5 6 10.5 2175 1425 24
Concrete 363600 220 141 1 372 16 517
Epoxy paint 10876 6.094 41.94 0.3 13.66 1.86 19.084
Emissions due to recyling
Recycling kg
CO2
kg
CO
kg
CH4
kg N2O kg SO2 kg
VOC
kg
NOx
Steel 218280 0 0 0 0 0 0
Landfill 207 2.3 9.2 0 0.46 2.3 2.3
Emission due to transportation of Materials

13

Transportation kg
CO2
kg
CO
kg
CH4
kg
PM2.5
kg
PM10
kg
VOC
kg
NOx
Heavy Duty
Vehicle
3.075 1.025 0.511 0.014 0.016 0.496 0.911

Table 5: Emission due to Combustion of Biomass
Materials kg
CO2
kg CO kg
CH4
kg N2O kg SO2 kg
VOC
kg
NOx
Biomass 604296 123377
1

258489

0 5082

0 17325

Emission due to transportation of Biomass

Transportation kg
CO2
kg CO kg
CH4
kg
PM2.5
kg
PM10
kg
VOC
kg
NOx
Heavy Duty
Vehicle 768.75 256.25 127.73 3.44 3.98 123.91 227.66

Table 6: Environmental impact due to biomass gasification
Global Warming Potential 365.73 g CO2/ kwh
Acidification and Eutrophication 0.4847g SO2/ kwh

Ground level Ozone 0.4924 g VOC and NOx/kwh


Table 7: Impacts using EcoIndicator 99(H,A)
Respiratory effects on human by inorganic substances
Substance Weighted damage factor DALYs
PM10 9.74 33.61
PM2.5 1.82E+01 72.8
NOx 2.3 4.041E+04
SOx 1.42 7.337E+03
Damage to human health by climate change
Substance Weighted damage
factor
DALYs
CO2 5.45E-03

3.59E+04

Damage to Ecosystem
Substances Weighted damage
factor
PDF
NOx 4,45E0-1

7.82E+05

SOx 8,12E-02 4.19E+02
14


Depletion to the fossil fuels and ores


Substances
Weighted damage
factor
MJ
Mn 1.88E-01 4.27
Fe 3.87E-02 0.155
C(Coal) 2.785


Figure 5: Respiratory Impact by ECO 99.


Figure 6: Emission Comparison in various stages of operation.

PM10
0% PM2.5
0%
Nox
85%
Sox
15%
Respiratory Impact by ECO 99
PM10 PM2.5 Nox Sox
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
g CO2 eq/kwh g Nox/kwh g Sox/kwh g PM2.5/kwh g PM10/kwh g VOC/kwh
Emission Comparison in Material Handling and
Combustion
Material handling Combustion
15


Figure 7: GWP comparison for various types Biomass.

Figure 8: GWP comparison of biomass with various energy resources.






0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Wood Rice husk Nutshell
g

C
O
2

e
q
/
k
w
h
various biomass
GWP for Various Biomass
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Biomass Heavy Oil Coal Natural gas Coal(SO2
scrubbing
g

C
O
2

e
q
/
K
W
H
Various Feed for gasification
GWP