Bath Plant

Biomass Use in the Cement Sector

A Fuel Users Perspective

April 14, 2011

 Outline

 Cement 101 – Cement and

Concrete Primer

 Biomass Fuels – a cement

industry perspective

 Cement 2020 – what’s next in

the development process

Photos: Front slide, hemp produced for trial;

Above – Shredded mixed biomass for the trial:
Below – Close up of shredded biomass mix
About Lafarge Canada

 Lafarge Canada is part of the Lafarge Group,

headquartered in Paris, France.
 Lafarge is the world leader in building materials, with top-
ranking positions in all of its businesses: Cement,
Aggregates & Concrete, and Gypsum.
 Lafarge is ranked 6th in the “Carbon Disclosure Project”,
for the sixth year in a row is listed in the “Global 100 most
Sustainable Corporations in the World”, and entered the
global “Dow Jones Sustainability Index” in 2010 in
recognition of its sustainable development actions.
 With the world’s leading building materials research facility,
Lafarge places innovation at the heart of its priorities,
working for sustainable construction and architectural
creativity.
 With 78,000 employees in 78 countries, Lafarge posted
sales of 15.8 billion Euros in 2009.
 Lafarge Canada is the largest cement producer in Canada.
Cement 101
Our product

 Cement is to concrete as
yeast is to dough

 Cement is the glue that holds

concrete together

 More concrete sold per year

than all other building
materials combined.

 Excellent Environmental
features
 Long lasting
 LEED building materials
 Low embodied energy
 Major Oxides
Lime CaO

LIMESTONE Silica SiO2

Alumina Al2O3

CLAY Iron Fe2O3

FLYASH

IRON
The Cement Manufacturing Process

Kiln Feed:
• 79% Limestone (calcium source - CaO)
• 16% Shale (silica and alumina source-SiO2, Al2O3)
• 3% Slag (iron source - Fe2O3
• 2% Sand / Silica Rock (silica source - SiO2)

Minor elements present in kiln feed:

– Sulphur, chloride, sodium, potassium 7

Calcination of limestone
CaCO3 CaO + CO2 (60% of GHG emissions)

Clinkering:
CaO + SiO2 + Al2O3 + Fe2O3 Calcium Silicates + Calcium Aluminates
Calcium Alumino-ferrite
Cement:
Clinker + gypsum + limestone (+ flyash + slag) cement
Typical Cement Kiln
 Kiln

 The burner heat

source is at the
discharge end of
the kiln, so the feed
gets hotter as it
moves its way
down the kiln
 Flame
temperature is
2300ºC
 At 1450ºC
clinker material
pours out the end of
the kiln into the
cooler
 Important Cement 101 Implications for Ag Fuels

 Ash components are partitioned (sequestered) into the

product (see cobalt example below)

 Unique combustion conditions (high temperatures,

ultra-long residence times)

 Systems are sized and designed for coal use

 At 5% of the world’s CO2 emissions, the opportunity is

huge. Ideas to emerge out of Cement 2020 could be
adopted worldwide (e.g. 40% reduction in CO2 from
cement industry is equivalent to removing Canada’s
CO2 emissions.
Inputs Outputs

(Coal/Coke)/biomass Raw mix Stack Emissions Clinker Partitioning

(90:10) by difference Factors

Cobalt 26.0 506.8 0.126 533 99.976%

 Biomass Fuel – Opportunities & Challenges

Photo of the injection

of biomass into the
kiln during the
biomass
demonstration test in
October, 2010
Results will be made
available at
www.cement2020.com
 What are the important questions for fuel use?

 Chemistry
CxHy + (x+0.5y)O2 =>
 C-H ratio
Coal is • “Lower Heating value” xCO2 + (0.5y) H2O
typically 60- • Refractory compounds
80% carbon
while biomass  Particle size
is 40-50%  Ash & metals
carbon. • Partitioning Cobalt example –
• Effects on product 99.98% sequestered
quality in cement
 Free moisture Wood can be 50%
moisture
 Practical Matters

Note: We may  Storage A pile of coal will

end up  Transportation require 2.5-3 same
consuming more size piles of biomass
energy when  Reliability of Supply
for the same energy
using biomass  Processing value.
 Challenge 1: Producing These technologies
may be applicable
biomass fuels
to a variety of
feedstock sources.
Supply Processing Fuel Product

Forest Baling / Solid

Slash, Harvest
Shredding Power, Steel,
Cement, Home,
Greenhouse, other
Pelletization thermal
Purpose
Grown Torrefaction Liquid
Crops, Agriforest,
Transportation,
stover
Liquefaction Thermal, Power

Waste / Pyrolysis
Byproduct Gas
Power, Home,
Pulp & paper, Commercial, other
post consumer,
Gasification
thermal
biosolids, other
A brief aside – what is a Gigajoule???

 A unit of energy, 1 million

joules = GJ

 It is accepted practice to
compare prices of fuels,
apples to apples, using $/GJ

 1 GJ = 278 kW.h. *

 1 GJ = 947,817 BTU

 * As energy released which, with

electricity efficiency etc would not
equal the electricity delivered to an
end user.
Some mathematics (for illustration)

 Start with 1 Acre

 4 tonnes per Acre = 4 Tonnes

 18 GJ/Tonne [dry] = 72 GJ/acre

 Revenue of $150/ac = $2.08/GJ

 Price to produce bales on the farm? These are all
assumptions and
 Pelletization = $50/tne = $2.8/GJ can be adjusted in
the privacy of your
 Transportation of pellets own home.
 30 tonnes = 540 GJ/truck [minus water]
 Cost at $5/loaded km = $0.93/GJ/100km

 Price FOB to fuel user 200 km away is $6.74/GJ

 Excludes additional costs at fuel user’s site

 Clearing the air on pellets
 Doing the math assuming loose biomass at 20 tonnes per truck load results in
a transportation cost of $1.4/GJ/100 km (also and importantly avoids on site
cost to re-grind pellets, if necessary)

 Breakeven is over 400 km – assuming 1% of land within a 400 km radius…1.24

million tonnes of biomass available

 Advantages of pellets
 Recognized product
 Good for systems designed to use pellets
 Economical at long transportation distances
 Some benefit in heating value (GJ/tonne) [Drier]
 Improved conveyability

 Disadvantages
 Cost & must be stored in covered storage
 Cement kilns prefer smaller particle size fuel
 Dusting and off-gassing
 Challenge 2: Cost of Biomass Fuels

Fuel Type Cost per Gigajoule

Gasoline $24

Natural Gas $5-$12

Grown Biomass $6-$10 (OMAFRA est)

Coal $3-$5

Coke $2-$4

Note: Coal releases about 90 kg CO2/GJ; a “Cap &

Trade” cost of $50/tne CO2 will add about $4.5/GJ to
the cost of coal.
17
 Challenge 3: the Quality of Biomass as a Fuel
[Or…“know thy enemy”]
Characteristic Coal Biomass

$/GJ $3-$5 $6-$10

Energy Density 32 GJ/m3 13 GJ/m3

Shipping Boat Truck

% Ash 5-20% 3-10%

Ash Chemistry Useful Neutral

Availability High Low-Moderate

CO2 Emissions 100% <10%

Other Emissions Present Lower (caution)

Water Use 0.16 m3/GJ Variable, TBD

Storage Outdoor Covered?

 Problems to be solved (and how Cement 2020 is
working on them)
 How to improve biomass fuel quality
 Use waste heat
 Carbonization? Torrefaction?
 How to create biomass ready fuel
infrastructure
 Start with biomass byproducts,
co-products
 Continue crop development
research (yield improvement)
 Water use
 Include water in LCAs
 Cost
 What is the case for government
subsidies?
 Food vs Fuel
 Policy development
 Emissions from combustion
 Less of an issue when
replacing fossil fuels,
especially coal – biomass
demonstration
 For unsophisticated cases,
standards around biomass use
and associated emission
controls
 Gasification for home use?
 Other social aspects
 Local fuel is a big positive
 Trucks vs boats
 Land use and biodiversity
 Community involvement
Cement 2020

 Life Cycle Assessment of ag biomass and other sources

 Carbon
 Water

 Greener Fuel Screening Protocol

 Landscape issues with land conversion to biomass production

 How best to use waste heat

 Electricity?
 Carbonization?
 Both?

 Road map
 Implementation in 2012
 • Partners

Thank you to NRCan – Lafarge, SVI, WWF Canada, NRCan, MOE, Env.
and Environment Canada, Queen’s, RMC, Portland Cement
Association
Canada for their
financial support • Steering Committee
– Rob Cumming, Brian Gasiorowski, Warren Mabee,
Sebnem Madrali, Andrew Pollard, Glynn Robinson,
Steven Price

• Researcher and Contributors

– Darko Matovic, Ted Grandmaison, Tom Carpenter,
John Chandler, Sam Fujimoto, Sharon Regan, Goni
Boulama, Mike Lepage, International Review Team,
Lafarge Engineer Team

• Project Management
– Ron Quick, Alison Obenauf, David Hyndman, Anjali
Varma, Sarah Harrison
Follow us on Twitter! Cement 2020 business
cards are available at the front desk