4

Biomass energy technologies

In this paragraph an overview of the three biomass conversion technologies for the supply of
heat or electricity is given.

4.1 Biomass and its potential

Among renewable energies, biomass has a high potential due to its large resource base and
versatile energy applications. Biomass is defined as “all organic material produced by plants or
any conversion process involving life is called biomass. Biomass is labelled as green house gas
emission neutral energy source since it has a short carbon cycle, i.e. emission of CO2 from plant
to atmosphere and absorbed by the plant during growth only takes between one to some tens of
years, whereas fossil carbon exists for million of years” (ECN 2006). Biomass provides about 80%
in the form of combustible renewables and renewable waste to the worlds total primary energy
supply (IEA 2006). In addition, biomass can be converted into bio-energy via several ways, i.e.
thermal (combustion, gasification, pyrolysis), biochemical (anaerobic digestion and fermentation)
or mechanical (extraction) conversion routes. Below the technologies focused on in this thesis
(digestion, combustion, gasification and co-firing) will be described in more detail.

4.1.1 Biomass digestion

Anaerobic digestion is a low-temperature biochemical process, through which a combustible
gas – biogas – can be produced from biomass feedstock. Biogas is a mixture of carbon dioxide
(CO2) and methane (CH4), which can be used to generate heat and/or electricity via secondary
conversion technologies like gas engines and turbines (see Figure 4.1 Schematic representation of
the digestion process) (IEA; TheBiomassSite; BioGen 2002).
High moisture biomass feedstock (e.g. organic waste or manure) is especially well suited for
the anaerobic digestion process (IEA; TheBiomassSite; BioGen 2002). The feedstock is placed
into a digester, a warmed, sealed airless container. The digestion tank is continuously stirred and
heated to around 35oC to create the ideal condition for biogas conversion. Although there is
a constant inflow and outflow of material, the average retention time is 18 days. This allows a
significant percentage of the organic solids to be converted to biogas. The outflow of the digesters
can be in two forms: biogas and a liquor/fibre mixture, known as ‘digestate’. The gas from the
digesters is stored to control the flow into the engine and this engine is used to generate heat
and electricity for on-site or off-site use.
Digestion can occur in two different kinds of plants, either farm-scale, where the biogas is
produced and used by one farm, or by centralised plants, where the biomass is collected from
several sources. The feedstock used can vary from manure or organic waste only, to a combination
of manure with organic waste or agricultural surplus, called co-digestion. By adding organic
waste sources to the manure higher yields of biogas is obtained.

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 Digestion Gasmotor/
Biomass Pre-treatment Electricity
process Steamturbine/
CHP

Digestate Heat

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Figure 4.1 Schematic representation of the digestion process (Novem 2003)

4.1.2 Biomass Combustion and Biomass Gasification

The traditional way to convert biomass into electricity is by means of biomass combustion. Basic
combustion concepts include pile burning, various types of grate firing (stationary, moving,
vibrating), suspension firing and fluidized bed concepts. Typical capacities for stand-alone
combustion plants (typically using wood such as forest residues, as fuels) range between 20-50
MWe, with related electrical efficiencies in the 25-30% range (Faaij 2006b). In the combustion
process the biomass is combusted where the hot exhaust gases are used to produce steam that is
processed through a steam turbine to generate electricity (see Figure 4.2 Schematic representation
of the combustion process).

Biomass Storage Pre-treatment Combustion Steamturbine Electricity

process

Gas cleaning Heat

Emissions
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Figure 4.2 Schematic representation of the combustion process

An innovative and more efficient method is gasification of biomass. In this case biomass is
combusted in an oxygen-starved environment, where the end products are CO and H2 gases (so
called producer gas or syn(thesis) gas) (see Figure 4.3 Schematic representation of the gasification
process). In contrast to solid biomass, this producer gas can be fed into a gas turbine to produce
electricity at a much higher efficiency (35-40%) than combustion (25-30%) (Williams and Larson
1996; Faaij et al. 1997b; Morris et al. 2005).

A distinction between smaller scale gasification and larger scale gasification can be made.
Smaller scale gasification has a capacity range between 10’s of kWth to about 1 MWth,
generally involving fixed bed gasification concepts. For smaller scale gasification, downdraft
or updraft, fixed bed gasifiers with capacities of less than a 100 kWth up to a few MWth are
developed and tested for small-scale power and heat generation using diesel and gas engines
(Faaij 2006b). Small-scale gasifiers have critical demands with respect to fuel quality, such as

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 Biomass Drying Gasification Product Gas Gas Gas Gas motor
process cooling cleaning

Heat Electricity
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Figure 4.3 Schematic representation of the gasification process

preferably standardised and hence more expensive fuels such as pellets. In addition severe
emission standards require effective gas cleaning that increases the costs. No standardised
gasification system using fuel cells and micro-turbines and small scale gas cleaning procedures
are available yet, increasing the costs as well and hampering breakthrough (Faaij 2006b).

Larger scale gasification has a capacity range between several 10’s of MWth, where mainly
Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) is used. CFBs have high fuel flexibility. Gasifier beds at
atmospheric pressure (ACFB) are used for production of (raw) producer gas and process heat
but are not diffused in large numbers (Faaij 2006b). Biomass Integrated Gasification/Combined
Cycle (BIG/CC) systems combine flexibility with respect to fuel characteristics with a high
electrical efficiency. Electrical efficiencies around 40% (LHV basis) are possible on a scale of
about 30 MWe on shorter term (Faaij et al. 1997b; Faaij 2006b). BIG/CC can achieve low
emission levels to air levels, because the fuel gas needs severe cleaning prior to combustion to
meet gas turbine specifications (Faaij et al. 1997b; Faaij 2006b). However, several technological
issues, such as concerning pre-treatment and tar removal, still need to be resolved, resulting in a
very slow development of biomass gasification in a rapid liberalised energy sector (Faaij 2006b).

In this thesis the focus lies on electricity production, therefore the application of biomass
gasification for the production of transportation fuels (e.g. Fischer-Tropsch fuels) is not included,
also because it is developed in quite a different innovation system.

Specifically for the Netherlands the only biomass gasification plant constructed will be described
in Chapter 6. The biomass gasification plant at the Amer Power Plant in Geertruidenberg is
designed to process 150,000 ton of waste wood per year, in an atmospheric circulating fluidized
bed, with sand bed material, at an operating temperature of 850 and 950°C (EssentEnergieBV
2001). The product gas produced is cooled and cleaned to remove particulate material, ammonia
and condensable tar materials. The cleaned gas is then reheated and fed to the burners in the
coal-fired furnace (this step is also called indirect co-firing) (Loo and Koppejan 2002). The
gasification unit is rated at 83 MWth, and the coal-fired boiler at 600 MWth (Loo and Koppejan
2002).

4.1.3 Co-firing of biomass in coal plants

Co-firing is a method of combining fossil and bioenergy fuels in conventional power plants.
The simplest form is to use biomass in a coal fired power plant, where the biomass is carried
with the pulverised coal to the boiler (see Figure 4.4). It is important that the biomass has the
same properties as the coal, i.e. it has to be ground into very small particles and in the process

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 Coal Grinding Burners Boiler Flue gas
treatment

Biomass Physical pre-treatment Steam Emissions

Pulverising/drying Turbine
Pelletising/mixing

Electricity

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Figure 4.4 Schematic representation of direct co-firing process (based on (Konings 2006))

acquire flow properties. The proportionate part of the calorific value of the biomass used can
be considered as renewable energy (ECN 2006). The typical size of power plants where co-
firing is applied to is between 50 MWe and 700 MWe, which are equipped with pulverised coal
boilers, such as bubbling and circulating fluidized bed boilers, cyclone boilers, and stoker boilers
(Loo and Koppejan 2002). There are three different co-firing concepts as described in Loo and
Koppejaan (Loo and Koppejan 2002):
i. Direct co-firing: where the pre-processed biomass is directly fed to the boiler furnace (most
plants in the Netherlands operate according to this principle);
ii. Indirect co-firing: the biomass is first gasified where the product gas produced is fed into the
boiler furnace (e.g. Amer plant unit 9).
iii. Parallel combustion: the biomass is combusted in a separate boiler and the utilisation of the
steam produced within the power plant.

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