Environmental and economic analysis of methanol production process via biomass gasification

We have researched and simulated the BTL (biomass to liquid process) in which woody biomass is converted to transportation liquid fuels. In the present study, methanol (MeOH) was considered as a liquid fuel. The BTL-MeOH was designed and the environmental and economic analysis of the process was performed from the viewpoint of CO2 emission and capital and operating costs. A case study focusing on heat and power resources was conducted. The result revealed that the process required an independent case of heat and power for CO2 reduction; however, the cost of this was high due to the cogeneration with a steam turbine. Therefore, the introduction of a low-cost cogeneration, e.g., with a gas turbine, was required for commercialization.

[1]  Daniel Montané,et al.  Steam reforming model compounds of biomass gasification tars: conversion at different operating conditions and tendency towards coke formation , 2001 .

[2]  van Aa Anton Steenhoven,et al.  Tar reduction through partial combustion of fuel gas , 2005 .

[3]  Per K. Bakkerud.  Update on synthesis gas production for GTL , 2005 .

[4]  Peter Droege,et al.  Renewable Energy and the City: Urban Life in an Age of Fossil Fuel Depletion and Climate Change , 2002 .

[5]  Bryan M. Jenkins,et al.  Compositional constraints on slag formation and potassium volatilization from rice straw blended wood fuel , 2006 .

[6]  M. Saito,et al.  Development of copper/zinc oxide-based multicomponent catalysts for methanol synthesis from carbon dioxide and hydrogen , 1996 .

[7]  Yuhan Sun,et al.  Methanol synthesis from CO2-rich syngas over a ZrO2 doped CuZnO catalyst , 2006 .

[8]  Marko Šetinc,et al.  On the kinetics of liquid-phase methanol synthesis over commercial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst , 1999 .

[9]  Ruiqin Yang,et al.  In situ DRIFT study of low-temperature methanol synthesis mechanism on Cu/ZnO catalysts from CO2-containing syngas using ethanol promoter , 2004 .

[10]  Zhong-yang Luo,et al.  Biomass pyrolysis/gasification for product gas production: the overall investigation of parametric effects , 2003 .

[11]  Robert H. Borgwardt,et al.  Biomass and natural gas as co-feedstock for reduction of fuel for fuel-cell vehicles , 1997 .

[12]  Toshiaki Hanaoka,et al.  Co-gasification of woody biomass and coal with air and steam , 2007 .

[13]  H. Atsushi,et al.  Temperature effect on continuous gasification of microalgal biomass: theoretical yield of methanol production and its energy balance , 1998 .

[14]  Luca Basini,et al.  Issues in H2 and synthesis gas technologies for refinery, GTL and small and distributed industrial needs , 2005 .

[15]  Ayhan Demirbas,et al.  Biomass to methanol via pyrolysis process , 2001 .