KBR TRANSPORT GASIFIER

The KBR Transport Gasifier is an advanced circulating fluidized bed reactor designed to operate at higher circulation rates, velocities and riser densities than a conventional circulating fluidized bed. The KBR Transport Gasifier is a more robust, simple design and operates in the temperature range of 1,600 to 2,000oF which allows it to use less expensive and longer lasting refractory than the commercially available gasifiers that operate at higher temperatures. The Transport Gasifier is based on KBR’s extensive fluid bed catalytic cracking experience. The KBR Transport Gasifier is currently being tested at the Power Systems Development Facility (PSDF), an engineering scale demonstration of advanced coal-fired power systems and hightemperature, high-pressure gas filtration systems. The PSDF was designed at sufficient scale so that advanced power systems, components, and DOE’s Clean Coal Roadmap program elements could be tested in an integrated fashion to provide data for commercial scale-up. The PSDF is cofunded by the U. S. Department of Energy, the Electric Power Research Institute, Southern Company, Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. (KBR), Siemens-Westinghouse, Peabody Energy, the Lignite Energy Council and Burlington Northern Sante Fe Corporation. The KBR Transport Gasifier was operated for three years as a pressurized combustor until coal gasification testing began in September 1999. Through September 2005, the Transport Gasifier has achieved over 7,700 hours of coal gasification. A total of 6,320 hours of gasification were with Powder River Basin coal and 750 hours were with North Dakota lignite. Additional hours were devoted to bituminous coals from Utah, Illinois, Indiana and Alabama. Most testing occurred in air blown gasification mode, a characteristic that differentiates it from its competitors. It has also been tested for a total of 1,722 hours in oxygen-blown mode. The gasifier has operated at temperatures from 1,500 to 1,950°F and at pressures of up to 250 psig with coal rates of 2,500 to 5,000 pounds per hour, yielding commercially projected turbine inlet syngas heating values of up to 147 Btu/SCF in air-blown gasification and up to 298 Btu/SCF in oxygen-blown gasification. Carbon conversion has been as high as 98%.