Value chains for integrated production of liquefied bio-SNG at sawmill sites – Techno-economic and carbon footprint evaluation

Industry's increasing demand for liquefied natural gas could be met in the future by liquefied methane produced from biomass feedstock (LBG - liquefied biogas). This study presents results from an investigation of value chains for integrated production of LBG at a generic sawmill site, based on gasification of sawmill waste streams and forest residues. The objective was to investigate the cost for, as well as the carbon footprint reduction associated with, production and use of LBG as a fuel. Five different LBG plant sizes were investigated in combination with three different sawmill sizes. The resulting cases differ regarding biomass feedstock composition, biomass transportation distances, LBG plant sizes, how efficiently the excess heat from the LBG plant is used, and LBG distribution distances. Pinch technology was used to quantify the heat integration opportunities and to design the process steam network. The results show that efficient use of energy within the integrated process has the largest impact on the performance of the value chain in terms of carbon footprint. The fuel production cost are mainly determined by the investment cost of the plant, as well as feedstock transportation costs, which mainly affects larger plants. Production costs are shown to range from 68 to 156 EUR/MW hfuel and the carbon footprint ranges from 175 to 250 kg GHG-eq/MW hnet biomass assuming that the product is used to substitute fossil LNG fuel. The results indicate that process integration of an indirect biomass gasifier for LBG production is an effective way for a sawmill to utilize its by-products. Integration of this type of biorefinery can be done in such a way that the plant can still cover its heating needs whilst expanding its product portfolio in a competitive way, both from a carbon footprint and cost perspective. The results also indicate that the gains associated with efficient heat integration are important to achieve an efficient value chain.

[1]  I. Hannula,et al.  Liquid transportation fuels via large-scale fluidised-bed gasification of lignocellulosic biomass , 2013 .

[2]  Lora L Pinkerton,et al.  Cost and Performance Baseline for Fossil Energy Plants Volume 1a: Bituminous Coal (PC) and Natural Gas to Electricity Revision 3 , 2011 .

[3]  Satish Kumar,et al.  LNG: An eco-friendly cryogenic fuel for sustainable development , 2011 .

[4]  Henrik Thunman,et al.  Exergy-based comparison of indirect and direct biomass gasification technologies within the framework of bio-SNG production , 2013 .

[5]  Sylvain Leduc,et al.  Development of an optimization model for the location of biofuel production plants , 2009 .

[6]  Thore Berntsson,et al.  Transportation fuel production from gasified biomass integrated with a pulp and paper mill – Part A: Heat integration and system performance , 2016 .

[7]  Joel Goop,et al.  District heating in the Nordic countries – modelling development of present systems to 2050 , 2012 .

[8]  I. Moon,et al.  Current Status and Perspectives of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Plant Design , 2013 .

[9]  Per-Anders Hansson,et al.  Greenhouse gas balance of harvesting stumps and logging residues for energy in Sweden , 2011 .

[10]  Simon Harvey,et al.  Integration study for alternative methanation technologies for the production of synthetic natural gas from gasified biomass , 2010 .

[11]  J. Stendahl,et al.  Time-Dynamic Effects on the Global Temperature When Harvesting Logging Residues for Bioenergy , 2015, BioEnergy Research.

[12]  S. E. Corder,et al.  Properties and uses of bark as an energy source , 1976 .

[13]  Henrik Thunman,et al.  Process Simulation of Dual Fluidized Bed Gasifiers Using Experimental Data , 2016 .

[14]  Michael Spiegel,et al.  Occurrence of metal dusting – referring to failure cases , 2003 .

[15]  Stefan Heyne,et al.  Bio-SNG from Thermal Gasification - Process Synthesis, Integration and Performance , 2013 .

[16]  Eric D. Larson,et al.  Making Fischer-Tropsch fuels and electricity from coal and biomass: Performance and cost analysis , 2011 .

[17]  Karin Pettersson,et al.  Energy price and Carbon Balances Scenarios tool (ENPAC) – a summary of recent updates , 2014 .

[18]  Andrea Toffolo,et al.  Integrated SNG Production in a Typical Nordic Sawmill , 2016 .

[19]  Fredric Bauer,et al.  Biogas upgrading - Review of commercial technologies , 2013 .

[20]  Elisabeth Wetterlund,et al.  Integration of next-generation biofuel production in the Swedish forest industry – A geographically explicit approach , 2015 .

[21]  Markus Haider,et al.  Biomass steam gasification for production of SNG – Process design and sensitivity analysis , 2012 .

[22]  François Maréchal,et al.  Thermo-economic optimisation of the polygeneration of synthetic natural gas (SNG), power and heat from lignocellulosic biomass by gasification and methanation , 2012 .

[23]  Ian C. Kemp,et al.  Pinch Analysis and Process Integration: A User Guide on Process Integration for the Efficient Use of Energy , 2007 .

[24]  Henrik Thunman,et al.  Extending existing combined heat and power plants for synthetic natural gas production , 2012 .

[25]  G. Egnell,et al.  Realizing the energy potential of forest biomass in Sweden – How much is environmentally sustainable? , 2017 .

[26]  Thore Berntsson,et al.  A tool for creating energy market scenarios for evaluation of investments in energy intensive industry , 2009 .

[27]  Henrik Thunman,et al.  Well-to-wheel analysis of bio-methane via gasification, in heavy duty engines within the transport sector of the European Union , 2016 .

[28]  Simon Harvey,et al.  Impact of choice of CO2 separation technology on thermo‐economic performance of Bio‐SNG production processes , 2014 .

[29]  Andrea Toffolo,et al.  Improving energy efficiency of sawmill industrial sites by integration with pellet and CHP plants , 2013 .

[30]  Simon Harvey,et al.  Evaluation of opportunities for heat integration of biomass-based Fischer–Tropsch crude production at Scandinavian kraft pulp and paper mill sites , 2013 .

[31]  Thore Berntsson,et al.  Comparison of integration options for gasification-based biofuel production systems - Economic and greenhouse gas emission implications , 2016 .

[32]  Andrea Toffolo,et al.  Synthesis and parameter optimization of a combined sugar and ethanol production process integrated w , 2011 .

[33]  Muhammad Aziz,et al.  Integration of energy-efficient empty fruit bunch drying with gasification/combined cycle systems , 2015 .

[34]  Jim Andersson,et al.  Methanol production via pressurized entrained flow biomass gasification – Techno-economic comparison of integrated vs. stand-alone production , 2014 .

[35]  Andrés J. Calderón,et al.  An optimisation framework for the strategic design of synthetic natural gas (BioSNG) supply chains , 2017 .

[36]  C. Breitholtz,et al.  Performance of large‐scale biomass gasifiers in a biorefinery, a state‐of‐the‐art reference , 2017 .

[37]  Simon Harvey,et al.  Biomass gasification-based syngas production for a conventional oxo synthesis plant—greenhouse gas emission balances and economic evaluation , 2015 .