Biomass Gasification Research Facility Final Report

Snyder, Todd R. ; Bush, Vann ; Felix, Larry G. ; Farthing, William E. ; Irvin, James H.

关键词: BIOMASS;    CHEMILUMINESCENCE;    COAL GASIFICATION;    FIELD TESTS;    GAS ANALYSIS;    GASIFICATION;    INFRARED SPECTROMETERS;    IONIZATION;    MASS SPECTROMETERS;    OPTIMIZATION;    QUALITY ASSURANCE;    SAMPLING;    SPENT LIQUORS;    THERMAL;   

DOI  :  10.2172/916922
RP-ID  :  DOE/GO/12024-Final
PID  :  OSTI ID: 916922
Others  :  TRN: US201108%%95

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

While thermochemical syngas production facilities for biomass utilization are already employed worldwide, exploitation of their potential has been inhibited by technical limitations encountered when attempting to obtain real-time syngas compositional data required for process optimization, reliability, and syngas quality assurance. To address these limitations, the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) carried out two companion projects (under US DOE Cooperative Agreements DE-FC36-02GO12024 and DE-FC36-03GO13175) to develop and demonstrate the equipment and methods required to reliably and continuously obtain accurate and representative on-line syngas compositional data. These objectives were proven through a stepwise series of field tests of biomass and coal gasification process streams. GTI developed the methods and hardware for extractive syngas sample stream delivery and distribution, necessary to make use of state-of-the-art on-line analyzers to evaluate and optimize syngas cleanup and conditioning. The primary objectives of Cooperative Agreement DE-FC36-02GO12024 were the selection, acquisition, and application of a suite of gas analyzers capable of providing near real-time gas analyses to suitably conditioned syngas streams. A review was conducted of sampling options, available analysis technologies, and commercially available analyzers, that could be successfully applied to the challenging task of on-line syngas characterization. The majority of thermochemical process streams comprise multicomponent gas mixtures that, prior to crucial, sequential cleanup procedures, include high concentrations of condensable species, multiple contaminants, and are often produced at high temperatures and pressures. Consequently, GTI engaged in a concurrent effort under Cooperative Agreement DE-FC36-03GO13175 to develop the means to deliver suitably prepared, continuous streams of extracted syngas to a variety of on-line gas analyzers. The review of candidate analysis technology also addressed safety concerns associated with thermochemical process operation that constrain the location and configuration of potential gas analysis equipment. Initial analyzer costs, reliability, accuracy, and operating and maintenance costs were also considered prior to the assembly of suitable analyzers for this work. Initial tests at GTI’s Flex-Fuel Test Facility (FFTF) in late 2004 and early 2005 successfully demonstrated the transport and subsequent analysis of a single depressurized, heat-traced syngas stream to a single analyzer (an Industrial Machine and Control Corporation (IMACC) Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR)) provided by GTI. In March 2005, our sampling approach was significantly expanded when this project participated in the U.S. DOE’s Novel Gas Cleaning (NGC) project. Syngas sample streams from three process locations were transported to a distribution manifold for selectable analysis by the IMACC FT-IR, a Stanford Research Systems QMS300 Mass Spectrometer (SRS MS) obtained under this Cooperative Agreement, and a Varian micro gas chromatograph with thermal conductivity detector (μGC) provided by GTI. A syngas stream from a fourth process location was transported to an Agilent Model 5890 Series II gas chromatograph for highly sensitive gas analyses. The on-line analyses made possible by this sampling system verified the syngas cleaning achieved by the NGC process. In June 2005, GTI collaborated with Weyerhaeuser to characterize the ChemrecTM black liquor gasifier at Weyerhaeuser’s New Bern, North Carolina pulp mill. Over a ten-day period, a broad range of process operating conditions were characterized with the IMACC FT-IR, the SRS MS, the Varian μGC, and an integrated Gas Chromatograph, Mass Selective Detector, Flame Ionization Detector and Sulfur Chemiluminescence Detector (GC/MSD/FID/SCD) system acquired under this Cooperative Agreement from Wasson-ECE. In this field application, a single sample stream was extracted from this low-pressure, low-temperature process and successfully analyzed by these devices. In late 2005, GTI conducted intensive field characterizations of biomass-derived syngas at GTI’s FFTF during a concurrent test of pelletized wood-fueled gasification and catalyst performance investigated under Cooperative Agreement DE-FG36-04GO14314. In 2006 GTI continued its sampling development and verification activities at GTI’s FFTF with a follow-on set of calibration measurements. The combination of the sample conditioning and sample stream transport methods developed under Cooperative Agreement DE-FC36-03GO13175, and the assembly and coordination of gas analyzers and data collection and analyses under Cooperative Agreement DE-FC36-02GO12024, have provided a new, powerful, enabling capability for on-line data characterizations of biomass- and coal-derived syngas from thermochemical conversion process streams.