High-Temperature Steam Gasification of Agricultural and Municipal Solid Waste March 8, 2012 ASCE Chapter Meeting.

High-Temperature Steam Gasification of Agricultural and Municipal Solid Waste

March 8, 2012

ASCE Chapter Meeting

Emphasis of Alternative Energy Research:

• To develop cost effective solutions for energy conversion• To develop solutions sensitive not only to life cycle costs but also life cycle assessments (environmental and natural resource impact)• To integrate (combine) energy recovery and alternative energy solutions to produce sustainable technologies

Gasification of Woody Biomass, Farm Wastes and MSW

Research Objectives:

• Using high temperature (1000 to 1300deg C) steam to gasify various materials such as woody biomass, farm wastes and MSW• Requires significant system integration, possibly with a catalytic reactor to produce liquid fuels• In the case of MSW, the concept would involve an operation in conjunction with a landfill operation, a source of MSW and leachate (water source)

Note: Consider the energy trail! Using energy to convert “dirt” to products and packaging which ultimately go to landfills and then back to energy! Begs the question, what happens if we reduce consumption of products and packaging that go to landfills? Consider the quality of the energy used……

System Integration

SortedMSW

Landfill Bioreactor

Aux. Equipment to Support Bioreactor

Methane

Feedstock Preparation

Electrical Energy Pre-Heat

Gasifer Syngas Conditioning

Heat Recovery

Low Temperature BoilerLeachate

Steam Superheater

High Temperature Steam

Concentrate from Low Temp Boiler

Concentrate from Low Temp Boiler to Feedstock Prep

Catalytic Reactor

Byproduct Gases

Heat Recovery

Liquid Fuels

Electrical Energy

Electrical Energy

Background Trends in MSW Generation Rates

Disadvantage of Partial Oxygen Gasification or Incineration Lower temperature gasifiers produce low-quality syngas that contains

undesirable char, tar and soot Costly air pollution control required for both technologies

Experimental Objectives Define the critical parameters affecting product yields Develop optimal conditions for thermal-chemical conversions Study cost-effective methods for the production of hydrogen fuel Study system integration with production of liquid fuels from syngas

Agricultural Wastes

MSW

High Temperature Steam Gasification

Team Members PI

Skip Ingley, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida. E-mail - [email protected], Tel - 352-284-0997 

Jacob N. Chung, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,University of Florida. E-mail - [email protected], Tel - 352-392-9607

Members

Name

Atish Shah

Graduate student

Billy Allen

Samuel Mammo

Stephen Belser

Uisung Lee

Andrew HatcherUndergraduate student

Thomas Lunden

Team Members Hinkley Center

TAG Members

Tim Townsend, Professor, Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida

John Anderson, CEO Quantera Energy Resourse, Inc. Brent Wainwright, Principal, Green Team Ventures, LLC John Kuhn, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomedical

Engineering, University of South Florida

Previous system Supply the high temperature steam via combustion of hydrogen and oxygen Batch type operation with woody biomass as feedstock

Hydrogen

Carbon Dioxide

Oxygen

Gasification Reactor

Cooling/CleaningVessel 1

FI

Ejector

Cooling/Cleaning Vessel 2

Cooling/Cleaning Vessel 3

FI

Tout4Tout3Tout2Tout1

T

FI

P

T P

T P

T4-1

T1-2

T2-2

T1-1

T2-1

T3-1

T3-2

T4-2

TC

FI

P2

P1Air Compressor

Current Experimental Setup

Schematic

Steam Generator / Superheater

Steam GeneratorSuperheater

Pump Controler

Gasifier & Cooler

Condensate CollectorCondensate Collector

Syngas CoolerSyngas Cooler

ExhaustExhaust

SamplingSampling

GasifierGasifier

Steam InjectorSteam Injector

Gasifier & Cooler

Steam InjectorSteam Injector

Ceramic HoneycombCeramic Honeycomb

Condensate CollectorCondensate CollectorFeedstockFeedstock

Steam Injector

Feeder

Ball ValveBall Valve

Argon Purging Gas Inlet/OutletArgon Purging Gas Inlet/Outlet

PistonPiston

Feedstock Preheater

Electric Heating TapeElectric Heating Tape

Experimental Equipment

Steam generatorSteam generator

SuperheaterSuperheater

GasifierGasifier

FeederFeeder

Syngas CoolerSyngas Cooler

Argon CylinderArgon Cylinder

Gas SamplingGas SamplingExhaustExhaust

Condensate Collector

Condensate Collector

Steam Injector and Base Module

Ceramic Honeycomb Discs

Simulation Results1300C Steam (without Heat loss)

Eq

uilib

rium

Tem

pera

ture

(C

)

400

500

600

700

800

900

Steam to Biomass Mass Ratio

1 2 3 4 5

Mo

le F

ract

ion

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

H2COH2OCO2CH4

H2

H2O

CO2

CH4

CO

Heat Gain Effect (200W)

Equ

ilibr

ium

Tem

pera

ture

(C

)

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

w/o heat lossHeat gain (200W) + w/ Heat loss

Steam to Biomass Mass Ratio

1 2 3 4 5

Mol

e F

ract

ion

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

H2

CO

H2O

CO2CH4

Current Issues Conduct Steam Temperature Tests and Measure Temperature

Profiles in Gasifier Finalize Arrangements for Syngas Sampling Steam to Biomass Ratio Tests with Woody Biomass Conduct Gasification Runs with MSW, MSW Components and

Farm Wastes

Questions andDiscussion

?