INVESTIGATION OF THE PRODUCTION OF SUBST ITUTE NATURAL GAS IN GREECE FROM LOCAL BIOMASS FEEDSTOCK BY MEANS OF THE BIOHPR

摘要

Greece is a country with massive gas imports, increased demand in natural gas and with highly untapped solid biomass feedstock. The decentralized generation of Substitute Natural Gas through gasification, with the BioHPR technology, of straw and prunings, collected in rural areas close to the gas grid and the consumption of the biofuel in the urban areas, seems one of the most promising solutions in order to secure the national energy system and cover seamlessly the gas demand. Pelletizing of these sources in inevitable so as the gasification process can run trouble free. In this study and after assessing the potential of the aforementioned feedstock from proper biomass database, two scenarios regarding the pelletizing process were taken into consideration in order to select the most appropriate in each prefecture: mobile machines that convert exclusively dry biomass, such as straw, to pellets and plants that can transform both type of feedstock. In total 42 pelletizing machines or plants and 227 small scale gasification units of 1.3MW_(th) fuel input can be deployed across the 21 prefectures that are close to the gas grid. Approximately 1,36 million MWh of SNG can be annually produced which represents 3.8% of Greece annual gas imports. Finally a techno-economic evaluation has been performed in order to identify the financial viability of gasification plant investments under the Greek legislation.