Biomass gasification to replace oil or other fossil fuels

摘要

Knowledge regarding gasification of solid fuels dates back several decades. The latest boom of gasification technologies took place during the oil shock in the 1980's. Since then, investing in gasification has not regarded as economically justified due to low oil prices. With the current oil price ranging from 40 to 70 USD a barrel, the economical drivers raising interest in gasification are there.rnLarge industrial scale gasification of coal/lignite took place before a basis for biomass gasification was built by the oil shock. The solution developed was CFB gasification, in which oil was replaced by bark and wood, which were gasified in lime kilns at pulp mills. Still after 20 years some of those plants are operational. The CFB gasification process could also be coupled to coal or oil fired boilers to replace fossil fuels, and cut down CO2 emissions in a simple and economical way.rnThis paper presents the basics of the CFB gasification process developed by Metso Power (formerly Kvaerner Power) as well as experimental data from the gasifier constructed at Sodra Cells Varo mill in Sweden in 1987. Different ways to utilize biomass CFB gasification in power plants and economical merits of such solutions will also be described.