Techno-economic analysis of ammonia production via integrated biomass gasification

Abstract

Ammonia (NH 3) can be produced by synthesis of nitrogen and hydrogen in the Haber-Bosch process, where one of the challenges is the availability of a sustainable and economic hydrogen source. Natural gas is currently the main feedstock for NH 3 production and a more environmentally sustainable alternative could be the use of biomass-based synthesis gas. The main objective of this paper is to perform a techno-economical evaluation of the production of biomass-based NH 3 from the integration of a pressurized entrained flow biomass gasifier (PEBG) in a paper and pulp mill. The synthesis and ammonia production were modelled in Aspen Plus, while a process integration model based on Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) of an existing pulp and paper mill in Sweden was used to analyse the effects on the overall energy system of the mill. The approach to the integration between the two models was an iterative procedure, the most important constraint being the conservation of the steam balance in the mill. The results showed that the overall system efficiency (calculated in terms of electricity equivalents) is increased by 10%-units compared to the original operation of the mill where also the operation of a non-integrated gasification plant for ammonia production is included. The integrated process configuration produces NH 3 to a cost of 458 €/t and requires a relative high selling marginal to be economically feasible.

Process Simulation for the Design and Scale Up of Heterogeneous Catalytic Process: Kinetic Modelling Issues

“…Ammonia production via integrated biomass gasification was studied by Andersson and Lundgren [14]. The process simulator was used to model energy and material balances of the complete biomass gasification system including the NH 3 synthesis.…”

Investigation of the Cofiring of Methane and Biosyngas for Combined Cooling, Heating, and Power Generation with Zero Carbon Dioxide Emissions

“…At this stage, wheat straw is first dried in a rotary dryer heated indirectly to decrease its moisture content and subsequently ground into acceptable small particles . In this study, the specific work required for biomass drying is assumed to be 15 kW h per wet tonne to reach the desired biomass moisture content of 7 wt %. However, the energy penalty related to the grinding of biomass particles to obtain an average biomass size of 0.6–0.8 mm accounts for 3 % of the biomass thermal input…”

“…To obtain ah igh carbon conversion and ah igh biosyngas quality,t he pretreatment of biomass is necessary.A tt his stage,w heat straw is first dried in ar otary dryer heated indirectly to decrease its moisture content and subsequently ground into acceptable small particles. [28] In this study,t he specific work required for biomass drying is assumed to be 15 kW hp er wet tonne [29] to reach the desired biomass moisture content of 7wt%.H owever, the energy penalty related to the grinding of biomass particles to obtain an average biomass size of 0.6-0.8 mm accounts for 3% of the biomass thermal input. [30] Ty pically,a tl east three representative reactors for biomass gasification are used, that is,af ixed-bedg asifier, as ingle or circulating fluid-bed gasifier, and an entrainedbed gasifier.…”

Biomass gasification-based syngas production for a conventional oxo synthesis plant—greenhouse gas emission balances and economic evaluation

“…Process integration studies of various thermochemical biorefinery concepts at different industrial sites have been reported in the literature, such as at a biomass-fired combined heat and power plant (Heyne et al, 2012); pulp and paper mills (Andersson and Lundgren, 2014;Consonni et al, 2009); a mechanical pulp and paper mill co-located with a sawmill plant (Isaksson et al, 2012); a steel plant (Johansson, 2013;Lundgren et al, 2013); a chemical cluster (Holmgren et al, 2014); and oil refineries (Brau et al, 2013;Johansson et al, 2012;Sadhukhan and Ng, 2011). Oxo synthesis is another possible interesting application of biomass-derived syngas (Boerrigter and Rauch, 2006;Spath and Dayton, 2003).…”