04/22/23 | 1

Prof.dr.ir. Erik Heeres

Green Chemical Reaction Engineering

University of Groningen

Fast Pyrolysis Technology forUpgrading Palm oil Processing Waste.

|Date 25.06.2010

Content› Introduction: global challenges

› Fast pyrolysis Characteristics Product properties

› Case study: Fast pyrolysis technology for Empty Fruit bunches

› Conclusions

› Acknowledgment

|Date 25.06.20104

Challenge: growing energy consumption › Increase due to

• Population growth• Higher welfare

levels

• The highest annual growth of energy consumption is predicted for Asia (3.7%), NON-OECD countries (3%) and Central and South America (2.8%). The lowest annual growth of energy consumption is predicted for Europe with 1%.

|Date 25.06.20105

Issues related to the use of fossil resources

080908 | 5 | 5

› (easily accessible) fossil supplies are running out• Peak oil

› Ever increasing and volatile oil-prices

› Geo-political considerations

› CO2 emissions; global warming

|Date 25.06.20106

Solution: a biobased economy› A biobased economy uses biomass as input

and converts it to a wide range of value added products with a minimum of energy input and maximum product output (no waste), preferably using closed cycles.

› Agriculture beyond food

080908 | 6

|Date 25.06.20107

Biomass application platformsHigh T

platformCombustionGasification

Pyrolysis

Low T platform

Pre-treatment/hydrolysis

FermentationSeparation in

fractions

Secundary conversions

Heat and Power

Transportation fuels

Biobased Chemicals

Biobased Performance

materials

|Date 25.06.20108080908 | 8

First and higher generations biofuels› First generation:

• proven technology; applied on large scale• Feedstocks often directly compete with food• Biodiesel from most PPO, bioethanol from

starch/sugars

› Second generation• Still in demonstration phase, not full commercial• Uses preferably non-food or residues as feed stock• Bioethanol from woody biomass, fast pyrolyis oil,

waste PPO

› Third generation• Far from inplementation, small scale demo• Algae

|Date 25.06.20109

Pyrolysis principle

Non-condensable gases

Pyrolysis oil

Char

|Date 25.06.201010

Interest in pyrolysis10-05-2009 | Environmental Impact Assessment for new pyrolysis plant

BTG Bioliquids BV is going to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment for their planned pyrolysis factory at the premises of AkzoNobel in Hengelo (The Netherlands). The pyrolysis plant will convert wood into oil.

The factory will also deliver excess steam to AkzoNobel and generate electricity that will be supplied to the Dutch grid. Conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment ('MER' in Dutch) is mandatory by law.

The factory will process 5 tons of wood per hour, which will be converted to oil, steam and electricity. The installation will be constructed on a commercial basis. BTG has built a pyrolysis unit in Malaysia in 2005, and is already operating a pilot unit in their laboratory for more than 10 years. The new plant in Hengelo is going to be the largest pyrolysis unit in Europe and the largest functioning plant in the world.

www.senternovem.nl/gave_english/nieuws

|Date 25.06.201011

Interest in pyrolysisFortum invests EUR 20 million to build the world's first industrial-scale integrated bio-oil plant

PRESS RELEASE 7 March 2012

Fortum is to invest about EUR 20 million in the commercialisation of new technology by building a bio-oil plant connected to the Joensuu power plant in Finland. The integrated bio-oil plant, based on fast pyrolysis technology, is the first of its kind in the world on an industrial scale.

The bio-oil plant, which will be integrated with the combined heat and power production plant (CHP) in Joensuu, will produce electricity and district heat and in the future also 50,000 tonnes of bio-oil per year. The bio-oil raw materials will include forest residues and other wood based biomass

|Date 25.06.201012

Characteristics Fast Pyrolysis

› Aiming for high liquid yields

› Temperature between 400-550C

› Short vapour residence times

› Rapid cooling of vapours

› High heating and heat transfer rates required• Important for reactor design• Small biomass particles

› Oxygen free atmosphere

|Date 25.06.201013

Pyrolysis products

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Slow pyrolysis Fast pyrolysis Gasification

GasCharWaterLiquid organics

Adapted from Bridgwater

|Date 25.06.201014

Pyrolysis Process BTG

From:http://www.Dynamotive.com

|Date 25.06.2010

Fast pyrolysis oil characteristics15

› High oxygen content (up to 50%)

› Immiscible with petroleum products

› Limited stability upon heating and storage (coke formation, repolymerization)

Pyrolysis oil compositionC (wt%) 40.1H (wt%) 7.6O (wt%) 52.1Moisture (wt%) 23.9

|Date 25.06.201016

Applications of crude pyrolysis oil

Combined heat and powerDiesel engine

Co-firing power plants PerformanceChemical

Other option: upgrading to gasoline/diesel substitute

|Date 25.06.2010

A case study:Empty fruit bunch valorisation by fast pyrolysis

17

|Date 25.06.201018

Background

http://www.pwc.com/id/en/publications/assets/Palm-Oil-Plantation-2012.pdf

|Date 25.06.201019

|Date 25.06.201020

6 M ton CPO in Riau/annum

6.5 M ton EFB in Riau/annum

|Date 25.06.201021

Current Usages Main Constraint

1. Incineration to recover ash Generating excessive air pollution

2. Fuel for boiler High moisture content and low heating value

3. Raw material for MDF board Residual oil and high silica content in EFB

4. Raw material for pulp and paper Short fiber length – board strength and folding endurance drop

5. Return to plantation (mulching) High transport/labour cost, affected by weather(soil)

|Date 25.06.201022

From Waste to Value

• Solution - convert EFB into fast pyrolysis oil

• Advantages - Oil transportable / storable - Oil 20 x denser than EFB (in GJ/m3) - Readily use as industrial fuel (power, boiler, engines and

turbines)- ‘Green’ electricity qualified as renewable energy- Huge quantities of biomass in Indonesia - Process flexibility to feed stock

|Date 25.06.201023

Shredder

Feeder

Bunch Press

Green Oil Process Plant

Dryer

Empty Fruit Bunches

Green Oil

The process

Heat

65% 50 - 55%

< 10%

|Date 25.06.201024

Ayer Itam

Demo unit Malaysia (BTG/Genting)

KL

Singapore

|Date 25.06.201025

Photo’s building

Photo’s pyrolysis

Photo’s pre-treatment

|Date 25.06.201026

Achievement

Process• 1.5 t/hr operation on dried EFB• reliable operation daily basis (roughly 10 t/d)• water content to vary in between 25 and 30 wt.%• yields around 55 - 65 wt.% (30 wt.% water)

Production • approx. 800 ton• 150 ton ‘off-spec’

Specifications for bio-oilspec meas

LHV GJ/t > 15 16 - 17water content wt.% < 30 20 - 30ash content wt.% < 0.05 0.2 - 0.4solids content wt.% < 0.1 < 0.4Density kg/m3 >1,100 1,050 - 1150Homogenity % top - bottom < 5 % < 10 %pH - - 3.4viscosity cP < 100 25 - 100

|Date 25.06.2010

Conclusions› Fast pyrolysis oil is a very versatile second

generation biofuel; actually may be seen as a green crude oil alternatives

› Valorization of empty fruit bunches succesfully demonstrated at a 2 ton/h scale in a demo unit in Malaysia

› Upgrading of fast pyrolysis oil by hydrotreatment has enormous potential to obtain gasoline/diesel substitutes

27

|Date 25.06.2010

Acknowledgements› BTG, Enschede

R. Venderbosch B. van der Beld

› RUG F. Mahfud J. Wildschut A. Ardiyanti Y. Wang

28

|Date 25.06.201029

University of Groningen