There are no processes commercially available for centralized hydrogen production from

biomass. Some pilot plants are actually in the development phase, and some processes are
still in various stages of research and pre-development. Hydrogen can not be produced
from biomass in a single process. Generally, solid biomass (wood, straw, etc.) is converted
to a hydrogen-containing biogas through gasification, which may be used as such for
energy production. Biogas may be subsequently purified or steam reformed in order to
obtain pure hydrogen. Biomass can also be converted to a number of liquid biofuels, such
as bio-diesel, methanol and ethanol, from which hydrogen may be extracted through a
reforming process, similar to the existing processes for fossil fuels.
The recent Biomass Action Plan of the EU aims to encourage the use of all kinds of
biomass for renewable energy production. An EU Strategy for Biofuels has recently been
proposed by the EC (Communication, February 2006) to promote the production and use of
biofuels, through the optimised cultivation of dedicated feedstocks, research on "second
generation" biofuels, and the removal of non-technical barriers. First-generation biofuels
can be used in blends with conventional fuels and can be distributed through the existing
infrastructure. According to the communication, with the technologies currently available,
EU-produced biodiesel breaks even at oil prices around 60 per barrel, while bioethanol
becomes competitive with oil prices of about 90 per barrel.
Interestingly, in the above communication, biofuels are considered as alternative fuels for
transport, among other alternatives, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), compressed
natural gas (CNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and hydrogen. So, hydrogen production
from biomass through biofuels is actually in competition with the direct use of biofuels.
Biomass power makes up 19% of the total renewable electricity in the USA, and most of this
power (62%) is produced from wood residues generated by the forestry industry, urban
wood waste, and pulp and paper mills. While this power is largely generated by direct-fired
combustion, which operates at about 20% efficiency, the same biomass can also be used in
37% efficient integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technologies
[1]
. Slightly higher
efficiencies are expected by combining gasification or pyrolysis, with steam reforming and
the water-gas shift reaction to produce hydrogen converted to electricity through fuel cells.
Although gasification technology has been tested at scales as large as approximately
15000 kg of biomass per hour, biomass conversion to hydrogen has only been tested in
systems equivalent to 10 kg of biomass per hour
[1]
.



Biomass typically contains only about 6% (by weight) hydrogen
[1]
, and the real need to
convert biomass to hydrogen instead of using it directly for energy production or in the form
of a biofuel is still a matter of debate.

Translate
Tidak ada proses yang tersedia secara komersial untuk produksi hidrogen terpusat dari
biomassa . Beberapa tanaman percontohan sebenarnya dalam tahap pengembangan , dan
beberapa proses yang masih dalam berbagai tahap penelitian dan pra - pembangunan.
Hidrogen tidak dapat diproduksi dari biomassa dalam suatu proses tunggal . Umumnya ,
biomassa padat ( kayu , jerami , dll ) dikonversi menjadi biogas yang mengandung hidrogen
melalui gasifikasi , yang dapat digunakan seperti untuk produksi energi . Biogas dapat
kemudian dimurnikan atau uap direformasi untuk mendapatkan hidrogen murni . Biomassa
juga dapat dikonversi ke sejumlah biofuel cair, seperti bio - diesel , metanol dan etanol , dari
mana hidrogen dapat diekstraksi melalui proses reformasi , mirip dengan proses yang ada
untuk bahan bakar fosil .
Rencana Aksi Biomassa baru-baru ini Uni Eropa bertujuan untuk mendorong penggunaan
semua jenis biomassa untuk produksi energi terbarukan . Strategi Uni Eropa untuk biofuel
baru-baru ini diusulkan oleh Komisi Eropa ( Komunikasi , Februari 2006) untuk
mempromosikan produksi dan penggunaan biofuel , melalui budidaya dioptimalkan bahan
baku berdedikasi , penelitian tentang " generasi kedua " biofuel , dan penghapusan non -
teknis hambatan . Biofuel generasi pertama dapat digunakan dalam campuran dengan
bahan bakar konvensional dan dapat didistribusikan melalui infrastruktur yang ada .
Menurut komunikasi , dengan teknologi yang tersedia saat , diproduksi Uni Eropa biodiesel
impas dengan harga minyak sekitar 60 per barel , sedangkan bioetanol menjadi kompetitif
dengan harga minyak sekitar 90 per barel .
Menariknya , dalam komunikasi di atas , biofuel dianggap sebagai bahan bakar alternatif
untuk transportasi , di antara alternatif lain , seperti gas alam cair ( LNG ) , gas alam
terkompresi ( CNG ) , bahan bakar gas cair ( LPG ) dan hidrogen . Jadi , produksi hidrogen
dari biomassa melalui biofuel sebenarnya bersaing dengan penggunaan langsung biofuel .
Listrik biomassa membuat naik 19 % dari total listrik terbarukan di Amerika Serikat , dan
sebagian besar kekuatan ini ( 62 % ) dihasilkan dari sisa-sisa kayu yang dihasilkan oleh
industri kehutanan , limbah kayu perkotaan , dan pabrik pulp dan kertas . Sementara
kekuatan ini sebagian besar dihasilkan oleh langsung dipecat pembakaran , yang
beroperasi pada efisiensi sekitar 20 % , biomassa yang sama juga dapat digunakan di 37 %
efisien terintegrasi gasifikasi gabungan siklus ( IGCC ) teknologi [ 1 ] . Efisiensi sedikit lebih
tinggi diharapkan dengan menggabungkan gasifikasi atau pirolisis , dengan steam
reforming dan reaksi pergeseran air - gas untuk menghasilkan hidrogen diubah menjadi
listrik melalui sel bahan bakar . Meskipun teknologi gasifikasi telah diuji pada skala yang
besar seperti sekitar 15'000 kg biomassa per jam , konversi biomassa menjadi hidrogen
hanya diuji dalam sistem setara dengan 10 kg biomassa per jam [ 1 ] .
Biomassa biasanya hanya berisi sekitar 6 % ( berat ) hidrogen [ 1 ] , dan kebutuhan nyata
untuk mengkonversi biomassa menjadi hidrogen daripada menggunakan secara langsung
untuk produksi energi atau dalam bentuk biofuel masih menjadi bahan perdebatan
Biomass Resources
As an energy source, biomass has several important advantages. Renewability is obviously
a key feature but the heterogenous composition and the extreme diversity of biomass
feedstocks is one of the principal limits. The list of plant species, byproducts and waste
materials that can potentially be used as feedstock is almost endless (a non exhaustive list
is presented in table 1).
Table 1: Overview of world biomass production and international trade in 2004.
Biomass products
World Production in
2004
Volume of international trade in
2004
Industrial wood and forest
products
1


Industrial round wood 1646 Mm
3
121 Mm
3

Wood chips and particles 197 Mm
3
37 Mm
3

Sawn timber 416 Mm
3
130 Mm
3

Pulp for paper production 189 Mt 42 Mt
Paper and paperboard 354 Mt 111 Mt

Agricultural Products
2

Maize 725 Mt 83 Mt
Wheat 630 Mt 118 Mt
Barley 154 Mt 22 Mt
Oats 26 Mt 2,5 Mt
Rye 18 Mt 2 Mt
Rice 608 Mt 28 Mt
Palm Oil 37 Mt 23 Mt
Rapeseed 46 Mt 8,5 Mt
Rapeseed oil 16 Mt 2,5 Mt

Solid and liquid Biofuels
3

Ethanol 41 Mm
3
3,5 Mm
3

Biodiesel 3,5 Mt < 0,5 Mt
Fuel Wood 1772 Mm
3
3,5 Mm
3

Charcoal 44 Mt 1 Mt
Wood pellets 4 Mt 1 Mt


(
1
Source FAOSTAT, 2006;
2
FAOSTAT and Indexmundi, 2006;
3
(Rosillo-Calle & Walter,
2006)
Major resources in biomass include agricultural crops and their waste byproducts,
lignocellulosic products such as wood and wood waste, waste from food processing and
aquatic plants and algae, and effluents produced in the human habitat. Moderately-dried
wastes such as wood residue, wood scrap and urban garbage can be burned directly as
fuel. Energy from water-containing biomass such as sewage sludge, agricultural and
livestock effluents as well as animal excreta is recovered mainly by microbial fermentation.
The distribution of biomass use as an energy primary source shows the predominant
position of wood with 76% of energy production from biomass in 2002 in Europe
(refer figure below).


Composition of energy production from biomass and wastes (62 Mtoe, 2600 PJ) in the EU25 in
2002 (source: VTT).
Biomass as energy source is characterized in the form of both flow and stock. The amount
of global forest is estimated at 700 billion tons and acts as storage of carbon dioxide.
Available energy flow from forest is enormous and estimated to be 5 billion tons in
petroleum equivalent.
A distinction can be made between the use of dry biomass such as wood and the use of wet
biomass sources such as the organic fraction of domestic waste, agro-industrial wastes and
slurries, and wastewater. Dry biomass should be used preferentially for thermal conversion
processes that require a low water content such as green electricity generation (via
combustion or gasification) or the production of renewable substitute natural gas (SNG) or
biofuels through gasification, followed by Methanation (Boerrigter et al., 2006;
Mozaffarian et al., 2006) or Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (Hamelinck et al., 2004).
Wet biomass and residues are less suitable for thermal conversion because transport and
drying require a considerable amount of energy, which leads to a limited or even negative
overall carbon dioxide reduction. The available amount of wet biomass and residues is
however considerable, so that their use as feedstock for renewable energy production is
certainly worth while. Biotechnological conversion processes are particularly useful for this
application because they are catalysed by microorganisms in an aqueous environment at
low temperature and pressure. Furthermore these techniques are well suited for
decentralised energy production in small-scale installations in locations where biomass or
wastes are available, thus avoiding energy expenditure and costs for transport. The general
expectation is that biotechnological processes will play a substantial role in the production
of renewable gaseous and liquid biofuels including hydrogen (Claassen et al., 1999; Kosaric
& Velikonja, 1995).
Analysis of biomass potential in Europe
In December 2005 the European commission launched a "Biomass Action Plan"
[2]
. It is part
of the overall EU objectives of improving competitiveness, sustainability, and security of
supply. The Action Plan sets out measures to increase the development of biomass energy
from wood, wastes and agricultural crops. It includes measures to promote biomass in
heating, electricity and transport, followed by cross-cutting measures affecting biomass
supply, financing and research. In the area of heating and electricity the Commission will,
among others, work towards a proposal for Community legislation in 2006 to encourage the
use of renewable energy, including biomass, for heating and cooling; study how to improve
the performance of household biomass boilers and reduce pollution; encourage the
modernisation and conversion of district heating schemes to biomass fuel; and to closely
monitor the implementation of the RES-E Directive.
According to Hall (Hall, 1997) biomass energy supply in 1997 was at least 2 EJ/y in
Western Europe, representing about 4% of the primary energy use of 54 EJ. Estimates
show a likely potential in Europe in 2050 of 9.013.5 EJ/y depending on land areas (10% of
useable land, 33 Mha), yields (1015 oven-dry tonnes/ha/a), and recoverable residues
(25% of harvestable). The proportion of the current bioenergy use of the total potential in
Europe is 22% (Parikka, 2004) showing a large energy potential for biomass. Estimates of
biomass energy use in EU25 in 2004 (EurObservEr, 2005) amounted to 2.8 EJ
corresponding to about 4% of the gross inland energy consumption. Biomass availability in
Europe has recently been evaluated in the project "Bioenergys role in the EU Energy
Market".
Biofuels (biodiesel, bio ethanol...) are considered as alternative fuels for transport, among
other alternatives, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), compressed natural gas (CNG),
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and hydrogen. So, the hydrogen production pathway is
actually in competition with the production of other biofuels for the resources.
Some results (table 2) indicate that significant biomass is available to support ambitious and
diversify renewable energy targets in 2010, 2020 and 2030, even after taking environmental
constraints into account. The environmentally-compatible biomass potential would be in line
with other environmental policies and objectives. However, safeguarding biodiversity, and
soil and water resources requires that detailed environmental guidelines become an integral
part of planning processes at all levels of decision making. The potential for achieving co-
benefits between biomass production and nature conservation will have to be further
explored and adapted to local environnemental conditions.

Table 2:European Biomass production potential
Mtoe
Europe Biomass
Consumption 2003
Potential
2010
Potential
2020
Potential
2030
Wood direct from forest 40 43 39 - 45 39 - 72
Organic wastes, wood industry
residues, agricultural food
processing residues, manure
27 100 100 102
Energy crops from agriculture 2 43 - 46 76 - 94 102 - 142
Total, Mtoe 69 (2,9 EJ)
186 - 189
(7,8 - 7,9 EJ)
215 - 239
(9,0 - 10 EJ)
243 - 316 (10
- 13 EJ)
(source : VTT), the projections have been done with an assumption with a tax of a 65 per
tons of CO
2
emitted (source : EEA
[3]
).
Process Routes of Hydrogen Production from Biomass
Biomass is generated from a great number of different "renewable" sources, such as forest
and crop residues, municipal solid waste and dedicated energy crops. It can be converted
to gaseous fuels such as biogas and liquid fuels, among which the most important are
biodiesel and bioethanol. There are several pathways (refer figure below) available for the
conversion of biomass to hydrogen, generally compatible with existing technologies,
because fossil fuels also originate from biomass, but through a very long CO
2
- absorption
cycle.


Strategies for production from lignocellulosic biomass (Source : (Huber & Dumesic, 2006)
The technologies available for the conversion to hydrogen, namely biomass gasification,
pyrolysis and reforming of biomass-derived fuels, are the same as the ones used for fossil
fuels, since the latter have a similar organic origin. The main differences are due to the
chemical composition variations of the biomass feedstock available and the fact that
CO
2
emissions related to biomass, produced in a rapid CO
2
-absorption cycle are not taken
into account. Key challenges to hydrogen production via biomass gasification involve
reducing costs associated with capital equipment and biomass feedstocks. New membrane
technologies are needed to separate and purify hydrogen from the CO
2
rich gas stream
produced, similar to coal gasification. Processes may be combined into fewer operations,
intensifying the process.
Biological conversion of biomass to hydrogen is still at lab scale but keep a great evolution
potential and the largest environmental benefits.
Biomass has the potential to accelerate the realization of hydrogen as a major fuel of the
future. Since biomass is renewable and consumes atmospheric CO
2
impact compared to
fossil fuels. However, hydrogen from biomass has major net CO
2
challenges. There are no
completed technology demonstrations. The yield of hydrogen is low from biomass due to
the low hydrogen content in biomass (approximately 6% versus 25% for methane) and to
the low energy content because of the 40% oxygen content of biomass. Since over half of
the hydrogen from biomass comes from splitting water in the steam reforming reaction, the
energy content of the feedstock is an inherent limitation of the processes. The yield of
hydrogen as a function of oxygen content is shown in figure below.


Theoretical yield of hydrogen as a function of the oxygen content in the feed. (Source: IEA)
The low yield of hydrogen on a proportion weight basis is misleading since the energy
conversion efficiency is high. For example, the steam reforming of bio-oil at 825C with a
five fold excess of steam demonstrated at the lab scale has an energy efficiency of 56%. In
contrast the conversion of wood pellets to hydrogen by steam gasification has a closed
conversion efficiency with 55%
[4]
.
However, the cost for growing, harvesting and transporting biomass is high. Thus, even with
reasonable energy efficiencies, it is not presently economically competitive with natural gas
steam reforming for stand-alone hydrogen without the advantage of high-value co-products.
Additionally, as with all sources of hydrogen, production from biomass will require
appropriate hydrogen storage, transport infrastructure and utilization systems to be
developed and deployed.
Biomass conversion technologies can be divided into two categories : 1) direct production
routes and 2) conversion of storable intermediates. Direct routes have the advantage of
simplicity and indirect routes have additional production steps, but offer an advantage in
that there can be distributed production of the intermediates, minimizing the transportation
costs of the biomass. The intermediates can then be shipped to a central, larger-scale
hydrogen production facility. Both classes have thermochemical and biological routes.
A third area of hydrogen from biomass is metabolic processing to split water via
photosynthesis or to perform the shift reaction by photo biological organisms. The photo-
biological production of hydrogen is presented it is an area of long-term research and is
covered in a separate IEA Task (IEA Hydrogen Agreement Task 15, Photobiological
Production of Hydrogen). The use of microorganisms to perform the shift reaction is of great
relevance to hydrogen production because of the potential to reduce carbon monoxide
levels in the product gas far below the level attained using water gas shift catalysts and,
hence, eliminate final CO scrubbing for fuel cell applications. The following serves as an
introduction to the areas reviewed in this report. Figure 2 shows the technologies that are
reviewed in this report.
Read more on Thermochemical conversion of biomass or on Microbial conversion of
biomass.
Main Metrics
The table of the main metrics for the biomass hydrogen technology are given in the table
below.
METRIC SUB METRIC
DATA /
RATING
UNITS
Biomass
(wood,
straw...)
Technology
Accessibility
Compatibility with existing
technologies
Rating 0-4 2
Number of producers Data number 0
Possibility of extending
existing raffineries
Rating 0-4 2
Global
Environmental
Impact
(to be
coordinated with
ECN)
GHG emissions associated
with fuel production
Data
gCO2 eq /
kg fuel
0
CO2 emissions associated
with fuel production
Data
gCO2 / kg
fuel
0
Local
Environmental
Impact
(to be
coordinated with
ECN)
Air quality impact (consider
NOx, PM, CO, NMHC)
Rating 0-4 N/A
Noise or perception of noise
from fuel production facilities
Data/Rating
dB(A),
sone
N/A
Land use / damage to nature Rating 0-4 N/A
Efficiency
Part load energy efficiency of
technology
Data % <50%
Full load energy efficiency of
technology
Data % <50%
Energy efficiency of auxiliary
facilities
Data % N/A
Capacity &
Availability
(to be
coordinated with
ECN)
Measured fuel production /
supply
Data
kg fuel /
year
N/A
Maximum fuel production /
supply (capacity)
Data
kg fuel /
year
N/A
Number of hours per year
energy is available (regular
use - maintenance hours,
expected repairs or failures)
Data
hours /
year
N/A
Cost
(click here for more
datails)
Capital investment for fuel
production facilities
Data /capacity
646 /kW (652
US$/kW 1071
US$/kg/d)
[5]

Operational / maintenance
cost (labour, electric energy
cost, service, cost of other
materials etc.)
Data /year
58986287 /yr
(59534000
US$/yr, 150000
kg/d)
[5]

Decommisioning cost Data /capacity N/A
Selling price of fuel produced Data /kg 4-9 /kWh
[6]

Safety
(to be
coordinated with
TNO)
No. of incidents (shut-downs,
fuel leakage, tech failure)
Data no. / year N/A
No. of accidents causing injury
to people, damage to
property/environment
Data no. / year N/A

Comments to understand how this table has been filled up are given here under:
Readiness: 1
Comment: Small units are available but still under development
Number of producers: 0
Comment: There are more than 50 different processes studied at a laboratory scale, but
no commercial product is available from biomass to hydrogen.
Compatibility with existing technologies & infrastructures: 3
Comment: the transformation of biogas or biofuels to hydrogen is similar to the
processes available for fossil fuels
Global Environmental Impact: to be defined
Considering that the CO
2
produced during the process has been absorbed from the
atmosphere, the processes are almost perfectly clean from that point of view
Air Quality Impact:
Traces of hydrogen may be released to the atmosphere through venting or in waste
gases
the eventual release of CO in the waste gases should be considered
the eventual formation of sulphur oxides should be considered, since the biomass
feedstock often contains sulphur
particulate matter release is also a matter of concern
Noise Impact:
Similar to the existing technologies for fossil fuels
Land Use:
Similar to the existing technologies for fossil fuels except for feedstock storage, if
necessary, with increased land use requirements (with respect to factories yes, but more
relevant here is land use for crops etc)
Efficiency at rated loading: < 50%
Comment: This figure corresponds to the efficiency conversion from biomass to a
hydrogen containing gas. The efficiency is expected to decrease significantly in the
subsequent steps for hydrogen production and purification
Efficiency at part load: < 50 %
Comment: see above
Efficiency of auxiliary systems: no data
Comment: The description of the systems is not detailed enough to understand which
are the auxiliary systems involved.
Capacity to meet users needs: 2
Comment: The wide variation of feedstock composition presents technological problems
to be addressed but also a versatility to meet users needs.
Availability of the technology to be "in service": no data
Comment: there is no such plant in full operation, so the availability cannot be estimated
with any degree of precision
Lifetime of the technology: no data
Comment: there is no such plant in full operation, so the lifetime cannot be estimated
with any degree of precision
Safety:
No data were found in the literature regarding biomass gasification plants. However,
safety issues similar to the ones for classical reforming of fossil fuels are expected.
Market/Diffusion
The production of hydrogen from biomass is still in an early phase of development, although
the gasification of biomass is slowly entering the market
Biomass gasification was largely used to power European cities and over a million wood
gasifiers were used to power cars and trucks during the 2
nd
World War. Yet, there are now
only a few companies manufacturing gasifier systems
[7]
. Reed and Gaur have surveyed the
biomass gasification scene for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (USA) and the
Biomass Energy Foundation, covering the major types of large and small gasifiers systems,
gasifier research institutions and a list of most gasifier manufacturers
[8]
.
The EERC (Energy & Environmental Research Center) has been helping the EER-GC
Corporation (a subsidiary of General Electric, USA) to develop a new hydrogen production
process from biomass. The process converts biomass to high-purity hydrogen suitable for
fuel cells through a novel steam-reforming process called unmixed reforming. Dual fluidized
reactors and a proprietary catalyst are used to economically convert biomass with moisture
levels up to 50% to hydrogen. In bench-scale tests, wood waste, switchgrass, and animal
manure have been tested in the process and successfully converted to high-purity
hydrogen.
Main industrial players
Since 1977 the firm Batelle has been developing an allothermal gasification process whose
commercialization is expected shortly. In Germany, DMT (Deutsche Montan Technologie) is
predominantly engaged in the development of a marketable allothermal gasifier, the actual
commercialization of which will probably be carried out by others. A third allothermal
gasification process is being developed in the USA by MTCI (Manufacturing and
Technology Conversion International). Autothermal gasification processes are being
developed by many European firms such as Ahlstrm, Gotaverken, HTW und Lurgi
GmbH
[9]

From the wide variety of biomass gasification processes that are being developed, S. Babu
describes some processes suitable for hydrogen production
[10]
. A few of these processes
are reported below.
BIOSYN Gasification and Gas Conditioning Technologies
The BIOSYN gasification process was developed during the 1980s by BIOSYN Inc., a
subsidiary of Nouveler Inc., a division of Hydro-Quebec (Montral, Quebec, Canada).
The process is based on a bubbling fluidized bed gasifier containing a bed of silica or
alumina capable of operating up to 1.6 MPa. Extensive oxygen-blown biomass
gasification tests were conducted to produce synthesis gas for methanol production. Air
blown atmospheric gasification tests were also conducted for evaluating cogeneration.
In the following years, a 50kg/h BIOSYN process development unit has also proven the
feasibility of gasifying primary sludges, RDF, rubber residues (containing 5 - 15%
Kevlar), and granulated polyethylene and propylene residues.
The process accepts feed particle sizes up to 5 cm, feed bulk densities higher than 0.2
kg/l and feed moisture content up to 20%. The thermal efficiency for biomass
gasification varies from 70 to 80%. The product gas containing mostly CO, CO
2
, and H2
could be cleaned to remove carry over dust and condensable tar and upgraded to
produce essentially pure hydrogen. With air as the gasifying agent the HHV of the fuel
gas is about 6 MJ/Nm3. Enriched air, with 40% oxygen, can produce a fuel gas having a
HHV of about 12 MJ/Nm3 at half the gas yield. The raw gas cyclones remove 85 to 95%
of entrained particles. The BIOSYN Process fully integrated with hot-gas filtration and
high-temperature tar removal, and gas processing to convert CO to hydrogen and CO
2
,
and CO
2
removal to produce pure hydrogen was never demonstrated
[8]
.
FERCO SilvaGas Process
The FERCO SilvaGas Process employs the low-pressure Battelle (Columbus)
gasification process which consists of two physically separate reactors; a gasification
reactor in which the biomass is converted into a MCV gas and residual char at a
temperature of 850 to 1000C, and a combustion reactor that burns the residual char to
provide heat for gasification. Heat transfer between reactors is accomplished by
ciculating sand between the gasifier and combustor. Since the gasification reactions are
supported by indirect heating, the primary fuel gas is a medium calorific value fuel gas.
A typical product gas composition obtained in pilot plant tests, at steam to biomass
(wood chips) ratio of 0.45, is 21.22% H
2
, 43.17% CO, 13.46% CO
2
, 15.83% CH
4
, and
5.47% C
2
+. The estimated HHV of this fuel gas is 17.75 MJ/N cu.m. A 200 TPD capacity
Battelle demonstration gasification plant was built at the McNeil Power plant in
Burlington, Vermont. The fuel gas will be cooled for heat recovery, scrubbed, and
recompressed prior to energy conversion and recovery in a 15MWe gas turbine
system
[11]
.
MTCI Process
The MTCI gasification process employs indirect heating to promote steam gasification of
biomass to produce a MCV fuel gas. The gasifier combusts part of the fuel gas in pulsed
combustion burners which promote heat transfer to the gasification section. Extensive
pilot plant tests were conducted in a 20 TPD unit, including an evaluation of black liquor
gasification. Based on these tests, a 50 TPD capacity black liquor gasification
demonstration unit was built at Weyerhauser's New Bern facility. The black liquor is
steam reformed/gasified at an operating temperature of about 600C. The raw gas is
upgraded through several steps of gas cleanup, resulting in a synthesis gas rich in
hydrogen (>65% v) with a higher heating value (HHV) of approximately 10.4 MJ/m3
dry
[8]
.
Fast Internal Circulation Fluidized Bed (FICFB) Process
The FICFB gasification reactor consists of a gasification zone and a combustion zone.
Inert, heat carrying bed material is circulated between these zones to transfer heat from
the combustion to the gasification zone, while separating the flue gases in the
combustion zone from the fuel gas produced in the gasification zone. Biomass is fed
into the gasification zone and gasified with steam at 850-900C and the thermal energy
provided by the circulating solids. As a result the gas produced in this zone is nearly free
of nitrogen. The bed material, together with the char left over from steam gasification, is
circulated to the combustion zone. This zone is fluidized with air to burn the char and
any carryover interstitial fuel gas. The product gas produced from the steam gasification
zone is a medium calorific value (MCV) synthesis gas rich in hydrogen. There is no need
for pure oxygen to produce the MCV gas in this process. A demonstration plant was
erected in Gssing, Burgenland, with a 8MWth feed capacity plant, an electric output of
2 MW and a thermal output of 4.5 MW. The total efficiency is 81.3%, taking into account
an electrical efficiency of 25% and a thermal efficiency of 56.3%
[8]
.
R&D potential and perspectives
Hydrogen is recognized as one of the most promising energy carriers in the future. Many
investigations on various hydrogen production methods have been conducted over the past
several decades. Biomass is potentially a reliable energy resource for hydrogen production.
Biomass is renewable, abundant and easy to use. Over the life cycle, net CO2 emission is
nearly zero due to the photosynthesis of green plants. Biomass is the only direct way to
produce hydrogen from renewable energy without major technology breakthroughs. But
hydrogen production from biomass would compete with biofuels and CHP production. In
general, as basic feedstock availability is limited, production from biomass will not benefit
from large economies of scale. Costs are expected to be high compared with coal
gasification or gas reforming. The thermochemical pyrolysis and gasification of biomass for
hydrogen production methods are economically viable and will become competitive has the
current conventional natural gas reforming method. The production of hydrogen from
biomass is still in an early phase of development, although the gasification of biomass is
slowly entering the market. Photo-electrolysis produces hydrogen using sunlight to
illuminate a water-immersed semiconductor that converts the light into chemical energy to
split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This method promises lower capital costs than
combined photovoltaic-electrolysis systems and it holds considerable potential for
technology breakthroughs. Test-scale devices have shown solar-to- hydrogen conversion
efficiencies of up to 16% (IEA, 2005), but cost estimates are premature. Biological dark
fermentation is also a promising hydrogen production method for commercial use in the
future. These processes require genetic engineering to achieve significant levels of
hydrogen production. Much research is still needed to demonstrate feasibility. With further
development of these technologies, biomass will play an important role in the development
of sustainable hydrogen economy.

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