BIO-ENERGY

Bio resources
• Woody Fuels
• Forestry Residues
• Mill Residues
• Agricultural Residues
• Urban Wood and Yard Wastes
• Chemical Recovery Fuels
• Animal Wastes
• Dry Animal Manure
Biomass direct combustion
• Fixed Dome Plant
• Floating Gas Holder Type
Fixed Dome Plant
Advantages
• It has no corrosion trouble
• It requires less cost compared to a floating drum type
• It does not need maintenance
• Heat insulation is better and temperature will be constant.
Disadvantages
• It produces variable gas pressure
• It requires skilled masons
• Gas production of the digester volume is also less.
Floating Gas Holder Type
Advantages
1. It has less trouble because solids are constantly submerged.
2. It has no problem of gas leakage.
3. Danger of mixing oxygen with the gas is minimized.
4. No separate pressure device is needed when the fresh waste is added
to the tank.
5. Constant gas pressure is obtained.
Disadvantages
6. It has higher cost.
7. It is not suitable for colder regions because of heat lost through the
metal holder.
8. It requires maintenance in flexible pipe joining area and main gas pipe.
Conversion Process
Combustion Process
Pyrolysis Process
• It is the process of conversion of biomass to liquid (bio-oil), solid (charcoal) and
gaseous (fuel gases) products by heating in the absence of air at 500 °C.
• There are three types of pyrolysis : Fast pyrolysis, conventional (Carbonization)
pyrolysis and slow pyrolysis.
• Fast pyrolysis process has high heating value and heat transfer rate and
completes within seconds.
• Fast pyrolysis yields 60 % bio-oil, 20 % bio-char and 20 % biogas.
• Conventional pyrolysis process is the process in which mostly carbon (35 %) is
left as residue.
• Slow pyrolysis takes more time than fast pyrolysis, it also has low temperature
and heating values.
• Flash pyrolysis is the type of fast pyrolysis, in which 80 % bio-oil is obtained at
keeping temperature low. If flash pyrolysis is used for converting biomass to
bio-crude, it has up to 80 % efficiency.
Gasification Process
• In biomass gasification, charcoal, wood chips, energy crops, forestry
residues, agricultural waste and other wastes are transformed into
flammable gases at high temperature (800-1000 °C).
• In this process fuel (biomass) reacts with a gasifying medium such as
oxygen enriched air, pure oxygen, steam or a combination of both.
• The integration of gasification and combustion/ heat recovery ensures
40-50 % conversion efficiency for a 30-60 MW. The syngas can be
converted into hydrogen gas, and it may have a future as fuel for
transportation.
Biomass: The process starts with biomass, which can be any organic material such
as wood, agricultural residues, or waste.
Pretreatment: The biomass undergoes a pretreatment step to prepare it for
gasification. This could involve drying or grinding to make the material more
suitable for further processing.
Gasification: In this stage, the pretreated biomass is converted into syngas (a
mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and other gases) by heating it in the
presence of a controlled amount of oxygen or air. This process breaks down the
biomass into gas and solid residues.
Syngas Purification: The syngas produced in gasification is purified to remove
impurities like tar, sulfur compounds, and particulates, making it suitable for further
use.
Fischer-Tropsch Reactor: The purified syngas is fed into a Fischer-Tropsch
reactor, where it undergoes a chemical reaction to produce liquid hydrocarbons
such as diesel fuel and lighter hydrocarbons. The Fischer-Tropsch process is used to
convert syngas into synthetic fuels.
Product Separation: The products from the Fischer-Tropsch reactor are
separated into different components. This includes:
Diesel fuel: Used to run diesel engines.
Lighter hydrocarbons: These may be used for other applications or
further refined.
Diesel Engine: The diesel fuel produced is fed into a diesel engine,
which generates electricity.
Gas: Some of the gas from the product separation step may be used to
power a turbine.
Turbine: The gas powers a turbine, which also generates electricity.
Electricity: The system generates electricity from both the diesel engine
and the turbine, which can then be supplied to the grid or used locally.
Liquification Process
It is the process in which biomass is converted into liquid phase at low
temperatures (250-350 °C) and high pressures (100-200 bar), usually
with a high hydrogen partial pressure and catalysts to increase the rate
of reaction.
Biomass: The process begins with biomass, which can be any organic material, such as plant matter,
waste, or agricultural residues.
Pretreatment: Before further processing, the biomass undergoes pretreatment. This step is necessary to
prepare the raw material for liquefaction by breaking it down into a form suitable for the next stages.
Liquefaction: The pretreated biomass is liquefied to break down complex organic compounds into
simpler, liquid forms. This helps in extracting useful bio-oil and other materials during later stages.
Phase Separation: After liquefaction, the mixture is separated into different phases (usually oil, water,
and solids). This step isolates the bio-oil from the water and other by-products.
Fermentation: The separated mixture undergoes fermentation, where yeast is added to facilitate the
breakdown of sugars in the biomass. This step produces oil and waste materials.
Water: Water is returned to the fermentation process, helping maintain the biological reaction.
CO₂ and Wastewater: These are by-products of the fermentation process.
Bio-Oil: The bio-oil extracted from phase separation and fermentation is collected in a storage tank.
This oil can either be upgraded to create bio-fuel or be used in combustion.
Upgrading: The bio-oil can be refined and upgraded into bio-fuel, which is a more stable and usable
form of energy, often used for transportation or other energy applications.
Combustion: The bio-oil can also be burned in a combustion process to generate Green Electric Power.
This process uses the chemical energy stored in the bio-oil to produce electricity in an eco-friendly
manner.
Bio-chemical Conversion
• Biochemical conversion makes use of the enzymes of bacteria and
other living organisms to break down biomass and convert it into
fuels.
• This conversion process includes anaerobic digestion and
fermentation.
Anaerobic Digestion Process
• This is a process in which organic material directly converted to a gas
which is termed as biogas.
• Biomass is converted in anaerobic environment by bacteria, which
produces a gas having an energy of 20-40 % of lower heating value of
the feedstock.
• This process is suitable for organic wastes having high moisture about
80-90 %.
• The overall conversion efficiency of this process is 21 %.
Fermentation Process / Production of
ethanol
• Fermentation is an anaerobic process that breaks down the glucose within
organic materials.
• It is a series of chemical reactions that convert sugars to ethanol.
• The basic fermentation process involves the conversion of a plant’s glucose
(or carbohydrate) into an alcohol or acid.
• Yeast or bacteria are added to the biomass material, which feed on the
sugars to produce ethanol and carbon dioxide.
• The ethanol is distilled and dehydrated to obtain a higher concentration of
alcohol to achieve the required purity for the use as automotive fuel.
• The solid residue from the fermentation process can be used as cattlefeed
and in the case of sugar cane; the bagasse (the dry pulpy residue left after
the extraction of juice from sugar cane) can be used as a fuel for boilers or
for subsequent gasification.