Development and Characterization of Densified Biomass-plastic Blend for Entrained Flow Gasification (Final Technical Report)

Technical Report · Tue May 07 04:00:00 EDT 2024

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2346005· OSTI ID:2346005

Koumoulis, Dimitrios ^[1]; Hunter, Jameson ^[1]; Nikolic, Heather ^[1]; Liu, Kunlei ^[1]; Shi, Jian ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States)

Supported by the U.S. DOE NETL Award DE-FE0032043, this project was a collaborative effort. Project participants included the University of Kentucky Institute for Decarbonization and Energy Advancement (UK IDEA), Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering department (UK BAE), and Wabash Valley Resources, LLC. The goal of this final technical project report is to comprehensively summarize the work conducted on project DE-FE0032043. In accordance with the Statement of Project Objectives (SOPO), the University of Kentucky (UK) (Project Prime Recipient) has developed and studied a biomass/plastic fuel with a hydrophobic surface area less than 10 m²/m³ that is suitable for oxygen-blown entrained flow gasification with slurry feed. The project involved the utilization of an existing thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)-mass spectrometer (MS), 1.5” drop tube furnace, 1 ton per day (TPD) coal gasifier, and high-pressure extruder operated at UK. The pilot-scale production of blended material was done at the Polymers Technology Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Parametric testing and solid fuel blend slurry performance validation was completed using the UK entrained flow gasifier with multiple opposed burners to narrow the major near-term technical gaps that impede gasification of biomass and carbonaceous mixed wastes such as plastics in order to achieve net-negative CO₂ emissions. Project results validated the UK approach to address the major technical challenges on the biomass/plastic pretreatment and gasification. Previously, this has been limited in application to fluidized-type or moving bed-type gasifiers due to the high-water uptake of porous biomass containing hydroxyl groups during the conventional slurry preparation, resulting in a highly viscous, un-pumpable slurry. The biomass pretreatment with plastic developed for this project demonstrates advantages in cost and flexibility, which include: 1) the development of a blended solid fuel slurry with 55-60 wt% solids and comparable heating value to 100% coal-based water slurry; 2) the collection of gasification kinetic data and identification of preliminary operating conditions by performing thermogravimetric analysis, gasification experiments by using a 1.5” drop tube furnace; and finally 3) the demonstrated gasification of the blended solid fuel in the UK entrained flow gasifier with a long-lasting stable solid fuel blend slurry, dataset detailing operating conditions, and characterization of slag phase formation and solidification. The lab-scale data and experience obtained during this project encourages the development of technologies and commercial approaches to enable a hydrogen-based energy economy while achieving net-negative CO₂ emissions through gasification of coal, biomass, and carbonaceous mixed wastes such as plastics.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)
• Contributing Organization: Wabash Valley Resources, LLC, West Terre Haute, IN (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FE0032043
• OSTI ID: 2346005
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
08 HYDROGEN
09 BIOMASS FUELS
Biomass
Biomass Blend Fuel
CO2 Negative
CO2 Neutral
Entrained Flow Gasification
Gasification
Hydrogen Production
Waste Plastic