Pyrolysis R

1
Pyrolysis RD Presentation

• AWMA Meeting
• September 25, 2008
• Timothy McDonald PE, MBA

2
Presentation Overview

• The Issues from National to Forest, Farm and
  City
• Conversion Options and Issues
• Project Criteria and Potential Sites
• Pyrolysis System
• Pyrolysis Products
• Bio-Refineries - Products, Terra Preta and
  Opportunities
• Pyrolysis System Research Goals
• Forest-Industries Example
• QA

3
The Issues

• Green House Gases - CO2, Nitric Oxide, Methane
• Climate change impact on food, water,
  temperatures
• Nitrate pollution of aquifers
• Forests - water, fire, beetles, nutrients,
  thinning / management costs
• Farms - manure, harvest debris, orchard
  clippings, shells, water, fertilizer and fuel
  costs
• Municipalities - water, green wastes, sewage
  sludge
• Farm and forest Burn Pile emissions
• Soil sterilization under Burn Piles
• ACC Renewable Mandate to regulated electric
  utilities
• CO2 Emissions Credits (future tax?)
• Fuel availability and costs

4
Arizona Forests

• Overgrown thickets
• Depletion of limited water from rainfall / snow
  pack
• Multi-year drought
• Bark beetles increasing forest-fire threat
• Explosive crown fires
• Soil erosion after destructive crown-fires
• Algae blooms from ash soil nutrient runoff into
  lakes
• Budget-limited forest fuel thinning initiatives
• Minimal-to-none small diameter timber industries
• Forest waste disposal Burn Piles or
  Controlled Burns

5
The Results
6
Arizona CAFOs Manure

• 168 CAFO farm sites
• 600,000 cows pigs
• 3,600,000 chickens
• Manure is a limiting factor on operations
• Also a community issue

7
Arizona Biomass

• Forest and woodland waste
• 12 Million acres of forest and woodlands
• 350,000 acres managed per year
• 4.5 Million tons per year of waste
• Agriculture waste
• Cotton gin trash, orchard residue, straw
• 200,000 tons of material per year
• Urban green waste
• Primarily from Phoenix and Tucson
• 95,000 tons per year

8
Biomass Conversion Options

• Composting
• Aerobic digestion (wet slurries)
• Anaerobic Digestion (wet slurries)
• Torrefied biomass (ie., charcoal see E-Coal)
• Direct combustion (ex., ABITIBI biomass power
  plant)
• Gasification (dried and chipped biomass)
• Co-firing with coal, oil or natural gas
• Pyrolysis conversion (syngas, water, oils, char)

9
Biomass Conversion Issues

• Wet biomass should be processed on-site (hauling
  costs)
• Air, Water and Solid Waste permit issues
• Efficient conversion system size vs. sufficient
  long-term quantities of biomass within 50 miles
  of site
• Many biomass materials have zero inherent value
  and are gathered and burned on-site
• Power plant water usage and disposal issues
• Power plant reliability and interconnection to
  the grid
• Pyrolytic oil acidity and stability

10
Biomass Power Plant Siting Criteria

• Site just a few miles from a utility distribution
  substation at 69kV or 12.47kV dedicated grid
  interconnect
• Zoning / emission constraints - height, noise,
  NOx, PM
• 4 acre site min w/ fuel delivery, processing and
  storage
• Min water supply of 5,000 gpd/MW (w/ dry
  tower)
• Hybrid wet / dry cooling towers slightly more
  water
• Municipal sewage system easiest wastewater
  solution
• Zero Liquid Discharge system (ZLD), septic
  service or Culligan Man all costly options
• Adequate sustainable fuel supply within 50 miles
• 9 to15 MW scale co-gen power plant OM
  parameters
• Host-site partnership biomass disposal, shared
  labor, joint-use facilities and process steam

11
Cholla Biomass Co-Firing Analysis

• 1000 MW pulverized coal plant with 4 units
• 15 to 150MW biomass co-firing application
• Higher fuel efficiency lower OM
• E-Coal co-firing analysis may be performed in
  2009
• Lower emissions expected SOx, Ash, Mercury, CO2
• NOx same or slightly higher (w/ higher net MW)
  
• 15MW demo project demo initially on Unit 1 in
  2010(?)
• E-Coal is a densified biomass charcoal product
  made by New Earth Renewable Energy Inc.

12
Cholla Power Plant Unit 1 in foreground
13
50 Mile Radius Potential Biomass Project Sites
Ashfork Casa Grande Eagar Flagstaff Gila
Bend Heber Prescott Phoenix Metro San Carlos Snow
Flake Stanfield Tucson Tusayan Whiteriver Wilcox W
indow Rock Yuma
14
½ TPD Portable Pyrolysis System
15
Demo Operational Issues

• ADEQ air permit waiver
• Pinal County air permit
• APP water issues (?) agricultural / forest
• Subtitle D waste issues (?) agricultural /
  forest
• APS Self-Insurance (2M deductible coverage)
• University of Arizona RD and RRAC site
  agreements
• Temporary OM technician / APS technician(s)
• MSDS documentation and NFPA diamond labels
• Outdoor shelter, barrels, tanks, tools, safety
  misc. other equipment
• Dryer condensate wastewater chemical disposal
  or septic service
• Shipments to research labs / Bio-Refinery
  facility(s) - TBD
• Pyrolysis products disposal co-firing and/or
  coal dust suppression

16
Pyrolysis System Feedstocks

• Sweet sorghum
• Cotton crop debris
• Nut shells
• Orchard debris
• Salt cedar
• Mesquite
• Misc. farm crop wastes
• Manures
• Pine trees
• Pinion and juniper trees
• Other green wastes..

17
Stack Emissions
PROPRIETARY CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION
Excess Air CO2 H2O N Wood Dust
Biomass Feed
Cyclone Separator
Wood Dust Sludge
Venturi Scrubber
Dryer Hopper
Dryer/Grinder
Vacuum Blower
Water Recirc
Burner
Air
Dried Chips Drum 1,000 lb/day
Closed Cycle Cooling
300 Air
Propane
Essential Oil H2O Wood
Dust Sludge
Air
Waste Water
Venturi Condenser (Scrubber)
Non-Condensable Gases
Vacuum Blower
Hot Vapors
Air
Oil Recirc

Closed Cycle Cooling
Bio-Oil Drum
Air Exhaust Char Dust
Cyclone Separator
Air
Pyrolysis Reactor
Char Screen
Air Filter
Pyrolysis Feed Hopper
Char Auger Stabilization
Enclosure
Electric Heating Element
Air Blower
Char Drum
ELECTRIC SERVICE 208/240 VAC 1ph 200A
TAM v4.0 9/19/08
18
Fast Pyrolysis Products

• Essential Oil
• Seperated from dryer condensate water
• Chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products
• Pyrolytic Oil
• Liquid fuels, coal-dust suppression, green
  chemicals
• Polymerized solid fuel / fertilizer supplement
  product
• Char
• System thermal heat source
• Charcoal granules / pellets
• Non-condensable gases (H2, CO, Oil)
• Dryer and pyrolysis heat source
• Fisher Tropsch catalytic conversion of syngas
  into Diesel

19
Pyrolysis Oil

• Dark brown viscous liquid
• Strong smoky odor
• Corrosive with acidic ph
• Polymerizes into solid if reheated
• Phase separation in container
• A Phase water acids
• Organic acids for fertilizer
• B Phase cellulosic oils
• Phenols suitable for fuels and chemicals
• C Phase hemi-cellulosic oils
• Fuel and chemical feedstock
• D Phase lignin oils w/ char dust
• Polymerize into solid fuel
• Coal dust suppression w/ gtBTU
• Binder for char granules / pellets

A Phase 15
B and C Phases 50
D Phase 35
20
Pyrolysis Char

• Charcoal powder
• Contains inorganic minerals from biomass
• Will contain some oils from pyrolysis process
• Form granules or pellets using lignin-oil binder
• Co-fire pellets w/ coal
• Gasification - FT - Diesel
• Activated carbon filters(?)
• Time-released fertilizer

21
Bio-Refinery

• Centralized location(s)
• Multiple biomass sources within 200 mile region
• Economies of scale
• Co-gen processing plant
• Similar to petroleum refinery and products
• Adjacent to railroad and freeway for hauling
• Near CNG pipeline for methane distribution

22
Bio-Refinery Products

• Resins
• Polymers
• Co-polymers
• Adhesives
• Food flavorings
• Fragrances
• Chemical feedstocks
• Synthetic methane
• Liquid and solid fuels
• Fertilizer(s) - Tera Preta

23
Terra Preta

• Dark Earth (Portuguese)
• Manufactured(?) by Amazon Basin natives over 1000
  years ago
• This manufactured soil is still active and viable
  today
• Better crops than with chemical fertilizers in
  adjacent fields
• Less water and fertilizer required per crop
  cycle!!
• Soil can be harvested will regrow within a
  decade!!
• Soil flora and fauna appear to thrive in the
  Terra Preta
• Anthropologists and bio-chemists not sure how
  made
• One theory is that all village wastes were
  collected, sealed in clay pots and cooked in
  fires. Cooled pots were then carried into
  cleared field and broken open. The resulting
  combined mass of pyrolysis char and oils were
  then worked into the soil.
• Another theory is that it was a combination of
  how they burned down the large trees, with lots
  of charcoal residue, and the addition of all
  village wastes directly onto the fields.

24
200 Mile Radius Bio-Refinery Opportunities
Winslow Region Casa Grande Region
- Centralized Bio-Refinery
- Portable Pyrolysis Opportunities
25
Pyrolysis System Research Goals

• Verification of operation and maintenance
  parameters
• Process a range of biomass and analyze results
• Control settings to maximize char vs. oil
  products
• Suitability for farm co-op, community or waste
  disposal company
• Pyrolysis water recovery using char filtration
• Oil stabilization and acidity elimination
  centrifuge tests
• Produce pellet / granulated char w/ pyrolytic
  lignin-oil binder
• Polymerize whole / lignin oil into solids
• Cellulosic-oil processed into fuels / chemical
  feedstocks
• Co-firing tests with pulverized char pellets and
  pyrolytic lignin-oil applied as coal dust
  suppression w/ increased BTU
• Produce char-based fertilizer supplement(s)
• Manufacture Terra Preta soil

26
Pyrolysis Project Vision/Results

• Carbon sequestration CO2 credits
• Biomass co-firing ACC Renewables Mandate
• New sources of fuels
• Sustainable chemical feed-stocks
• Forest fuel thinning projects w/o subsidiary
  payments
• Farm crop and manure waste conversion to profits
• Reduce water and fertilizer needed per crop cycle
• Squeeze every nickel of value out of waste
  biomass
• ie., resolve WATER / ENERGY / POLLUTION issues

27
50 TPD Portable Pyrolysis System
28
Forest-Industries Example

• Vertical-integration of fuels reduction
  operations, lumber milling, composites and
  Bio-Oil manufacturing and refining
• Gasification / pyrolysis / distillation / screw
  compression and heating process alternatives
• Bio-Oil Products fuels, chemical feed stocks,
  flavorings, resins, polymers, solvents,
  adhesives .
• Co-products expand revenues -
• Transportation of finished or liquid / densified
  products is much more economical than the raw
  biomass material
• Portable pyrolysis systems provide local
  community opportunities in conjunction w/
  regional Bio-Refineries

29
Micro-Mill _at_ Landing
Fuel Reductions w/ Landing Log-Yard
Dimension Lumber
Saw-logs
Composites
Cutoffs, Bark, Chips, Sawdust
Dehumidification Lumber Kiln
USFS 0.00/acre
Sawdust-Plastic Composites
Slash
Water
Heat
Pellets
Chip, Screen, Dry, Sort
Lumber
Light VOC Oils
Pellet Mill
MWHs
Needles, Bark, Mixed Slash
Wood Chips
Essential Oils Bio-Refinery
Power Plant
Pyrolysis Product
Pyrolysis Product
Pyrolysis Reactor _at_ Landing
Fuels
Bio-Refinery
Water
Chemicals
Bio-Char Fertilizer
Water
TAM 3/27/08
30
The Alternative .
31
Q A