[Gasification] How much ton of biomass will burn to produce 1 ton of CO2?

Mon Mar 25 12:38:22 CDT 2013

Dear Saravanakumar (and all Pyroysis and Gasification members)

Here is an old letter I found that I didn't answer.  Better late than never.

There is no exact answer to the question "how much CO2" from a ton of biomass, since there are so many kinds of biomass. (Or even worse, "from a ton of charcoal", since there are X10 as many types of charcoal as wood)

One of my colleagues (Ray Desrosiers) gave me an "average" formula for biomass (particularly good for woody biomass)

C H1.4 O0.6

MW = 23.0 g/mole 

Heat of Combustion DH= 21 kJ/mole or (21/23) 0.91 kJ/gm

I have remembered and used these averages for many years, and no one has questioned them. 
<><><>

% Carbon in biomass = (12/23) 52%

MW CO2 = 44

Tons CO2/ton Biomass  (0.52x44/12) = 1.91 Tons/Ton (or tonne, the metric ton, since it is a ratio)

<><><>

So the amount of CO2 generated from a ton of this "average" biomass is ( 0.52 x 3.7) 1.92 tons of CO2/ton of biomass.  

I would be happy to have comments on these numbers.

<><><> 

Yours truly,

Tom Reed 

AKA
Thomas B Reed 
280 Hardwick Rd
Barre, MA 01005

508 353 7841

On Aug 19, 2011, at 1:35 PM, "A.Saravanakumar" <sara_mnes at rediffmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Booster Reed,
> 
> How much ton of biomass will burn to produce 1 ton of CO2?
> 
> A. Saravanakumar
> 
> On Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:38:55 +0530 wrote
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> Today's Topics:
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> 
> 1. Re: CO2 emission of whole system for smaall size generator
> 
> (20kWe) (GF)
> 
> 2. Re: CO2 emission of whole system for smaall size generator
> 
> (20kWe) (Arnt Karlsen)
> 
> 3. Re: CO2 emission of whole system for smaall sizegenerator
> 
> (20kWe) (Thomas Reed)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> Message: 1
> 
> Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:04:26 -0400 (EDT)
> 
> From: GF 
> 
> To: gasification at lists.bioenergylists.org
> 
> Subject: Re: [Gasification] CO2 emission of whole system for smaall
> 
> size generator (20kWe)
> 
> Message-ID: <8CE2B59E894A95D-1C20-23C51 at Webmail-m104.sysops.aol.com>
> 
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It is a little known fact that CO2 can be converted into Methane. Years 
> ago this was expensive and quite a difficult reaction to perform, 
> involving very high pressure and temperature reaction chambers together 
> with exotic catalysts. However,over the years since "Sabatier" 
> discovered how to perform this remarkable feat, fuel and chemical 
> refiners have developed a lower cost approach. But fairly high 
> temperatures are still required, making the process expensive. 
> Fortunately, there is considerable waste heat available at the exhaust 
> manifold of your Engine to supplant some of this cost. Additional heat 
> is also required in order to re-arrange the molecules back into fuel, 
> this is where a stream of hydrogen from an out side source such as your 
> gasifier will help, as will super heated distilled water. The 
> additional heat can be provided by a plasma produced by an arc or an 
> electrode less plasma produced by Electromagnetic means. nothing more 
> than 2kw. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> GF 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> 
> From: J?r?mie Biton 
> 
> To: gasification 
> 
> Sent: Wed, Aug 17, 2011 9:45 am
> 
> Subject: [Gasification] CO2 emission of whole system for smaall size 
> generator (20kWe)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hello to all,
> 
> 
> 
> Does anybody have an idea of the CO2 emission after generator?
> 
> For comparison, a diesel generator of this size (20kWe) has a rate of 
> about 1,1 kgeqCO2/kWh.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks 
> 
> Regards
> 
> 
> 
> Jeremy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> ------------------------------
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> 
> 
> Message: 2
> 
> Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 08:46:39 +0200
> 
> From: Arnt Karlsen 
> 
> To: gasification at lists.bioenergylists.org
> 
> Subject: Re: [Gasification] CO2 emission of whole system for smaall
> 
> size generator (20kWe)
> 
> Message-ID: <20110818084639.0748c1ee at celsius.lan>
> 
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:04:26 -0400 (EDT), GF wrote in message 
> 
> <8CE2B59E894A95D-1C20-23C51 at Webmail-m104.sysops.aol.com>:
> 
> 
> 
> > 
> 
> > It is a little known fact that CO2 can be converted into Methane.
> 
> > Years ago this was expensive 
> 
> 
> 
> ..still is: 
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane#Atmospheric_methane
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> ..med vennlig hilsen = with Kind Regards from Arnt Karlsen
> 
> ...with a number of polar bear hunters in his ancestry...
> 
> Scenarios always come in sets of three: 
> 
> best case, worst case, and just in case.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> Message: 3
> 
> Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:38:05 -0400
> 
> From: Thomas Reed 
> 
> To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
> 
> 
> 
> Cc: ""
> 
> 
> 
> Subject: Re: [Gasification] CO2 emission of whole system for smaall
> 
> sizegenerator (20kWe)
> 
> Message-ID: 
> 
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> 
> 
> Jeremy and all
> 
> 
> 
> Both gasoline and diesel are approximately -CH2- chained together. 
> Their combustion can be written
> 
> 
> 
> CH2 + 3/2(O2 + 3.76 N2) ==> CO2 + H2O + 5.64 N2
> 
> M 14. 44. 18 158. 220
> 
> 
> 
> So the all important Air/Fuel, A/F ratio is 220 /14= 15.7
> 
> 
> 
> The ratio is often given as 14.7. Maybe this is due to the presence of 
> unsaturated and aromatics with lower H/C ratios.
> 
> 
> 
> The oxygen sensor is capable of measuring very small amounts of 
> unburned fuel or oxygen in the exhaust and adjusting the A/F ratio for 
> perfect combustion. 
> 
> 
> 
> Diesel combustion is always lean.
> 
> 
> 
> Lucky us that our cars are so clean.
> 
> 
> 
> Tom Reed
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Aug 17, 2011, at 9:44 AM, J?r?mie Biton wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> > Hello to all,
> 
> > 
> 
> > 
> 
> > 
> 
> > Does anybody have an idea of the CO2 emission after generator?
> 
> > 
> 
> > For comparison, a diesel generator of this size (20kWe) has a rate of 
> about 1,1 kgeqCO2/kWh.
> 
> > 
> 
> > 
> 
> > 
> 
> > Thanks
> 
> > 
> 
> > Regards
> 
> > 
> 
> > 
> 
> > 
> 
> > Jeremy
> 
> > 
> 
> > _______________________________________________
> 
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