[Gasification] Tennessee company - pyrolysis biochar + hydrogen ($1.75 per gallon diesel-equivalent?)

Fri May 16 00:38:02 CDT 2014

Hello All,
Kelly Burnham with Proton Power here.  I'd be glad to contribute where I
can, and in response to Art's questions:

'what type of biomass',  we've tested over 50 different types of biomass.
By and large most woody or herbaceous biomass works fine up to about 45%
MC.

'gasification style' is hydrous pyrolysis. No pure oxygen and no
oxidization agents. Slight positive pressure at discharge.  Horizontal
anger.

Hope this helps.
Kelly B.
On May 15, 2014 10:29 AM, "Tom Miles" <tmiles at trmiles.com> wrote:

> All,
>
>
>
> I have invited Dr. Sam Weaver and Kelly Burnham of Proton Power, to join
> this discussion so that you can answer your questions directly or they can
> respond to your previous questions.  To review the thread to date see the
> archives at
> http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/gasification_lists.bioenergylists.org/2014-May/date.html
>
>
>
> Visit the Proton Power website at http://www.protonpower.com/
>
>
>
> After several years of development Proton Power is working through  their
> first year of a 750 kWe scale up plant at Wampler’s Farm Sausage in Lenoir,
> Tennessee.
>
>
> http://www.protonpower.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Wamplers-Case-Study.pdf
>
> Tom Miles
>
> T R Miles Technical Consultants Inc.
>
> Portland, OR
>
> tmiles at trmiles.com
>
> www.trmiles.com
>
> www.gasifiiers.bioenergylists.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Gasification [mailto:gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org]
> *On Behalf Of *Art Krenzel
> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 14, 2014 11:47 PM
> *To:* Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
> *Subject:* Re: [Gasification] Tennessee company - pyrolysis biochar +
> hydrogen ($1.75 per gallon diesel-equivalent?)
>
>
>
> Rex,
>
>
>
> It is always good to hear from you again.  I can always count on you to
> come up with better, faster and cheaper ways to get things done.  $2/kg is
> considerably different than $12/kg for hydrogen costs.
>
>
>
> What biomass feedstock and gasification style does PROTON POWER use to
> produce such high hydrogen content syn gas?  I notice no nitrogen content
> in the syn gas so I presume they are using pure oxygen as the oxidizing
> agent.  Is it pressurized as well?  I see the photo on their website shows
> a horizontal "pug mill" style mixer which I assume is their gasifier as
> well.
>
>
>
> Good to hear from you again.
>
> Art
>
>
>
>
>
> > From: rex at whitfieldfarm.co.za
> > To: gasification at lists.bioenergylists.org
> > Date: Thu, 15 May 2014 07:59:13 +0200
> > Subject: Re: [Gasification] Tennessee company - pyrolysis biochar +
> hydrogen ($1.75 per gallon diesel-equivalent?)
> >
> > Art,
> >
> > You are correct about making hydrogen from methane particularly at the
> > $4/MMBTU level seen in the USA. However, this is only strictly true on
> large
> > scale. At small scale gasification is an order of magnitude cheaper than
> > steam methane reforming. When I made enquiries about a small (75bpd)
> > hydrotreater, I was given a rough cost of $10m with a further
> approximately
> > $8m for the SMR. Needless to say, I nearly fell off my chair! Some of the
> > issues were that the design of a hydrogen plant is by its very nature
> > expensive. Then there are materials of construction - stainless steel.
> Then
> > there are the safety aspects that require as much instrumentation as a
> 2000
> > bpd plant. One comment I got was "do they make hydrogen compressors that
> > small?".
> >
> > Proton Power claim to have a process that produces 65% H2, 30% CO2 and
> 5% CO
> > starting at the 250kWe scale. It is a very small step from there via
> > pressure swing absorption to get 99.9% hydrogen. PSA equipment does
> exist at
> > small scale and they have the compressors for compressing syngas. This
> > should produce hydrogen at the $2/kg level rather than the methane SMR
> route
> > of $12/kg.
> >
> > Kind regards
> > Rex
> >
> > Dr. Karve,
> >
> > Being able to technically generate hydrogen using incandescent carbon in
> a
> > water gas reaction does not make the process economically competitive.
> >  Typically, the use of incandescent carbon is a batch, cyclic process
> which
> > produces pulses of gases which vary in purity over each cycle
> >
> > Compare the economics of using a batch feedstock which has a variable
> > composition to one which has a very pure, low cost feedstock (CH4) day in
> > and day out.  As a process designer, you can readily see that even
> through
> > the chemistry works out to generate hydrogen using incandescent carbon,
> the
> > day to day practicality of operating a multistage process with such a
> > variable feedstock is much more difficult and more expensive.
> >
> > Art,
> >
> > You make a very valid point, particularly on large scale equipment.
> However,
> > down at small scale, you cannot beat the competitiveness of gasification
> as
> > a hydrogen producer. It is an order of magnitude less than going the SMR
> > route using methane.
> >
> >
> >
> > ---
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> > http://www.avast.com
> >
> >
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