Fischer Tropsch Diesel Production Through Black Liquor Gasification

1. Fischer Tropsch Diesel Production Through Black Liquor Gasification Chelsey MacNeill 2006 SAE WISE Intern

2. Presentation Overview • Background • Issue Definition • Fischer Tropsch and Black Liquor • What are they? • Impact • Pulp &Paper • Transportation • Current and Future R&D Sources • Conclusions

3. BackgroundAgenda 2020 • Created in 1994 with the goal to address emissions and energy consumption within the pulp and paper industry • Redefined itself as a partnership among several government agencies, the forest products industry, and academia to develop biofuels technologies • June 2006- AF&PA Released Forest Products Industry Technology Roadmap • Introduces a new business model based on seven technology platforms • FT fuels production is a part of the “Advancing the Integrated Forest Product Biorefinery (IFPB)” platform

4. Low efficiency High pollution Strict standards Finite energy source High dependence on foreign oil Increased efficiency Reduced emissions Advanced Properties Renewable Homegrown Issue Definition What’s Wrong? FT through BLG offers… That was easy you can go home now

5. Issue Definition Not so fast there is a catch… • High Risk • Undeveloped Technology • $$$ • FT BTL standardization

6. Fischer Tropsch Process • Discovered by two German scientists in 1925 in order to produce liquid fuel from coal feedstock • A process in which a synthesis gas (i.e. syngas) consisting of hydrogen and carbon monoxide is reacted with a cobalt catalyst under certain pressures and temperatures to produce a liquid distillate • The feedstock which is referred to as a syngas can come from coal, methane or gasified biomass such as gasified black liquor

7. Black Liquor Gasification • Black Liquor is a pulping residue left over after the removal of cellulose and pulping chemicals for papermaking • Today, Black Liquor is inefficiently burned in boilers to produce electricity But if Black Liquor were gasified…

8. Black Liquor GasificationPossible Product Streams

9. ProductsPulp & Paper Industry Potential products from a Forest Biorefinery Model Mill • 1.1 million barrels FT liquid fuel • 19 million gallons ethanol • 6 million gallons of acetic acid • Additional electricity capacity (Annual Basis)

10. Benefits Pulp & Paper • Yearly quantified benefits of IFPB: • $9 million new revenue for pulp and paper industry • 175 million barrels of oil per year in energy savings • 153 million tons of reduced CO2 • 165,000 new jobs in rural America

11. Challenges • Partners are needed to minimize financial and technical risk. • No one has attempted to marry biomass gasifiers to a gas-to-liquid plant and integrate both units with a pulp mill • The project would be large and technically complicated, relying on multidisciplinary technological breakthroughs • more efficient and affordable enzymes are needed for cellulose extraction

12. ImpactsDiesel Industry “You are what you eat” Applies to cars as well • Vehicle emissions standards (set by E.P.A) must be supported by the right market fuels • Advanced emission control systems require advanced fuels

13. Fuel Properties Comparison ppm ppm N/A 103 BTU/lb

14. IN Sulphur Aromatics Low Cetane Lower HV OUT PM, NOx traps Soot CO2 Less Energy What this means to an engine By reducing sulphur and aromatic content you eliminate the mechanisms to create harmful emissions

15. Who Cares?Effect on Original Equipment Manufacturers • Immediate reduction in emissions without the wait for fleet turn over • Without advanced fuels engine control strategies are limited • BTL fuels are compatible with current infrastructure and could be delivered immediately

16. Implementation Concerns • Standardization • ASTM D 975 • ASTM D 6751 • Lubricity • Compatibility of seal materials • A lot of unknowns • Further testing in needed to answer technical questions

17. Biomass Energy PolicyR&D Funding • Farm Bill of 2002 • Farm Bill of 2007 • Energy Policy Act of 2005

18. Farm Bill 0f 2002 • 1st Farm Bill to contain an energy title • Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (Sec. 9006) • Established competitive grant programs to support R&D of biorefineries • Cut then restored • Provides roughly $20 MM/year

19. Farm Bill of 2007

20. EPACT 2005 • Integrated Biorefinery Demonstration Projects • Authorized $100 MM FY 07, $125 FY 08 • Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000 • $142 million has been awarded for 62 projects • Also funded through Farm Bill • Regional Biomass Energy Programs • Received NO FY 06 funding • Was not reauthorized in EPACT 2005

21. RecommendationsCongress • Make a long term commitment to clean, renewable alternatives by: • Reauthorizing the Energy Title of the 2007 Farm Bill • Continuing to fund Biomass R&D Act of 2000 • Creating of National Bioenergy Trust Fund • Considering funding the Regional Biomass programs through Fuel Choices for American Security Act

22. RecommendationsAgenda 2020 • Create a Committee whose goals would be: • Lobby Congress • Most biofuels legislation are directed towards corn ethanol and biodiesel because they have worked towards recognition • Work towards ASTM standardization • New Standard for FT fuels independent of feedstock or as a biodiesel • Help organize and prepare applications to federal grants to obtain funding for projects within the pulp and paper industry

23. Questions Academia USDA U.S DOE AF&PA