(663b) Rapid Solar-Thermal Gasification of Biomass – Laboratory Curiosity to Development Facility

Solar-thermal reactors using concentrated sunlight have been designed, constructed and tested on-sun for the rapid dissociation of cellulosic biomass to intermediate syngas. This presentation will focus on (1) base thermodynamic considerations for using solar energy to drive highly endothermic reactions, (2) experimental results for biomass conversion reactions, (3) materials challenges/solar reactor design, and (4) economics/process scalability. Issues to be addressed include availability of water/biomass in the desert, the capital cost of heliostats and diurnal operation dealing with limited sunlight hours.

The rapid solar-thermal conversion of cellulosic biomass has five principal advantages compared to conventional direct or indirect gasification ? (1) twice the fuels yield from biomass since no partial oxidation is required to drive endothermic gasification reactions, (2) the production of undesirable tars is avoided due to high temperature operation at 1200oC or higher, (3) 30+% increase in the calorific value of the resulting syngas compared to the starting biomass, (4) a higher quality (less CO2, methane, and C2 hydrocarbons) syngas than conventional processes; and (5) the lowest carbon footprint of any biomass conversion process currently under development. The process provides for an extremely efficient utilization of valuable biomass (~ 2X that of conventional processes) with fuel energy content/kg biomass consumed among the highest practicable.

Research in the area of solar-thermal chemical processing has been ongoing at the University of Colorado for 14 years. The main thrust of research has focused on the splitting of water using concentrated sunlight and the more recent solar-thermal biomass conversion. A remaining technical risk is the scalability of the solar receiver. The process has progressed from a laboratory curiosity in 2005 to a 1 MWthermal Receiver Development facility (RDF) currently being operated in Broomfield, CO. Copernican Energy was a spinoff out of the University of Colorado in 2006. The company was acquired by Sundrop Fuels in 2008. Commercial development efforts are underway.