The presentation reviews the opportunities for gasification technology stimulated by the UK Governments bioenergy strategy.

1. NNFCC
Options and opportunities in advanced
electricity production from wastes
Dr Geraint Evans
Head of Biofuels and Bioenergy
October 2012

2. NNFCC
Content
• UK Government’s recently published Bioenergy strategy
• Opportunities for gasification
– Waste
– Heat
– Advanced biofuels
– Coal conversion

3. NNFCC
Bioenergy Strategy - April 2012
• Sets out the Governments approach to ensuring that the
benefits from bioenergy are secured.
• Four principles ensure:
– Looking out to 2050, genuine carbon reductions are
achieved
– Bioenergy is cost effective
– Regular assessment of potential unintended
consequences
• Uncertainty is not sufficient to justify inaction. Lower risk
pathways have been identified:
– Use of wastes
– Heat (direct biomass and biomethane)
– Transport, in particular advanced biofuels
– Electricity, primarily coal conversion but also CHP –
longer term, CCS becomes important.

4. NNFCC
Bioenergy strategy
identifies gasification
as a key opportunity –
values its flexibility

5. NNFCC
Flexible / “no regrets” technologies
• Mitigate against inherent uncertainties of projecting deployment scenarios over long
timescales (including the uncertainties around CCS)
– Emerging analysis (TINA) suggests that the development of advanced conversion
technologies, in particular reliable gasification and clean-up at scale, is crucial in
allowing us to realise this “insurance”.
• Crucial gasification variants identified are
– Advanced biofuels (e.g. FT fuels)
– Biopower
– Heat (biomethane/bioSNG)
• Technology innovation needed to reduce cost and increase efficiency to support the
development of flexible bioenergy which can adapt to inherent uncertainties.

6. NNFCC
Opportunities
• Use of wastes
• Heat (direct biomass and biomethane)
• Transport, in particular advanced biofuels
• Electricity, primarily coal conversion to biomass but also CHP – longer
term, CCS becomes important (strong ETI interest in bioCCS).
• Longer term opportunities in bio-based chemical production

7. NNFCC
Estimated UK Bioenergy/Biofuel Resources
4,000
Sugar Beet
PJ/year Biomass Energy (food waste as methane)
3,500
UK OSR
3,000
UK and Imported Tallow
2,500
UK and Imported Waste Cooking
Oil
2,000
UK Green Waste
1,500
UK Food Waste
1,000
Imported oils (all types)
500
UK Straw
0
max reported max predicted min reported
© 2011 NNFCC

8. NNFCC
RO banding review – ROO 2013
• Original half and two ROCs offering stalled developer interest
– Arup report
• NNFCC review of costs and performance
• Recent response
– All gasification is emerging and all need help
– Unified ROC offering – 2 ROCs per renewable MWh
with degression
– No difference between (less risky) steam and engine
systems
– Syngas sampling?
– Bio content deemed at 50% or measure (C14)
• Should there be a drive in EMR to realise increased
efficiencies and deliver flexibility?

9. NNFCC
Survey represented about 800 MWe.
Most projects use steam; where power is produced using an engine or turbine, the
gasifiers are either downdraft or use plasma in some way

10. NNFCC
Further innovation potential in gas clean-up to maximise
efficiencies and opportunities

11. NNFCC
• Close coupled gasifiers emerging slightly more quickly for processing wastes – now
operating at low capacity
• There is interest in using downdraft gasifiers for generating power.
• Over the next 2 years gasifiers with steam cycles and gasifiers with plasma producing
power via an engine or IGCC, are expected to grow at similar rates.
• The use of non-plasma gasifiers to produce power via engines or gas turbines will
remain limited until enhanced gas cleaning technologies become available.

12. NNFCC
Gasification and heat - bioSNG
air tars
Char natural
gas network
combustion
C0 Syngas CH4
Gasification H2 cooling & Methanation Purification
cleaning
(steam) H2O
H2O CO2
heat
wood (steam) UK electrical
grid
water
Dual gasifier with steam, Syngas cleaning to Methanation at high Purification to
and indirect heating remove tars and pressure, with ensure bioSNG
from char combustion. other contaminants removal of excess meets network
First plants plan to use to the ppb level heat to generate standards before
only dried clean wood power and steam injection
feedstock

13. NNFCC
BioSNG – natural gas substitute produced by methanation
of biosyngas and “identical” to biomethane from AD
• The Bioenergy Strategy, Carbon Trust bioTINA, ETI and National Grid demonstrate
increasing interest in bioSNG
• RHI support for bioSNG injection into gas grid
• Three key developers; use of indirect gasifier is most ideal – limited development on
wastes
• At a tariff level of 4p/kWh, plus the projected wholesale UK gas price in 2020, the
sale price for bioSNG would be around 6.3p/kWh
– This would give plant NPV and IRRs of £38.8M / 9.3% and £159.8M / 16.7% for
the 30 and 100 MW cases
Plant size (MWbioSNG) 30 (15 MWe equiv.) 100 (50 MWe equiv.)
Capital costs (£m 2009) 46.0 100.4
Specific capex (£m / kWbioSNG) 1,500 1,000
Operating costs (£m/yr) 2.5 4.7
Feedstock costs (£m/yr) 4.0 21.8
Co-product revenues (£m/yr) 1.3 5.8

14. NNFCC
BioSNG production costs are higher than 2020
natural gas prices
• BioSNG production costs derived are between 4.8 and 5.2 p/kWh - much higher than
wholesale UK natural gas prices of 1.2 – 3.3 p/kWh
• Capital and feedstock costs dominate
30 MWbioSNG plant
7.0
• Increasing plant capacity
Cumulative bioSNG production cost (p/kWh)
6.0
from 30 to 100 MWbioSNG
decreases the production 5.0
cost slightly. Economies of 4.0
scale are largely offset by
the increase in the 3.0
feedstock cost from more 2.0
expensive imports
1.0
0.0
Capex Feedstock Staff Insurance Maintenance Other costs Electricity Heat sales Total
cost sales

15. NNFCC
• Biomass gasification to produce bioSNG is only at the demonstration stage, with limited
experience in downstream fuel synthesis integration
• Three developers now active:
Developer Project Location Stage Size and start-up year
1 MWbioSNG unit built at the 8 MWth Güssing CHP plant in June
BioSNG Güssing Austria Pilot 2009, as part of the EU Bio-SNG project. Previous 10kWbioSNG
test-rig in 2003
Eclépens
REPOTEC-CTU Gazobois Commercial 21.5 MWbioSNG plant starting in 2012
Switzerland
20 MWbioSNG in 2012 + 80 MWbioSNG in 2015/6 with Goteborg
Gothenburg
GoBiGas Commercial Energi & E.ON
Sweden
Possible 200MWbioSNG plant with E.ON after 2015
Petten 25 kWth input test-rig started in 2004.
Pilot
Netherlands 800kWth CHP pilot plant (no bioSNG) in 2008
ECN ECN
Not yet Plans for a 50MWth plant in 2016, after demonstrating CHP
Demo
determined plant at 10MWth with HVC
APP / Prog Eng Plans to convert existing APP pilot plant to produce bioSNG. 1st
APP Swindon Pilot
/ Nat Grid on waste. 2013-15

16. NNFCC
Biomass to Liquids
• Ineos Bio Process to produce ethanol via gasification is about to be
demonstrated at commercial scale in Florida; UK plant planned for
Teesside.
• This, UK plant along with the BA/Solena jet fuel plant, will leapfrog the
UK in a world leading position with respect to BTL.

17. NNFCC
Illustrative BA/Solena Jet Fuel Plant Schematic
BA in partnership with Solena plan to build a waste to jet fuel plant in London (2015)
Gas cleaning /polishing
and conditioning
Syngas cleaning Fischer Wax
Gasification
& conditioning Tropsch upgrading

18. NNFCC
Coal conversion to biomass and co-firing
Metso are building a 140 MW fluidised bed wood gasifier
in Vaasa, Finland to co-fire syngas with coal
• €40 million
• 25-40% coal replacement
• Removes ash from combustion process
Biomass can be brought on line during planned
shutdown – commissioning due December 2012
• Power station still can operate on 100% coal if
necessary

19. NNFCC
Summary
• Gasification of wastes to produce power is emerging most strongly
• Increasing interest in bioSNG in the UK
• Strongest interest in advanced biofuels from gasification currently from
aviation industry; lack of drive and policy from UK Government could be a
derailer.
© 2011 NNFCC

20. NNFCC
Leadership Team