Chemrec
Encyclopedia
Chemrec is a Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 corporation that develops technology for entrained flow gasification
Gasification
Gasification is a process that converts organic or fossil based carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane. This is achieved by reacting the material at high temperatures , without combustion, with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or steam...

 of black liquor
Black liquor
Black liquor is the spent cooking liquor from the kraft process when digesting pulpwood into paper pulp removing lignin, hemicelluloses and other extractives from the wood to free the cellulose fibers....

 and certain types brown liquor for production of biofuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...

s from the resulting syngas
Syngas
Syngas is the name given to a gas mixture that contains varying amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Examples of production methods include steam reforming of natural gas or liquid hydrocarbons to produce hydrogen, the gasification of coal, biomass, and in some types of waste-to-energy...

.

Chemrec's technology for second generation biofuels
Second generation biofuels
Second generation biofuels - also known as advanced biofuels - can be manufactured from various types of biomass.Biomass is a wide-ranging term meaning any source of organic carbon that is renewed rapidly as part of the carbon cycle...

 has in the European Community's Sixth Framework Programme project Renew
Renew
Renew is a European four-year project to prove different concepts of fuel production from biomass. Established and funded by the European Unions Sixth Framework Programme in January 2004, the Renew consortium consisted of 33 partners from 9 European countries...

 been shown to yield lower production cost than any other studied technology. EUCAR / Concawe / JRC's Well-to-Wheels analysis of future automotive fuels and powertrains in the European context shows that methanol
Methanol
Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with the formula CH3OH . It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ethanol...

 and DME
Dimethyl ether
Dimethyl ether , also known as methoxymethane, is the organic compound with the formula . The simplest ether, it is a colourless gas that is a useful precursor to other organic compounds and an aerosol propellant. When combusted, DME produces minimal soot and CO, though HC and NOx formation is...

 produced via black liquor gasification has extremely high well-to-wheels efficiency and very high greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

 reduction.

The world's first BioDME plant was inaugurated in Piteå
Piteå
Piteå is a locality and the seat of Piteå Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. The town has 22,650 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 41,000 in 2008.- Geography :...

 on Sept 9, 2010. On January 26, 2011, the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

's Directorate-General for Competition
Directorate-General for Competition (European Commission)
The Directorate-General for Competition is a Directorate-General of the European Commission, located in Brussels, Belgium. The DG Competition is responsible for establishing and implementing a coherent competition policy for the European Union. The DG Competition has a dual role in antitrust...

 approved the Swedish Energy Agency's
Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications (Sweden)
The Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications is a ministry within the government of Sweden. Its areas of responsibility include business development and competition, electronic communications, energy, forestry, information technology , postal communications and cashier service, primary...

 award of 500 million Swedish kronor
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...

 (approx. €56M as at January 2011) toward the construction of a 3 billion Swedish kronor (approx. €335M) industrial scale experimental development biofuels plant at the Domsjö Fabriker
Domsjö Fabriker
Domsjö Fabriker is a Swedish refinery located in Örnsköldsvik, specializing in refining forest raw materials into specialty cellulose, lignin and bio-ethanol. In 2000 it was spun off from the forest company Mo och Domsjö AB , of which it had been a part since the early 20th century, and sold to a...

 biorefinery complex in Örnsköldsvik
Örnsköldsvik
Örnsköldsvik is a locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 28,617 inhabitants in 2005.Its natural harbour and archipelago is in the Gulf of Bothnia and the northern boundaries of the High Coast area. It is well known as an exporter of paper products...

, Sweden, using Chemrec's black liquor gasification technology. This represents the largest public award ever to an EU second generation biofuels project.

Chemrec has for three consecutive years been ranked as one of the top 100 global greentech companies by the Cleantech Group
Cleantech Group
The Cleantech Group is a company that supports the development and marketability of clean technologies. Founded by Nick Parker and Keith Raab in 2002, the Cleantech Group provides members of its Cleantech network access to capital, investors, research and promotional opportunities...

 and AlwaysOn (see Awards).

History

Chemrec's technology originated in the mid-80's with an invention by Jan-Erik Kignell who was awarded the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences
Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences or Kungl. Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien , founded in 1919 by King Gustaf V, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...

' Gold Medal for this feat in 1993. Kignell sold his black liquor gasification patent to the Swedish ball bearing
Ball bearing
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this by using at least two races to contain the balls and transmit...

 company SKF
SKF
SKF, Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB , later AB SKF, is a Swedish bearing company founded in 1907, supplying bearings, seals, lubrication and lubrication systems, maintenance products, mechatronics products, power transmission products and related services globally.-History:The company was founded on...

 that worked on gasification in the late 1980s, but concluded that the technology related to black liquor was too far removed from the company's core business, upon which the inventors Nils Bernhard and Lars Stigsson acquired the patents in 1989 and founded Chemrec (an abbreviation of CHEMical RECovery) to exploit the technology.

In 1990 Kvaerner bought Chemrec and remained the sole owner until 2000. When Kvaerner experienced financial difficulties and divested several non-core businesses in 2000 Babcock Borsig
Deutsche Babcock
Deutsche Babcock AG was a German manufacturing company based in Oberhausen in the Ruhr District, the center of the German economy. The company was established in 1898 as a German subsidiary of the British boilermaking company Babcock and Wilcox, Limited...

 acquired a majority position in Chemrec. Babcock Borsig filed for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 in 2002 and Nykomb Synergetics, at the time a minority owner, acquired Chemrec from the bankruptcy estate. In 2003-2006 Nykomb Synergetics was the sole owner, and still holds a minority position after bringing in additional venture capital from 2006 onwards.

During the period from 1990 Chemrec developed a series of pilot plants for first generation atmospheric air-blown gasifiers. In 1996 the first full-scale commercial gasifier with this technology was delivered to Weyerhaeuser's
Weyerhaeuser
Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world. It is the world's largest private sector owner of softwood timberland; and the second largest owner of United States timberland, behind Plum Creek Timber...

 New Bern plant in a collaboration between Chemrec and the U.S. DOE
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...

 Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy division. Concurrently Chemrec initiated development of second generation pressurized oxygen-blown technology based on operating experience and new patents. A pilot plant using this technology is today in continuous use adjacent to Smurfit Kappa's
Smurfit Kappa Group
The Smurfit Kappa Group is Europe's leading corrugated packaging company, following the merger of Jefferson Smurfit Group and Kappa Packaging. This merger was finalized by the end of 2005...

 plant in Piteå
Piteå
Piteå is a locality and the seat of Piteå Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. The town has 22,650 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 41,000 in 2008.- Geography :...

, Sweden.

Within the "BioDME" project, supported by the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and the Swedish Energy Agency
Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications (Sweden)
The Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications is a ministry within the government of Sweden. Its areas of responsibility include business development and competition, electronic communications, energy, forestry, information technology , postal communications and cashier service, primary...

, Chemrec is building the world's first pilot plant for synthesis
Chemical synthesis
In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions to get a product, or several products. This happens by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions...

 of BioDME
Dimethyl ether
Dimethyl ether , also known as methoxymethane, is the organic compound with the formula . The simplest ether, it is a colourless gas that is a useful precursor to other organic compounds and an aerosol propellant. When combusted, DME produces minimal soot and CO, though HC and NOx formation is...

 adjacent to the existing gasification pilot plant in Piteå, with production start early in 2010.

In 2009 the Swedish Energy Agency
Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications (Sweden)
The Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications is a ministry within the government of Sweden. Its areas of responsibility include business development and competition, electronic communications, energy, forestry, information technology , postal communications and cashier service, primary...

 awarded Chemrec a grant of SEK 500 million towards the construction of a SEK 3 billion industrial scale experimental development biofuels plant at the Domsjö Fabriker
Domsjö Fabriker
Domsjö Fabriker is a Swedish refinery located in Örnsköldsvik, specializing in refining forest raw materials into specialty cellulose, lignin and bio-ethanol. In 2000 it was spun off from the forest company Mo och Domsjö AB , of which it had been a part since the early 20th century, and sold to a...

 biorefinery complex in Örnsköldsvik
Örnsköldsvik
Örnsköldsvik is a locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 28,617 inhabitants in 2005.Its natural harbour and archipelago is in the Gulf of Bothnia and the northern boundaries of the High Coast area. It is well known as an exporter of paper products...

, Sweden. The grant was approved by EU's Directorate-General for Competition on January 26, 2011, following assessment of the project under the EU framework for State aid for research and development and innovation.

Black liquor properties

Black liquor is a biomass
Biomass
Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....

 feedstock with unique properties.

First of all, it is available at existing industrial sites in large quantities.

Secondly it is a liquid. This makes it possible to easily feed it by pumping into the pressurized gasifier. With biomass in solid or pulverized form this becomes significantly more difficult. The liquid state also makes the black liquor easy to atomize into a fine mist that reacts very fast in the gasifier.

Thirdly, the gasification of black liquor char
Char
Char is the solid material that remains after light gases and tar coal tar have been driven out or released from a carbonaceous material during the initial stage of combustion, which is known as carbonization, charring, devolatilization or pyrolysis.Further stages of efficient combustion are...

 is more rapid than for any other feedstock as the inherently high sodium
Sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...

 and potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...

 content of black liquor acts as a catalyst.

These properties makes it possible to apply the high temperature, entrained flow gasification
Gasification
Gasification is a process that converts organic or fossil based carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane. This is achieved by reacting the material at high temperatures , without combustion, with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or steam...

 principle to black liquor. This type of gasification process provides many advantages over alternative gasification technologies:
  • It is a very rapid, single-stage gasification process with low reactor volume
  • It minimizes the need for raw syngas
    Syngas
    Syngas is the name given to a gas mixture that contains varying amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Examples of production methods include steam reforming of natural gas or liquid hydrocarbons to produce hydrogen, the gasification of coal, biomass, and in some types of waste-to-energy...

     clean-up as the Chemrec process directly provides a raw syngas
    Syngas
    Syngas is the name given to a gas mixture that contains varying amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Examples of production methods include steam reforming of natural gas or liquid hydrocarbons to produce hydrogen, the gasification of coal, biomass, and in some types of waste-to-energy...

     of excellent quality with
  1. Complete carbon
    Carbon
    Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...

     conversion
  2. No tar
    Tar
    Tar is modified pitch produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving wooden vessels against rot. The largest...

     formation
  3. Low methane
    Methane
    Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...

     content


For all practical purposes sodium-based sulfite liquor, the sulfite process
Sulfite process
The sulfite process produces wood pulp which is almost pure cellulose fibers by using various salts of sulfurous acid to extract the lignin from wood chips in large pressure vessels called digesters. The salts used in the pulping process are either sulfites , or bisulfites , depending on the pH...

 equivalent of black liquor, is equally or even better suited for gasification.

Investment cost and energy efficiency

Black liquor gasification fulfills two investment-intensive duties with a single process; it provides the pulp mill
Pulp mill
A pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fibre source into a thick fibre board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical or fully chemical methods...

 with needed black liquor recovery capacity at the same time as it produces syngas
Syngas
Syngas is the name given to a gas mixture that contains varying amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Examples of production methods include steam reforming of natural gas or liquid hydrocarbons to produce hydrogen, the gasification of coal, biomass, and in some types of waste-to-energy...

 for biofuels production
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...

. In this way the total investment demand decreases.

The Chemrec gasification process also has a substantially higher thermal efficiency
Thermal efficiency
In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, a boiler, a furnace, or a refrigerator for example.-Overview:...

 than the process it replaces - the Tomlinson recovery boiler
Recovery boiler
Recovery boiler is the part of Kraft process of pulping where chemicals for white liquor are recovered and reformed from black liquor, which contains lignin from previously processed wood. The black liquor is burned, generating heat, which is usually used in the process or in making electricity,...

.

The location within a pulp mill
Pulp mill
A pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fibre source into a thick fibre board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical or fully chemical methods...

 complex gives other benefits. First, environmental permitting is generally easier than for a greenfield industrial activity. Secondly, the pulp mill infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...

 for raw material supply, utilities and energy reuse further reduces investment and provides the opportunity for net energy cost reduction.

Products

A300 Booster

The 300 tons/day atmospheric air-blown unit increases pulp production through improved black liquor recovery capacity and flexibility in chemical recovery. The A300 Booster is installed in parallel with the mill’s existing recovery boiler. A significant benefit of this system is that it can be installed while the recovery boiler continues to operate, thus avoiding down time and lost production.

OX300 Booster

The OX300 atmospheric oxygen-blown Booster not only increases the black liquor recovery capacity but also produces a fuel gas suitable as lime kiln fuel. In this way lime kiln fuel costs and the mill carbon footprint can be significantly reduced.

P500 Expansion Unit

The 500 tons/day pressurized oxygen-blown unit offers mills additional capacity and increased yield, while producing significant volumes of sustainable, low-carbon biofuels.

P2000 Replacement Unit

The 2000 tons/day pressurized oxygen-blown unit replaces recovery boilers entirely, granting improved pulp yield, while producing significant volumes of sustainable, low-carbon biofuels.

P2000 Combined Cycle Unit

The 2000 tons/day pressurized unit oxygen-blown replaces recovery boilers entirely, granting improved pulp yield, while doubling “green power” production.

Awards

  • Top 100 Global Cleantech Firm - The Guardian and Cleantech Group - Sept 2009, Oct 2010 and Oct 2011
  • Top 100 Global Cleantech Firm - AlwaysOn GoingGreen - Sept 2009, Oct 2010 and Sept 2011
  • Britain's Hot Talent - BVCA - Dec 2009 and 2010-2011
  • Top 50 Hottest Companies in Biofuels - Biofuels Digest - Dec 2009
  • Winner of Boston Cleantech Award (European-American Chambers of Commerce) – Nov 2009
  • Top 24 European Cleantech Firm – European Tech Tour Cleantech Summit – June 2009
  • Top 50 Nordic Cleantech Firm – Cleantech Scandinavia – April 2009

See also

  • Black liquor
    Black liquor
    Black liquor is the spent cooking liquor from the kraft process when digesting pulpwood into paper pulp removing lignin, hemicelluloses and other extractives from the wood to free the cellulose fibers....

  • Gasification
    Gasification
    Gasification is a process that converts organic or fossil based carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane. This is achieved by reacting the material at high temperatures , without combustion, with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or steam...

  • Second generation biofuels
    Second generation biofuels
    Second generation biofuels - also known as advanced biofuels - can be manufactured from various types of biomass.Biomass is a wide-ranging term meaning any source of organic carbon that is renewed rapidly as part of the carbon cycle...

  • Kraft process
    Kraft process
    The kraft process describes a technology for conversion of wood into wood pulp consisting of almost pure cellulose fibers...

  • Sulfite process
    Sulfite process
    The sulfite process produces wood pulp which is almost pure cellulose fibers by using various salts of sulfurous acid to extract the lignin from wood chips in large pressure vessels called digesters. The salts used in the pulping process are either sulfites , or bisulfites , depending on the pH...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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