Revision Thorsten Hornung

Transcription

1 Revision Thorsten Hornung

2 Our innovative technology platform Thermo-Catalytic Reforming TCR - is able to process most types of organic waste and biomass residue: Agricultural and forestry wastes including animal manure, harvesting residue, landscaping material and waste wood Municipal wastes including sewage sludge, food waste, organic household waste, composting residue and fractions of municipal solid waste such as mixed plastics fractions Industrial organic wastes incl. food and animal processing by-products, paper industry wastes and production residues containing polymers All these residues are converted into sustainable resources: Clean synthesis gas with up to 50% hydrogen content and significant heating value suitable for internal combustion engines Quality oil with high heating value and low corrosivity suitable for stationary internal combustion engines Stable char with high fixed carbon content (in ash-free portion) and low in organic toxins Image 1: Applications of Thermo-Catalytic Reforming technology These high quality resources are suitable for many downstream applications including: Combined heat & power generation on-site from all products Drop-in quality diesel, gasoline and aviation fuels Decentral hydrogen production from syngas for instance for industrial applications Production of chemical precursors from oil and syngas Specialized applications for biochar for instance in agriculture

3 The TCR technology was developed together with the Fraunhofer research institute UMSICHT and converts organic residue into syngas, oil and char through a staged thermal process: Thermal Drying: Wet biomass is dried to between 10-30% moisture content through a combination of standard mechanical and thermal drying technology. The TCR plant itself can supply heat for thermal drying of biomass depending on the targeted product use. Thermal Decomposition: In a first TCR reactor stage biomass is carbonized to biochar at intermediate temperatures ( C) and volatile organic compounds are extracted. Catalytic Reforming: In the second TCR reactor stage the biochar is heated up to C and brought in contact with the volatile compounds again. Through catalytic functions the organic compounds are cracked to quality fuel gases and oils. The steam reforming of water steam and carbon increases the yields of a hydrogen rich syngas. Product Treatment: Liquid compounds are condensed and separated into oil and water fractions. The permanent syngas is cleaned for particles and aerosols in a simple product treatment stage. TCR reactors can supply their own process energy through the combustion of syngas or char and on-site power generation from the products. Image 2: Thermo-Catalytic Reforming Process Further options extend the versatility of the TCR process: Bio-activated Cracking (BAC): Any TCR reactor processing a solid organic feedstock can be combined with an optional add-on reactor stage for the catalytic cracking of liquid organic feedstock such as plastics waste, animal grease, glycerol, and other fats, oils and waxes as a secondary feedstock. These liquid organic inputs are producing quality oils and syngas. Upstream char gasification: The char from a TCR reactor can be converted to gas in our upstream gasification module. The produced gas can be used to generate heat and power.

4 The textile industry in the municipally of Prato produces approx t/year of textile residue which is collected by ASM for recycling. Depending on the season these residues are from synthetic and natural fibre. Image 3: Textile residue from garment industry in Prato In particular synthetic fibre residues create a substantial concern regarding a sustainable recycling strategy. Today this material is disposed through landfill only as the calorific value is too high for waste incineration. Landfill disposal is also problematic as the capacities are declining and costs are rising. In contrast natural fibre would provide more options for material recycling if collected separately which is a future objective for ASM. In view of this ASM is looking for new technologies that offer a pathway towards the sustainable recycling of synthetic fibre residue from the local garment industry The polymers used for the production of synthetic fibre are generally suitable feedstock for the Bio-Activated Cracking (BAC) process which is an optional extension of the TCR process. Therefore a potential solution for the recycling of the garment residues in Prato could be conceived based on the TCR-BAC process. ASM would implement a separate collection of natural and synthetic fibre. Synthetic textile residues (see Image 3: Textile residue from garment industry in Prato) would be molten in a heated auger pipe supplying molten polymers to a BAC reactor. The BAC process requires coprocessing of a biomass residue to produce char and vapour as catalysts for optimized cracking

5 of the polymers. Therefore an additional feedstock such as sewage slude, composting residue or anaerobic digestion digestate would have to be selected for processing in a TCR-reactor. The combination of both processes will convert the biomass residue and polymer fibre into fractions of syngas, oil, char and process water. Image 4: Proposed Synthetic Textile Recycling Process Syngas and oil could be used for combined heat and power generation on-site while the char could be supplied to a heating plant for combustion. The process water would be processed in a water treatment facility. This process would result in a sustainable recycling of the textile residues with minimal emissions impact. Emissions are limited to flue gas from syngas combustion, exhaust gas from a CHP engine and process water.

6 Based on our initial evaluation synthetic textiles are a suitable feedstock for the combined TCR- BAC process in order to develop a sustainable recycling pathway for this material. In order to evaluate the industrial implementation of the process we recommend to conduct a pre-study focusing on the following questions: - Test the processing of synthetic textiles on modified lab equipment - Test pre-processing requirements for synthetic textile residue (melting through heated auger) - Select and test potential biomass residue for co-processing - Determine mass & energy balances - Analyze product qualities and evaluate targeted utilization path - Evaluate potential specific emission requirements eg. development of smell from processing of poly amid - Derive key specifications and technical requirements for industrial process implementation - Conduct techno-economic project evaluation Such a study could be conducted jointly through Fraunhofer UMSICHT research institute and Susteen Technologies GmbH in close collaboration with ASM Prato. Existing TCR lab equipment at Fraunhofer UMSICHT would be modified to process the synthetic textile residue. Fraunhofer UMSICHT would conduct the testing and analytical activities while Susteen Technologies would conduct the techno-economic project evaluation. We estimate the budget required to conduct such a pre-study at ,- EUR. The study would require approx. 4-5 months.