Production of Electricity from Biomass Crops - US Perspective

Transcription

1 Production of Elctricity from Biomass Crops - US Prspctiv Ralph P. Ovrnd Industrial Tchnologis Division National Rnwabl Enrgy Laboratory 1617, Col Blvd, Goldn, CO 80401, USA Abstract In th Unitd Stats, sinc 1973 thr has bn a dramatic incras in bionrgy us, spcially in thrmal and lctrical applications of wood rsidus. For xampl th wood procssing and pulp and papr sctors bcam about 70% nrgy slf sufficint during this priod. Th amount of grid connctd biomass fuld lctrical capacity has incrasd from lss than 200 MW in 1978 to ovr 7,500 MW today. This dramatic growth, stimulatd in part by fdral tax policy and stat utility rgulatory actions, occurrd aftr th Public Utilitis Rgulatory Policis Act (PURPA) of 1978 guarantd small lctricity producrs that utilitis would purchas lctricity at a pric qual to th utilitis' avoidd cost. Nvrthlss th lctric powr industry, and spcially th biomass powr industry, is facing uncrtain tims which ar causd by utility drgulation initiativs, th xpiration of PURPA contracts, and policy changs in th currnt Congrss. At th sam tim, th agricultural sctor may xprinc changs in commodity crop pric supports in th 1995 Farm Bill, and is sking rliabl altrnativ and highr valu markts for its products. Th Farm sctor is also undr incrasing prssur to dispos of rsidus in an nvironmntally accptabl mannr, spcially in-fild straw and crop rsidu burning. In looking at th volution of th biomass powr industry, it is clar that two factors, incrasd powr gnration systm fficincy, and th provision of rliabl and cost-stabl fdstocks ar ncssary for th stand-alon biomass powr markt to surviv or grow. Introduction Today mor than 70 prcnt of biomass powr is cognratd with procss hat. Wood-fird systms account for 88 prcnt, landfill gas 8 prcnt, agricultural wast 3 prcnt, and anarobic digstrs 1 prcnt. Thr ar narly 1000 wood-fird plants in th U.S., typically ranging from 10 to 25 MW. Only a third of ths plants offr lctricity for sal. Th rst ar ownd and opratd by th papr and wood products industris for thir own us. Most of today's biomass grid connctd powr installations ar th smallr scal indpndnt powr and cognration systms. To dat, utilitis hav bn involvd in only a handful of ddicatd wood-fird plants in th 40 to 50 MW siz rang, and in som co-firing of wood and municipal solid wast in convntional coal-fird plants. Nt plant hat rats for 25 MW plants in th California PG&E srvic trritory avrag approximatly 20 prcnt fficincy (17,000 Btu/kWh). By comparison th 43 MW utility-opratd plant at Kttl Falls, Washington has a rportd hat rat of 23.7% fficincy (14,382 Btu/kWh). Th advantagous powr purchas agrmnts that wr ngotiatd undr PURPA in th 1980's ar no longr availabl at high avoidd cost rats. As a rsult a numbr of plants ar closing as thir powr contracts com up for rnwal. Ths plants could b comptitiv in today's nvironmnt using low cost wast and rsidu fuls if thir fficincy was much highr. This has bn dmonstratd in th Hawaii sugar industry whr th sugar mill powr plants oprat for a

2 major part of th yar as combind hat and powr (CHP) installations. Invstmnts in fficint stam cycls hav rsultd in a comptitiv rat of powr gnration undr PURPA. Low prssur boilrs wr systmatically rplacd by highr prssur boilr systms of largr capacity in th priod 1960 through 1980, with th avrag stam prssur and tmpratur incrasing from 1.3 MPa and 210 C to 4.4 MPa and 380 C. Manwhil th nt stam consumption in th mills dcrasd significantly from 600 kg /tc (ton of can) to about kg/tc; rsulting in a powr output of about 60 kwh/tc on avrag, with th bst mills raching ovr 100 kwh/tc 1 [Kinoshita, 1991]. Biomass powr fficincy advancs nd to b comptitiv with low-cost fossil fuls, spcially in stand-alon powr gnration. Such advancs will rquir a considrabl incras in th powr-to-hat ratio and will rquir using advancd tchnologis, such as intgratd gasification combind cycls (IGCC), as illustratd in Tabl 1. Tabl 1. Comparison of prsnt day stam gnration with IGCC Cost Factors ( /kwh) Stam Gnration IGCC Oprations and Maintnanc Ful Only Cost Capital Rcovry Cost of Elctricity Assuming a marginal cost of ful of 2.0 $/GJ (approximatly $38/tonn of dry biomass), a load factor of 85% (bas loadd), and a rturn of 8% on capital invstd pr yar, it is possibl to s th ffct of th nw tchnology. Both plants ar approximatly 50 MW capacity. Th fficincy of th stam plant is about 20%, whil th IGCC is stimatd to hav an fficincy of 45%. Th capital cost of th stam plant is $1800/kW, whil that of th IGCC is xpctd to b in th rang of $1300 to $1500/kW. As can b sn, th incras in fficincy has two ffcts: it rducs th capital cost on a kw basis, and it rducs th snsitivity of th final cost of lctricity to th ful cost componnt. Th California markt stablishd that an industry that is havily rliant upon a ful biomass that is prdominantly composd of rsidus suffrs from srious fdstock cost instability. It is clar that, onc a markt dvlopd, th cost of ful biomass (largly agricultural wast and rsidus) mor than tripld ovr a tn yar priod. Furthr, th ful cost continud to incras, albit at a lowr rat, until biomass powr plants bgan to b bought out and shut down. As with any industry, a rliabl fdstock supply availabl at a prdictabl pric is ncssary for th succss of any biomass powr facility. Thus thr has bn much intrst in th us of ddicatd fdstock supplis that should b 1C.M. Kinoshita. Cognration in th Hawaiian Sugar Industry. Biorsourc Tchnology. 35(3). pp }

3 abl to b contractd for to giv som cost stability to th purchasing lctrical gnrator. Strngthning th link with Agricultur It bcam clar in th arly 1990's that two factors, incrasd systm fficincy and rliabl and cost-stabl fdstocks would b ncssary for th stand-alon biomass powr markt to surviv or grow. It was unclar, howvr, whthr th tchnologis or fdstock supply systms would b availabl to mt this nd. With this in mind, th DOE Biomass Powr program in coopration with EPRI, Oak Ridg National Laboratory (ORNL), and stat nrgy agncis collaboratd in solicitation and funding of th sit-spcific cas studis listd in Tabl 2. Ths studis rsultd in dtaild assssmnts of th potntial for biomass powr systms and thir associatd ful supply systms in conomic, nvironmntal, and social sttings around th Unitd Stats. Tabl 2. "Economic Dvlopmnt Through Biomass Systms Intgration" Fasibility Study Contracts Summary Contractor Location Fdstock Convrsion Tchnology Product(s) PICHTR/ AMFAC Hawaii nrgy can gasification/ xisting boilr lctricity sugar Chariton Vally RC&D Iowa switchgrass, wood rsidus gasification/ co-firing lctricity Kansas Elctric Utilitis Kansas sorghum, switchgrass, block locust, silvr mapl, cottonwood Fast pyrolysis/ combustion turbin lctricity biocrud charcoal KENETECH Enrgy Systms Purto Rico sugarcan, nrgy can napir grass dirct combustion/stam cycl lctricity sugar Niagara Mohawk Powr Corp. Nw York willow co-firing lctricity Northrn Stats Powr Minnsota alfalfa co-firing/ gasification combind cycl lctricity animal fd Wyrhausr North Carolina pin gasification combind cycl/ co-gn/ AMOCO thanol procss lctricity thanol Univrsity of Florida Florida lphant grass, sugarcan, ucalyptus lucana combustion/frmntation/ SSF thanol procss thanol lctricity PICHTR Hawaii sugar can, bagass, ucalyptus, alfalfa, corn sorghum AMOCO SSF thanol procss/ gasification/ xisting boilr thanol lctricity animal fd sugar Rsults from most of ths studis hav bn rcivd and will b publishd by DOE/NREL and EPRI. Ths studis gnratd a walth of valuabl data not only rlating to th fficincy and cost of convrsion systms but also to th viability, sustainability, cost, and nvironmntal bnfits of th

4 supply systms. Intrst in som aras (.g. Minnsota) was so strong that biomass producrs formd a cooprativ with th intnt of co-funding th powr production facility. Th Gap. An xamination of th linkag of agricultural crops with powr gnration shows that th situation today is not conomically viabl. Th crop producr costs ar too high, and th pric that th lctrical gnrator can pay is too low. This is illustratd in figur 1.

5 Th ky for th crop producr is to rais th yilds and rduc th crop maintnanc costs. This is illustratd in th figur by th rducing curv of ful pric. For th lctricity gnrator th challng is to rduc th invstmnt cost, and to incras th fficincy in ordr to obtain mor kwh pr tonn of fdstock. In th USA, on vry nar trm opportunity is th us of biomass as a cofird ful in larg coal fird powr stations. Th capital cost of modifications to th prdominantly pulvrizd coal fird units is in th rang of $/kw whras a nw biomass fird plant would cost btwn $/kw today. Evn mor advantagous is th obsrvation that th co-fird biomass ful njoys th sam fficincy of combustion and hat transfr that th coal dos, somthing lik 35% thrmal fficincy in th avrag coal fird unit. Thus a transitional stratgy that was proposd by th Niagara Mohawk study of willow as an nrgy crop is to us th crop in conjunction with wood wasts in cofiring with coal in ordr to build up th ful supply infrastructur without major capital invstmnt. Similar considrations apply to th Chariton Vally study of th us of a hrbacous nrgy crop in cofiring with coal in Iowa. A Nich Stratgy Th studis dscribd in tabl 1., hav dmonstratd that th biomass systms cost and prformanc can achiv lvls that mak thm comptitiv or attractiv in xisting nich markts. Exampls from th tabl and lswhr indicat th natur of attractiv nichs that could propl th intgratd biomass to lctricity systm to th marktplac. Th projct in Minnsota has, lik th Unitd Kingdom a mandatd non-fossil ful mandat. Though no Stat in th US has adoptd th UK - NFFO schm, th lgislatur in Minnsota has st asid 125 MW (stagd procurmnt of 50 MW bfor 1999, and 75 MW aftrwards) for biomass powr. Th study by Northrn Stats Powr idntifid a co-product situation with CHP that crats a profitabl projct. Th co-product is a flash drid, high valu alfalfa laf, th stalks ful th powr station which also supplis th nrgy for th laf drying. Similar considrations with th

6 coproduction of thanol for gasolin blnding in Hawaii, coupld with th sal of animal fd also crats a satisfactory rturn on a co-product, CHP projct. Hawaii also crats a nich bcaus thr is no compting fossil ful - all fossil fuls ar importd to th islands and this intgratd with rural dvlopmnt concrns as a consqunc of th dclining importanc of th sugarcan industry crats a biomass powr and liquid fuls opportunity. Th Midwst of th USA and th Northast ar two rgions that shar concrns about rural dvlopmnt - and th lad organization on th Iowa switchgrass coal-cofir projct is a body concrnd with th conomic dvlopmnt of th county that would supply th switchgrass ful. Othr aras will provid othr nichs, fild disposal of straw rsidus by fild burning is bing lgislatd out of xistnc, th managmnt of landfills rquirs that bulk matrials should not b burid and this finds altrnativ us as a ful in California for xampl. Th numbr of ths nichs is in fact larg both in th USA and in th EU. Thir summation in ffct rflcts a larg markt opportunity for intgratd biomass powr - on that is alrady availabl to landownrs and powr projct dvloprs if thr is a collctiv ffort to lvrag th activitis in th diffrnt dvlopmnt sctors. It is clar that on way to facilitat ntry to this markt will b th dvlopmnt of modular fixd dsigns that whn rplicatd, liminat th front nd nginring costs of plant dsign (sinc thy ar amortizd ovr a sris of similar or idntical powr plants), and ths will also facilitat th nvironmntal assssmnt sinc by th sam tokn thy could hav typ crtification much as aircraft hav today, and is proposd for futur nuclar lctric dvlopmnts. With incrasing d-rgulation of th national powr grids th markt will b vry appropriat to th projct dvloprs that hav put in plac th non utility gnrating stations that now rprsnt ovr half of all nw capacity construction in th USA. U.S. DOE BIOMASS POWER PROGRAM Th U.S. DOE Biomass Powr Program is working with th privat sctor to addrss th issu of making biomass comptitiv by working with today's biomass powr industry to incras its rliability and with quipmnt manufacturrs and projct dvloprs to dvlop advancd systms for incrasd fficincy and nvironmntal prformanc. Svral factors contribut to th industry s conomic futur - for th xisting industry, improvmnts in fficincy ar limitd sinc ths ar st at th dsign stag, howvr, th availability of today s industry rsults in typical load factors of only about 45%. Th factors that affct th load factor ar many, howvr in rgions that hav to us vry divrs fuls which hav high concntrations of alkali, thr hav bn problms with boilr fouling. Biomass ful proprtis ar limitd by th inorganic composition. It has bn dmonstratd oprationally that biomass us in high fficincy thrmal lctricity gnration is limitd not by th proprtis of th organic componnt of Biomass, but by th bhavior of th associatd minral mattr at high tmpraturs. On a moistur and ash fr basis, Biomass which has an avrag formula of CH1.4O0.6N 0.1 has a rlativly low hating valu of 18.6 GJ/t, howvr, this would not limit its us in high fficincy combustion systms sinc adquat high tmpraturs could b rachd to achiv high carnot cycl fficincis. Ths high

7 tmpraturs cannot b rachd bcaus of th fouling and slagging propnsitis of th minrals in Biomass. Th minral composition is a function of soils and th growth habit of th Biomass, howvr th most important lmnt is potassium, which ithr alon or in combination with silica can form th basis of fouling and slagging bhaviors. Growing plants slctivly concntrat potassium in thir clls, which along with nitrogn and phosphorus ar th ky macro nutrints for plant growth. Annual plants tnd to hav vry high potassium contnts, whil woody Biomass xclusiv of th living cambial layr (i.. minus th bark, small branchs and lavs) has minimal contnts of potassium and othr nutrints. Undr combustion conditions th potassium is mobilizd at rlativly low tmpraturs and can thn foul hat transfr surfacs and corrod high prformanc mtals usd in th high tmpratur sctions of burnrs and gas turbins for xampl. Rcnt work has dmonstratd th phnomnology of ash fouling by th mainly potassium componnt of Biomass, as wll as idntifying th ky spcis such as KOH, KCl, and sulfats that ar involvd in potassium transport at tmpraturs < 800 C. Tchniqus that sparat th minral mattr from th ful componnts (carbon and hydrogn) at low tmpraturs can avoid th alkali mtal transport phnomna and rsult in vry high fficincy combustion applications in combustors, gas turbins and disl ngins. Gasification and various typs of clan up systms, as wll as pyrolysis tchniqus ar abl to sparat th minrals from th ful componnt and provid th organic part of th biomass as a suitabl ful for high fficincy nrgy convrsion in gas turbins, ful clls and othr ngins. Th convrsion pathways bing valuatd ar shown in in Figur 2. Support for today's industry In gnral th biomass powr industry has displayd good rliability, howvr, in th cas of th indpndnt powr producr (IPP) biomass-fuld stations in California, oprational difficultis 2 rapidly mrgd whn using non-wood biomass fuls. Th oprational difficultis wr causd by th dposition of minral mattr on hat xchang surfacs (boilr tubs, suprhatrs, and watr walls) and by th agglomration of ash and inrt fluid bd matrials. This is a costly problm bcaus rsults in down-tim for tub claning and rpair. Bcaus thr is 2Jan Hughs Turnbull Us of Biomass in Elctric Powr Gnration Th California Exprinc, Biomass and Bionrgy Vol. 4. pp

8 considrabl intrst in dvloping of ddicatd crops such as short rotation woody crops and hrbacous nrgy crops for bionrgy applications, it could b a problm that would affct th long-trm larg-scal dploymnt of biomass fuls in both lctricity gnration and th production of liquid fuls. For this rason th U.S. DOE, through NREL, initiatd a collaborativ 3 study with industry on th ash dposition problm to stablish th root caus of th difficultis in using non-traditional biomass fuls. Whil th natur of th dirct combustion boilr problm is of currnt concrn, NREL also rcognizd that ths sam issus may hav to b addrssd in non-combustion procsss such as fast pyrolysis and gasification that convrt biomass into intrmdiat fuls usd in vry high fficincy gnration systms basd on gas turbins. Gas turbins ar xtrmly snsitiv to both minral mattr and alkali mtals. For stat-of-th-art turbins with turbin inlt tmpraturs of 1260 C (2300 F) th manufacturrs spcifications call for lss than 300 ppb of alkali mtal in th hot sction. Bcaus high fficincy biomass-to-lctricity convrsion is a goal of th U.S. 4 DOE Biomass Powr Program a program of tsting non-woody and short rotation biomass fdstocks in gasifirs and fast pyrolysis procsss was institutd. Th ash dposition problm was addrssd by conducting xtnsiv fuls and dposits analysis, and through an xtnsiv collaboration th caus was idntifid. Th projct rcivd ovr 700 diffrnt fuls analyss from th participants, howvr, th majority of ths did not hav th critical ash analysis data. This may not hav bn such a bad omission bcaus th projct stablishd that thr ar major problms with th standard ash dtrmination mthods that ar accptd as standards for coal matrials. Th ASTM mthods for coal prpar an ash at 800 C which is thn usd for th pyromtric con analysis to dtrmin if thr will b slagging or stickinss problms. Unfortunatly, th critical lmnt causing th ash dposition and fouling problm is potassium, and it is known that this and othr minral mattr from biomass will 5 vaporat from th ash at 800 C, dcrasing its mass and altring its fusion proprtis. Potassium is a ky componnt of cllular function, and in plants it can b prsnt at 1000 tims 3 Alkali dposits found in biomass powr plants: a prliminary invstigation of thir xtnt and natur. NREL Subcontract TZ Principal Invstigator: Thomas R. Mils of Thomas R. Mils Consulting Dsign Enginrs. Participants: Dlano Enrgy Company Inc.; Elctric Powr Rsarch Institut; Elkraft Powr Company (Dnmark); Fostr Whlr Enrgy Corporation; Hydra Co Oprations Inc.; Mndota Biomass Powr, Inc.; National Wood Enrgy Association; Sith Enrgis, Inc.; Thrmo Elctron Enrgy Systms; Whlabrator Environmntal Systms Inc.; Woodland Biomass Powr Ltd.; Wstrn Ara Powr Authority; Sandia National Laboratoris; Hazn Rsarch Inc.; Al Duzy and Associats; Univrsity of California Davis; U.S. Dpt. of th Intrior, Burau of Mins; Appl Consultants, Inc. 4 Elctricity from Biomass. National Biomass Powr Program Fiv-Yar Plan (FY1994- FY1998). Solar Thrmal and Biomass Powr Division, Offic of Solar Enrgy Convrsion, U.S. Dpartmnt of Enrgy, Washington, D.C. Draft, April M.K. Misra, K.W. Ragland, and A.J. Bakr Wood Ash Composition as a Function of th Furnac Tmpratur, Biomass and Bionrgy Vol. 4. pp

9 th concntration of sodium. As much as 35% of th ash in annual plants can b alkali, which drastically rducs th ash fusion tmpratur from gratr than 1300 C in th cas of wood ash to about 700 C. At this tmpratur th potassium can form a utctic with th plant's silica or 6 th sand mdium of th fluidizd bd. Work with th molcular bam mass spctromtr (MBMS) systm at NREL has shown that th form in which potassium is transportd can b vry 7 divrs including oxids, hydroxid, sulphit, sulfat, and chlorids as volatils. Gasification dvlopmnts Commrcial biomass gasifirs alrady gnrat procss hat and stam. Currnt dvlopmnt activitis focus on producing lctricity and, to som xtnt, liquid fuls, and involv intgrating gasification with various clanup systms to nsur a high-quality and rliabl gas product. At this tim, thr is no clar prfrnc for a singl gasifir systm. Th Global Environmnt 8 Facility, valuatd two systms offrd by Scandinavian commrcial dvloprs for th CHESF projct in northast Brazil. Th valuation compard th advantags and disadvantags of using air gasification at high prssur (Bioflow) or at low prssur (th TPS systm). High-prssur gasification would hav to mt th prssur rquirmnts of th chosn turbin on all systm componnts, including th gas clan-up systm; th low-prssur systm would carry out th gas claning bfor comprssing th ful gas to th turbin oprating prssur. Air blown systms 3 3 produc only a low-hating valu gas (lss than 150 Btu/ft, 5-6 MJ/Nm ), and a significant loss in fficincy is imposd if th gas must b coold to ambint tmpraturs prior to bing comprssd. For this rason, th Amrican and Scandinavian gasification programs ar mphasizing using hot gas clan-up systms for th air-blown, low-hating-valu gasifirs that will b opratd at prssur. Aftr a vry xtnsiv valuation priod, th projct dvloprs slctd th low-prssur TPS gasifir for us in th proposd systm. Th U.S. program has a dual-pathway stratgy involving both low- and mdium-hating-valu gas production. On high-prssur systm is capabl of gnrating ithr low- or mdiumhating-valu gass according to whthr it is an air- or oxygn-blown variant: th Rnugas systm dvlopd by IGT. Th low-prssur stratgy in th U.S. is basd around dvlopmnt of mdium-hating-valu gas systms which do not us oxygn, but rathr us indirct gasification 6A. Ergundlr, and A.E. Ghaly Agglomration of Silica Sand in a Fluidizd Bd Gasifir Oprating on What Straw, Biomass and Bionrgy Vol. 4. pp S also th phas diagram for SiO 2 - K2O.SiO 2 in E.M. Lvin, H.F. McMurdi, and F.P. Hall, Phas Diagrams for Cramists. Th Am. Cramic Soc. Inc., Columbus, Ohio. 7 D. Dayton, and T.A. Miln. Alkali, chlorin, SO, and NO rlas during combustion of 2 2 pyrolysis oils and chars. in Ed. T.A. Miln. Procdings Biomass Pyrolysis Oil Proprtis and Combustion Mting. Sptmbr 26-28, 1994 Ests Park, Colorado. NREL-CP pp P. Elliott, and R. Booth Brazilian Biomass Powr Dmonstration Projct. Spcial Projct Brif. Shll Intrnational: London, U.K.

10 3 to produc gass having hating valus of MJ/Nm. Cooling and qunching th gas dos not incur a significant fficincy pnalty, and compard with low-hating-valu gas, thr ar ssntially no modifications rquird in th turbin combustors to handl th mdium-hatingvalu gas fuls. Th Pacific Intrnational Cntr for High Tchnology Rsarch (PICHTR) Projct (>6 MW ) Th U.S. Dpartmnt of Enrgy (DOE) and th stat of Hawaii hav joind with PICHTR in a cost-shard cooprativ projct to scal up th Institut of Gas Tchnology (IGT) Rnugas prssurizd air/oxygn gasifir to a ton/day nginring dvlopmnt unit (EDU) oprating at 1-2 MPa using bagass and wood as fd. Th sit is th HC&S sugar mill at Paia, Maui, Hawaii; NREL is providing projct ovrsight in addition to systms analysis. Th first phas, which is now bing compltd, consists of th dsign, construction, and prliminary opration of th gasifir to gnrat hot, unprocssd gas. Th gasifir is dsignd to oprat with ithr air or oxygn at prssurs up to 2.2 MPa, at typical oprating tmpraturs of C. In Phas 1, th gasifir has opratd insid th nvlop of a maximum fd rat of 45 ton/day at a maximum prssur of 1 MPa. In 1996 xtndd tsting of th gasifir and a slipstram hot-gas clanup unit is plannd. Th unit is sizd such that a gas turbin could b addd to th systm to gnrat 3 5 MW of lctricity. Th Vrmont Gasifir Projct with FERCO and th McNil Gnrating Station (>15 MW) Futur Enrgy Rsourcs Company (FERCO) of Atlanta, Gorgia, is th licns of th Battll indirct gasification systm, and th scal up is at th sit of th Burlington Elctric Dpartmnt's McNil station in Burlington, Vrmont. Th projct, which is in two phass, will first tak fdstock from th 50 MW station, and aftr gasification will rturn th gas to th boilr. Th scal of opration is about 200 tpd. Th scond phas will incorporat approximatly 15 MW of turbin lctricity gnration. Th projct is jointly fundd by U.S. DOE and FERCO, and ground braking took plac in th lat Summr of Oprations ar plannd to start in aftr a 16 month construction priod. National Rnwabl Enrgy Laboratory (NREL) Activitis Th rsarch stratgy is guidd by systms analysis and tchnoconomic assssmnts of gasifirbasd powr cycls. In th laboratory, rsarch is ongoing to dvlop catalysts for hot gas conditioning, and to us advancd instrumntation and chmomtrics for fdstock charactrization and valuation. On lmnt of this rsarch is using advancd mass spctromtry to charactriz alkali mtal spciation undr gasification and combustion of biomass conditions. This work has bn xtndd to dvlop and us a transportabl molcular bam mass spctromtr (TMBMS) for ral tim masurmnt of hot stram composition to Moon, Susan. A Big Lap forward for Biomass Gasification. Biologu, Volum 13(3) pp 4-11, 1995

11 atomic mass units (amu). Th TMBMS is bing usd by both Battll and IGT to masur gasifir and catalyst prformanc in th fild. Acknowldgmnts: This work was prformd undr contract DE-AC36-83CH10093 to th U.S. Dpartmnt of Enrgy. Spcial thanks go to my collagus at NREL: Richard Bain, Kvin Craig, Tom Miln, David Dayton, Hlna Li Chum, and at Oak Ridg National Laboratory: Jant Cushman, Lynn Wright, and Mark Downing, and Mr Gary Burch, Dirctor of th USDOE Offic of Solar Enrgy Convrsion, for thir support and ncouragmnt in vn trying to look at th implicaions of intgratd biomass systms dvlopmnt.