A day at Chemrec's development plant in Piteå
The sun is still high in the sky when I leave Chemrec, this late afternoon in the beginning of April. Snow white water vapour is welling from the massive paper mill stacks behind. When I left, the night shift had just taken over. Just like the sun, that never seems to set, the black liquor gasifier is working day and night. And I have met the same great working attitude and strong belief in the future among all the engineers and operators taking Chemrec’s technology from test to commercial reality. Follow me through the doors into Chemrec’s development plant in Piteå – not very far south of the Arctic Circle in north Sweden.
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– After 4 years of operation we have reached a high stability in our plant, says Johan Löfström, operating manager, as we pass through light coloured corridors. This year we have had as many operating hours as we had all the past years together.
Johan has been leading this project ever since the start in spring 2005 and he knows every nut and bolt bought to build and develop the plant.
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– As the test plant flows are smaller than in commercial gasification units it has been a challenge to find the right components. Some parts had to be produced specifically for Chemrec and the delivery times were long.
Chemrec’s gasification technology uses very high temperatures and pressure, which the materials must cope with. The black liquor is in itself demanding on the material.
– I am proud of what we have accomplished in only 4 years with a limited work force, says Löfström, and points at some impressive figures in the operations diagram. Everyone has taken part, even sweeping floors and tightening bolts!
The development plant is important – it provides data and experience needed for the now rapidly progressing scale-up of the technology to fully commercial size.
Double safety systems
We have reached the control centre. Through a window I see a shining plant being supervised day and night. There are always two process operators on duty and with five shift teams the plant can be operated 24/7 over several weeks. David Lundman, 21, is working the dayshift today. Pointing at one of four operator station monitors he explains what we see. The whole process is controlled on a detailed level, the results of different settings are recorded and analysed to find the optimal settings.
– The most important control variable is the gasifier reactor temperature, says David, others are the ratio between oxygen and black liquor, the composition of the gas and the appearance of the green liquor.
The control system is of the same safety class used in gasifier plants for oil or coal. It consists of two redundant systems in order to ensure safe operation. Any one of the systems will stop the gasifier if not all operating conditions are met.
The BioDME project starting up
Suddenly the alarm is sounding. The operators disappear to search for the problem on the spot indicated on the monitors. No outsider is allowed to enter the area. “These are explosive gases”, says David. ”Bad luck”, I think to myself, “Having travelled this far, will I not get a chance to see the plant?”
But the operators quickly find the reason for the alarm – it is a gasket that must be exchanged. With gigantic tools in their hands they disappear again. The work will take a while and I have time to talk to Fredrik Granberg, project manager of Chemrec’s part of the BioDME project – a unique European cooperation that will make those DME trucks roll next year. Chemrec’s task is to build and operate the plant that will produce DME from the black liquor.
Five tons DME a day
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– This is where we will start building this summer, says Granberg pointing at an area right outside his office. The new plant will be at least double the size compared to the present one and it will have a steal structure 21 meters (69 feet) high. The plant will be ready in March 2010 and in May we will produce the first drops of DME. When the operation is running at full speed we will produce five tons of DME a day. |
Politicians, researchers and lately even truck drivers – many are the visitors during these years.
– You no longer hear the critical voices – “it will never work”. We have showed them that it works, says operating manager Löfström with victory in his eyes. He tells me how the frustration caused by the critics gave everyone an even stronger “fighting spirit”.
– Some of the most prominent fuels researchers are working for us, he stresses, and we know what we are doing. But it took time to convince everyone since we were small in the beginning.
The BioDME project will build the world’s first plant for production of DME from renewable feedstock. The Swedish Energy Agency and the European Union contribute financially together with the project partners. Volvo is producing trucks that will run on BioDME and Preem is setting up filling stations. The total chain from biomass to trucks will be demonstrated.
– It is really exciting to run this project, says Granberg. The positive effects of our biofuels are what most people are talking about. But some truck drivers still doubt the modifications needed to the trucks for them to use the new fuel, wondering “Will it really work?” The BioDME project gives us a chance to show them that it really does!
Two industrial scale demonstration plants
Twelve persons are working in the newly renovated offices, which Chemrec shares with several other companies in this new technology business park. Process manager Mats Lindblom proudly shows me his recently finished report of 300 pages – an extensive feasibility study for Chemrec technology at a US mill.
Chemrec was also recently invited by the Swedish Energy Agency to compete for a grant of SEK 875 million allocated for the demonstration of new technology for second generation biofuels. Lindblom is also working on this application.
– Our goal is to bring both of these projects to a positive investment decision - one in the US and one in Sweden.
Increasing mill cash-flow with 30-50 %
Lindblom, who has worked for Chemrec for 15 years, knows that the road towards commercialization must be well prepared and takes time. Persistently one must hold on to what one believes in, take it a step at a time and have some luck along the road. “Big things happen in silence”, he says.
–A full scale commercial gasification plant will increase the cash flow in the pulp mill by 30-50 %. The very substantial investment will pay off in only a few years. Our first industrial scale plants will be very important to show the industry that out technology works reliably in full scale and that the pulp and paper mills will be more profitable when they add biofuels to their product portfolio!
The demonstration plants that are planned will have 25 times the capacity of the existing development plant. Instead of 1 % of the mill’s black liquor, it will handle 25 % of it and produce bio fuels equivalent to over 34 million liters (9 million gallons) per year of gasoline. For later, even larger plants you simply add more gasifiers of the same capacity to process 100 % of the black liquor. So the gasifier technology in the demonstration plants will be the same as in the larger plants.
Black liquor replaced by tops and branches
The gasket is fixed. The control room is once again quiet. David takes me down the stairs to show me Chemrec´s world unique test plant. Hundreds of pipes surround us. Each carefully labelled.
– This is where the thick black liquor enters from the mill, he says pointing. 20 tons of black liquor is circulating in the system.
At the centre of the plant is the big gasifier reactor where the black liquor is gasified at high temperatures and a pressure of 30 bar. The result is raw synthesis gas and a smelt consisting of sodium salts. The gas that is formed is quenched and the smelt is separated from the gas. The smelt is then dissolved and the solution called green liquor is transferred back to the pulp mill to provide valuable recycled cooking chemicals. The raw syngas is then further cooled and presently incinerated in a flare.
The day is coming to a close. When the BioDME plant is ready Chemrec will no longer need to flare its valuable gas – it will then instead be used to produce an environmentally friendly, energy efficient fuel. DME, methanol or ethanol – the gas can be converted to the kind of fuels or chemicals demanded by the market. Or be turned into electricity.
With admiration and confidence I leave Chemrec’s engineers, operators and researchers behind me going back to my office in Stockholm. And I think about the years ahead, when I will be able to fill up my tank with green fuels developed and produced by these enthusiastic and skilful people. The sun’s rays are still warm – I am thankful.
Text: Elisabeth Kempemo, Logos Kommunikation