Penn State: Black liquor to DME as Alternative Fuel

Penn State press release:

Adding a little coal and processing the papermaking industry's black liquor waste into synthesis gas is a better choice than burning it for heat, improves the carbon footprint of coal-to-liquid processes, and can produce a fuel versatile enough to run a cooking stove or a truck, according to a team of Penn state engineers.

"Black liquor is routinely burned in a recovery boiler," said Andre Boehman, professor of fuel science. "But it has more energy value as a synthesis gas, which is then used to create other fuels."

Black liquor is a combination of lignin from the wood, the chemicals used in papermaking and water. Normally, after burning, mills extract the inorganic chemicals and recycle them. Synthesis gas or syngas can be made from a variety of organic wastes and is a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The final product looked at by the researchers is DME or dimethyl ether.  . . .

DME is building new markets in both heat producing fuel applications and transportation. In Japan and China, some demonstration diesel trucks and buses already run on DME. Volvo has a third-generation experimental truck that runs on DME, and other companies are also testing vehicles.

(Penn State) students looked at the efficiency of using black liquor as the feedstock for manufacturing synthesis gas and then DME, and realized that they needed the economy of scale for the process to be really efficient and economical. The capacity of paper mills for fuel production could be expanded by co-processing coal with the black liquor.

A potential approach is to combine the black liquor with a coal slurry and process that. Paper mill processes then treated this mixture with steam and only a little oxygen to convert the organic compounds into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. These products traditionally have then been used in the Fischer Tropsch method to produce a mixed petroleum-like product that must be further refined before use. The students suggest the DME process because it is less energy intensive and produces a targeted product, DME, and while DME is a specialty fuel, its use is increasing worldwide.

Looking at a comparison of energy efficiency, the students found that gasoline and diesel fuel have the lowest energy cost to produce, but DME is not that far away in efficiency. DME is also much cleaner burning than either gasoline or diesel.

Converting black liquor and coal into DME also releases less carbon as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than if coal alone was used to produce the fuel. Some of the carbon from these sources remains sequestered in solid form and does not add to global warming.

"Another reason we may want to co-process coal with black liquor is to stretch our coal reserve," said Boehman. "We have always known that coal reserves are finite, but now it appears we will not be able to mine all the available coal there is due to environmental concerns."

It seems that this is another way of mitigating against our depleting supplies of increasing expensive petroleum. If it is truly less polluting than coal to liquids and energy efficient, it is worth pursuing. I am troubled by their statement: students found that gasoline and diesel fuel have the lowest energy cost to produce, but DME is not that far away in efficiency. DME is also much cleaner burning than either gasoline or diesel. Although the cleaner burning characteristics are very desirable, I question how many alternative fuels are desirable.  I don't believe that the amount of DME that could be made from black liquor is sufficient to establish a market for DME burning vehicles or that Fischer Tropsch plants, using any fuel source, should produce DME rather than diesel.

Comments

[scott]

By this 2003 article on gasifying black liquor,
http://www.cpbis.gatech.edu/research/projects/gasification/background.htm

Approximately 240 million tons of black liquor are produced each year in pulp production world wide .... The fuel value is equivalent to about 460 million barrels of crude oil...

I have a little trouble getting really excited about DME, it being a gas at STP. I can't help wondering if methylal or 1,3-dioxolane might not be better.

[Paul Dietz]

I have a little trouble getting really excited about DME, it being a gas at STP.

But it liquefies under modest pressure. I've seen it used as a propellant for perfume. You can think of it as a substitute for propane or butane.

[Al Fin]

DME can be used to fuel diesel engines (cetane 55), petrol engines (mixed with LPG), or as a propellant to aid in removing your warts.
;-)

It can be used to fuel gas turbines and as a hydrogen source in fuel cells.

To get large quantities of DME, they will need to use coal.

[Venkataraman]

Black liqour gasification to motorfuels(BLGMF)is an exciting option for pulp mills based on Rice straw as there are no technically viable chemical recovery systems available for these Mills. With Growing raw material shortage rice straw seems a cheaper option to produce low grade paper.
As a licensor of Indirect gasification system and apaper technologist I firmly believe there is a great future for this BLGMF both for DME and Ethanol.

[TheSUBWAY.com]

It's good to hear BP & GM talk about alternative fuels, but 50 years to implement is too long.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/05/news/companies/bigoil_hydrogen/index.htm

Perhaps this link will spark more attention:

http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/

It is GM's electric concept car the Chevy Volt. If more people begin to demand alternative fuel cars, we should be able to speed the rate at which the technology is developed.

We have started an Investor Forum where Investors can meet and discuss topics like this:

http://investor-forum.thesubway.com/

[Garko Novis]

buying gas has become a major investment decision, as in "do i invest in some food so i can get thru the day or some gas so i can get where i have to go?" It should never be this way but it is. But that doesn't mean we have to just suffer. There is a real solution in Water4Gas and you owe it to yourself to check it out! http://w4g4mpg.info

[Garko Novis]

buying gas has become a major investment decision, as in "do i invest in some food so i can get thru the day or some gas so i can get where i have to go?" It should never be this way but it is. But that doesn't mean we have to just suffer. There is a real solution in Water4Gas and you owe it to yourself to check it out! http://w4g4mpg.info

[Amelia Church]

DME is a good solution and many countries have been heading in that direction for awhile. We manufacture fuel systems for DME vehicles. If you are interested in learning more about DME as a fuel source, check out www.altfueltechnology.com

[Run Your Car On Water]

How about using water as alternative fuel?

NASA Verifies Run Your Car on Water Technology Works.

The document titled, “EMISSIONS AND TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF A MULTICYLINDER PISTON ENGINE RUNNING ON GASOLINE AND A HYDROGEN-GASOLINE MIXTURE” shows how adding small amounts of hydrogen to a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine will help the engine run leaner and reduce emissions.

[tony]

Coal,seems to make a lot of peoples blood boil,maybe we need to revisit how to consume it in a harmless way

[WhichBurner]

Amazing the new applications that are coming together. Oil made us lazy. Glad its going!

[Anthony]

Great work, very well thought out.