Integration of a hemicellulose extraction process into a biomass based heat and power plant

Abstract

The development of processes where lignocellulosic biomass can be refined to several different end-products in the same plant, i.e. a biorefinery, will be important in the development towards a more sustainable society where fossil fuels are replaced. This paper presents the idea to integrate the production of green chemicals via hot water hemicellulose extraction of birch wood (hardwood) into a small-scale combined heat and power plant (CHP), in this case an externally fired gas turbine. A techno-economically successful concept could provide the option to turn a small- to medium scale CHP plant into a small- to medium scale biorefinery. The results show that the extracted wood-chips would serve very well as a fuel for combustion and gasification processes due to the relatively high heating value, low ash content and significantly lower concentrations of alkali metals. Under the assumed economic conditions, electricity can be produced to a cost in the range of €85.6 to €196.2 per MWhel and a fermentable feedstock stream with a xylose concentration of 65 g/L to a cost in between €0.44 to €4.15 per kg xylose depending on plant size and number of annual operational hours.Godkänd; 2009; Bibliografisk uppgift: CD; 20091109 (joakim