Forest turned into biogas in the city
GoBiGas, the world’s largest demo facility for the continuous production of biogas from wood raw material is taking shape in Rya Harbor, by the northern abutment of the Älvsborg Bridge.
This volume is enough to power 15,000-20,000 passenger cars per year. The output of the plant will be 20 MW with an estimated 8 000 operational hours annually.
“Nobody has attempted this before – not in this configuration, converting biomass fuel to biogas via gasification and subsequent methanization. It’s a demo facility in the true sense of the word,” says Åsa Burman, Project Director and CEO of GoBiGas.
There are, however, a few smaller gasification reference facilities that produce gas for heat and electricity through indirect gasification of biomass fuel, one of which is located in Austria with the second in Germany. The thermal input of the gasification facility in Güssing, Austria, is only 8 MW, and it has been in operation for about ten years. The corresponding figure for the German facility is 12 MW, although it was started up relatively recently.
GoBiGas will be nearly twice the size of its German counterpart. The raw material will comprise forest residue and the technology to be used will be thermal gasification.
“But we will use wood pellets in the beginning,” explains Burman. “This is because the facility has been built beside an existing pellet-fired boiler room and we don’t have any reception area for branches, roots and tops yet. Using pellets allows us to get things up and running quickly and easily.
“However, we have started planning a fuel reception unit and our aim is for it to be operational in 2015, which is when we will make the switch. Pellets are a processed fuel and expensive compared to branches, roots and tops.”
The forest residue will initially be transported in trucks – biogas-powered ones of course. Eventually, Rya Harbor will be expanded to enable it to receive fuel deliveries by ship.
Without political funding – not even a cent
The EU has already earmarked SEK 550 M in funding for the second phase of the GoBiGas project, enabling the construction of a facility that is five times its current size, with an output of about 100 MW. But the EU funding is in the form of operating aid, and this will not go far when constructing a commercial facility.
The objective of phase one is to operate a demo facility with funding from the Swedish Energy Agency. Phase two, on the other hand, must be a profitable investment and this requires genuine demand for the gas being produced. And this will not be possible without political backing.
“A decision to invest in a facility that is four to five times larger requires long-
term profitability, and no one can see this today. The competition from fossil fuels is simply overwhelming,” says Åsa Burman.
“Untaxed gas and diesel costs about the same as our raw material – before we start to process it. Diesel and gas technology has been around for more than a century, while the methods deployed to produce energy from biomass fuel are only a few decades old.”
Åsa Burman emphasizes the fact that carbon dioxide tax has played a decisive role.
“In Sweden, we wouldn’t have burned a twig on a commercial basis had it not been for carbon dioxide taxes. Without this, the shift from oil to biomass fuels would never have happened.
“If we are to change the automotive sector, similar incentives and decisions must be made as well as goals for what must be done. This is what the government’s political objective – ‘A fossil-fuel independent vehicle fleet by 2013’ – is all about. Perhaps this target will not be fully met, but clear goals and adequate control measures will be required if we are to complete the journey.”
The technology for producing biofuel is advancing rapidly.
“Today, it’s not difficult to use biomass as a fuel; the energy sector does it all the time,” says Burman. “But 20-30 years ago, it was not so simple. It was certainly not possible to buy production-ready technology from a supplier. The rate of advancement in combustion technology has been phenomenal – just look at fluidized beds, for example.”
A prerequisite for the development of the technology is the construction of new facilities and that existing units remain in operation. Only then can the technological lead built up by fossil fuels be narrowed.
Kalle Lötberg