Biomass methanol production from

Dong, Y. Steinberg, M., Hynol—an economical process for methanol production from biomass and natural gas with reduced C02 emission. In 10th World Hydrogen Energy Conference, Block, D. L., Veziroglu, T. N. Eds., Beach, Florida, June 20-24,1994, pp. 495-504. 

The mixture on the left-hand side of (2.25) is called "synthesis gas". More details on the methanol production from biomass may be foimd in Sorensen (2004a). 

Borgwardt, R. (1998). Methanol production from biomass and natural gas as transportation fuel. Industrial Eng. Chem. Res. 37,3760-3767. 

Fig. I Schematic flow of methanol production from biomass.

If methanol from biomass was used as a substitute for oil (33 quads) in the United States, about 1000 million hectare of forest land per year would be needed to supply the raw material. This land area is much greater than the 162 million ha of United States cropland now in production. Although methanol production from biomass may be impractical because of the enormous size of the conversion plants, it is significantly more efficient than ethanol production using corn based on energy output and economic use of cropland. 

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF ETHANOL AND METHANOL PRODUCTION FROM BIOMASS HANS EGNEUS... 

In principle biomass is a useful fuel for fuel cells many of the technologies discussed above for using biomass as a fuel produce either methane or hydrogen directly and as highlighted below synthesis gas production from biomass for conversion to methanol is an attractive option. Cellulose-based material may be converted to a mixture of hydrogen (70% hydrogen content recovered), CO2 and methane by high-temperature treatment with a nickel catalyst. 

Hydrogen Production from Biomass-Derived Methanol.213... 

Investments. Several studies have been published, evaluating the investment costs of methanol production from coal, lignite and biomass. The set of values have been selected as shown in Table IV ... 

As outlined above, biomass feedstock can also be employed for the production of syngas and, thus, methanol produced from biomass-derived syngas and fuels obtained through processing of biomass-based methanol can be considered as typical biofuels. Blends with petrol containing up to 20% of methanol can be used in combustion engines without elaborate modifications. However, the comparatively low energy density and safety concerns have limited so far broad applications of methanol as fuel. Another option is the use... 

Ethanol production from biomass and Methanol production via gasification of biomass... 

Hamelinck, C. Faaij, A. P. C., Future prospects for production of methanol and hydrogen from biomass. Journal of Power Sources 2002,111(1), 1-22. 

Larson, E. D. Katofsky, R. E., Production of Methanol and Hydrogen from Biomass. Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 1992. 

Methanol and ethanol are alcohol fuels that can be produced from various renewable sources. Alcohol fuels are converted from biomass or other feedstocks using one or several conversion techniques. Both government and private research programs are finding more effective, less costly methods of converting biomass to alcohol fuels. Methanol was originally a by-product of charcoal production, but today it is primarily produced from natural gas and can also be made from biomass and coal. 

When methanol is made from natural gas, the gas reacts with steam to produce synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This then reacts with a catalytic substance at high temperatures and pressures to produce methanol. The process is similar when methanol is produced by the gasification of biomass. The production of methanol from biomass or coal can cost almost twice as much as production from natural gas. 

Considering the full production cycle, methanol from biomass emits less carbon dioxide than ethanol from biomass. This is because short rotation forestry, the feedstocks of methanol, requires the use of less fertilizer... 

Depending on the reason for converting the produced gas from biomass gasification into synthesis gas, for applications requiring different H2/CO ratios, the reformed gas may be ducted to the water-gas shift (WGS, Reaction 4) and preferential oxidation (PROX, Reaction 5) unit to obtain the H2 purity required for fuel cells, or directly to applications requiring a H2/CO ratio close to 2, i.e., the production of dimethyl ether (DME), methanol, Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) Diesel (Reaction 6) (Fig. 7.6). 

Methanol can be produced from biomass, essentially any primary energy somce. Thus, the choice of fuel in the transportation sector is to some extent determined by the availability of biomass. As regards to the difference between hydrogen and methanol production costs, conversion of natural gas, biomass and coal into hydrogen is generally more energy efficient and less expensive than the conversion into methanol. 

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