Introduction, Objectives, Agenda Tim Cornitius, editor,
Zeus Syngas Refining Report
8:35 - 9:15 AM
Day 1 Keynote: CO2 / EOR System Improves Gasification Project Financing Clay Jones, director, Société Générale Uncertainty over proposed CO2 emissions regulations have caused gasification projects to be canceled or delayed. Having a defined and approved CO2 management plan that deals with the project’s expected CO2 emissions will help assure financial lenders that the project will be able to meet future US federal laws, which are expected to significantly curtail CO2 emissions.
9:15 - 9:45 AM
Synthetic Fuels: An Environmentally Responsible Bridge to a Sustainable Carbon Neutral Energy Future Stephen F. Johnson, president & chief executive officer, American Clean Coal Fuels Stephen will discuss the role of synthetic fuels in the gradual transition from oil to sustainable transportation fuels. Using lessons learned in the development of ACCF’s 30,000 BPD Illinois Clean Fuels project, Stephen will discuss some of the potential pitfalls and opportunities presented by the development of this industry, and will lay out a realistic path for a scalable and environmentally responsible implementation of a large synthetic fuels production industry in the US. Stephen will discuss various feedstocks and some of the logistical realities of implementing synfuels projects in a manner that balances bankability with environmental considerations and a large reduction or elimination in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions.
9:45 - 10:15 AM
Developing Smaller, $50 Million, 12-Million - GPY Facilities
Michael Jackson, chief executive officer, Syntec Biofuels Syntec Biofuel is a creative renewable energy company that is developing and commercializing proprietary second-generation biofuel technology and processes to convert waste cellulosic biomass into ethanol and other high-value alcohols.
The company’s unique Biomass-to-Alcohols (B2A) thermo-chemical process can utilize virtually any organic feedstock, such as woodchips, corn stover, sugar bagasse, wheat straw and so forth, to produce highly sustainable and renewable fuel. Michael Jackson, president and chairman, Syntec Biofuels, declared that the traditional ethanol industry needs a technology lifeline thrown to it now that corn prices have triggered major plant closures and delays.
"Corn prices have killed any prospect that most of those using fermentation processes with grain feedstock can produce ethanol cost effectively. That's why we are seeing a surge in interest in non-food feedstock thermo-chemical processes using waste biomass such as wood chips, corn stover and sugarcane bagasse for ethanol. "For years, nearly 100% of the ethanol industry’s attention has been focused on fermentation processes. These processes were always vulnerable to the price of corn, but no one thought prices would skyrocket to these levels so soon, if at all. "This left highly viable thermo-chemical processes, such as Syntecs' and Range Fuels, out in the left field up until recently,” continued Jackson. “We are prepared to throw the industry a lifeline and offer a free license to use Syntec's thermo-chemical catalysts, which is moving towards commercialization, to convert corn stove, or other cellulosic waste biomasses, into ethanol and other alcohols."
Syntec's business model is developing smaller $50 million, 12-million-gpy facilities that generate about $28 million revenue and EBITDA of about $17 million. Syntec will earn royalty fees of about $900,000 per year from each licensee.
10:15 - 10: 45 AM
Break
10:45 - 11:15 AM
Plasma Gasification - A Diverse Solution
Amanda Burdick, process engineer, Alter NRG Instability in world commodity markets coupled with increasing demand to reduce our environmental footprint has lead to a resurgence of interest in gasification technology. Plasma gasification represents a clean, efficient, and proven option for converting a variety of feedstock's including, but not limited to, coal, biomass, petcoke, municipal solid waste, tires, and hazardous waste into a synthesis gas that can be used for power generation, steam, hydrogen or liquids recovery.
Plasma gasification technology is capable of operating with a wide range of feedstock and produces emissions that are far below the most stringent regulatory requirements in North America.
This presentation deals with the versatility of the plasma gasifier by showing how various feedstock's can be processed into high value products. The capabilities of the plasma gasifier are limited only by the abilities of the feed system, and can handle such diverse feeds as MSW and all other forms of waste, virtually all types of coal, petroleum coke and biomass. The gasification island can take these feeds and transform them into a clean, quality syngas. The result is a clean energy solution to reduce our environmental footprint on this earth.
11:15 - 11:45 AM
Coskata and the Next Generation of Bio-fuel
Bill Roe, president & cheif executive officer, Coskata Inc. Coskata, a technology company based in Warrenville, Illinois, has developed and is commercializing new technology for the production of fuel-grade ethanol from non-food-based feed stocks. The process utilizes gasification in the first step, which facilitates the use of a wide variety of feed stocks including cellulosic biomass (wood chips, agricultural waste, new energy crops, woody construction debris, etc.), as well as waste paper, municipal solid waste, coal or coke, and even old tires. Many of these feed stocks are cost-advantaged, and that combined with the overall efficiency of the Coskata process will allow the production of ethanol at a marginal cost of less than one dollar per gallon.
The Coskata process converts syngas to ethanol using a biological catalyst. Unlike other catalytic approaches (i.e., Fischer-Tropsch) which require more narrow syngas compositional ranges, the microbes developed for the Coskata process are able to deal with a wide range of ratios of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. This again allows for feed stock flexibility, as well as the potential for using various gasification technologies. The optimal gasification technologies for the process are those that destroy tars, minimize methane formation, and function with a very high cold gas efficiency. The plasma gasification platform is one which offers many advantages in the Coskata Process.
11:45 - 12:15 PM
Designing Gasification Ammonia, Methanol, SNG, and FT Transportation Fuels George Gruber, gasification technology manager, Black & Veatch
12:15 - 1:15 PM
Lunch
1:15 - 1:50 PM
Emery’s Technology Development Activities in both Biomass and Coal Gasification Ben Phillips, president, Emery Energy Company
Emery Energy Company has been developing new gasification technology systems since the late 1990’s. Since that time, they have received funding from both U.S. DOE and U.S. EPA for both biomass (and waste) and coal feedstocks. Emery recently received new funding from U.S. DOE for new syngas cleaning systems for catalysis grade syngas production. Emery is now actively pursuing commercialization of its technology for biomass for heat, power and liquid fuel applications, via a new business venture called Radian Bioenergy. Concurrently, Emery is also developing a new coal gasifier designed for lower rank coals with funding from both U.S. DOE and the State of Wyoming. This coal gasification activity will initially be aimed at testing the technology on Wyoming sub-bituminous coals, but will also include testing of other coal types and coal/biomass blends.
1:50 - 2:25 PM
Demonstrating, Commercializing Innovative Technologies
Bruce Folkedahl, senior research manager, EERC The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) is recognized as one of the world's leading developers of cleaner, more efficient energy and environmental technologies to protect and clean our air, water, and soil.
The EERC is a high-tech, nonprofit branch of the University of North Dakota (UND). The EERC operates like a business; conducts R&D, demonstration, and commercialization activities; and is dedicated to moving promising technologies out of the lab and into the commercial marketplace.
The EERC provides practical, cost-effective solutions to today's most critical energy and environmental issues and challenges. The EERC's research portfolio consists of a wide array of strategic energy and environmental solutions, including clean-coal technologies, CO2 sequestration, energy and water sustainability, H2 technologies, mercury measurement and control, alternative fuels, biomass, global climate change, waste utilization and energy-efficient technologies.
The EERC has a very unique culture that distinctly sets it apart as one of the premier research centers in the world and makes it a unique professional partner. The EERC pursues an entrepreneurial, market-driven approach to R&D to demonstrate and commercialize innovative technologies.
For the past 20 years, the EERC has mastered the art of leveraging and enhancing federal research dollars by developing working partnerships with private industry, state agencies, the research community, academic institutions, and government agencies from all over the globe.
The cornerstone of the EERC's very successful culture is its commitment to providing practical, entrepreneurial people with the freedom to pursue strategic research focused on critical global energy and environmental issues.This is also the cornerstone and foundation for the EERC's success in technology commercialization.
EERC's business partners range in size from corporations to regional utilities to small local businesses. The EERC's government partners include not only federal agencies such as US DOE, US EPA, US DOD, and USDA, but also state and local government entities.
2:25 - 3:00 PM
Gasification Technologies Development/ Demonstration: Where in North America?
Dzung Nguyen, senior advisor, Alberta Energy Research Institute The Alberta Energy Research Institute, as the energy technology arm of the Alberta Government, has been involved in the past few years on an aggressive government/industry program to help assess and/or accelerate the applicability of a number of gasification technologies that can handle specific feedstock or poly-generation features. Dzung will review recent projects ranging from evaluation of performance and economics to pilot plant trials of a number of advanced gasification technologies.
Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) has also been identified as an advanced technology that would provide both an economic and strategic advantage when integrated with CCS. An integrated UCG/CCS operation offers both ready access to nearby saline formations and highly permeable spent UCG production zones. Features of a currently engineered UCG field demonstration pilot in Alberta will be highlighted to illustrate the strategic advantages of UCG/CCS integration.
3:00 - 3:30 PM
Break
3:30 - 4:15 PM
Cost Estimates in Today’s Uncertain Capital Project Market James F. Davis ,director of midstream services, SNC-Lavalin Project developers face an array of choices when they seek to obtain a capital cost estimate for a gasification project from an EPC firm. Quite often, the estimate must support a highly leveraged, complex financing package for a multi-billion dollar project. The developer’s task is made even more difficult by the recent rapid cost increases for equipment and labor and the uncertainty in equipment lead time. The developer’s desire for a short front-end schedule at the lowest cost is often at odds with the lender’s need for a firm price based upon detailed engineering and material quantification. With some understanding of the underlying causes of the lack of predictability in the capital project market, this presentation offers some explanations of this turmoil and some alternatives for project financing. Three categories of project cost estimates commonly performed by EPC firms are discussed with the associated deliverables required to support those estimates, typical completion time, expected estimate accuracy and relative engineering costs.
4:15 - 5:00 PM
Process Development, Demonstration and Scale-up at the C2L Development Center
John Rezaiyan, senior technology advisor, SRI Southern Research Institute is supporting the development and demonstration of next generation technologies that produce biofuels and other bio-products at its Carbon-to-Liquids (C2L) Development Center. The C2L Center is an energy laboratory that helps private and government clients develop and commercialize their advanced energy technologies and integrate them with value-added technologies. This is accomplished by supporting the design, fabrication, construction, operation, and optimization of pre-commercial pilot plants and process development units. With an initial focus on thermochemical processes that use biomass and waste feedstock, the Center currently hosts several unique gasifiers, syngas conversion systems (FT and alcohols), product upgraders, syngas cleanup systems, and other related technologies. Mr. Piccot will describe the development process typically used at the Center and highlight specific processes that are moving toward commercialization at the Center. Technical challenges faced by thermochemical processes using biological-based feed materials, and the advantages and disadvantages of these process, will be compared to other biofuels routes.
5:00 PM
Wrapup Tim Cornitius, editor, Zeus
Syngas Refining Report
5:00 - 6:00 PM
Reception
Day
2: Thursday, November 6, 2008
7:45 - 8:10 AM
Continental Breakfast
8:10 - 8:15 AM
Second Day Introduction Alex Cornitius, news editor, Zeus Syngas Refining Report
8:15
- 8:45 AM
The Need for SNG Production in the US
Chris Buehler, senior managing engineer, Exponent
8:45- 9:30 AM
HydroMax: Next Generation Gasification Technology for Multiple Applications
Phillip Brown, president & chief executive officer, Diversified Energy Diversified Energy Corporation is advancing the development of a breakthrough gasification approach, called HydroMax that leverages decades of molten metal technology experience to provide a low cost and highly efficient carbon conversion technology with a wide range of uses and applications. Under the direction of Diversified Energy, HydroMax has received four development contracts from several government agencies including the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the State of California. Most recently, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Diversified Energy a Phase II SBIR contract to build a commercial-like HydroMax system design that incorporates all of the necessary features (slag management, self-heating, feedstock management, etc.) for a commercial system and the test program will include performance assessments for coal and coal/biomass feedstock blends. The focus of the Advanced Gasification Systems presentation will be on the HydroMax technology, test results to date, contracts underway, and the path to commercialization.
9:30- 10:00 AM
MaxWest Selected to Gasify Florida Waste Sludge Richard Heien, president, MaxWest Environmental Systems Sanford, FL will be the first municipality in North America to adopt the MaxWest gasification system as an efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to dispose of bio solids. MaxWest Environmental Systems developed the gasification system that converts sludge from the municipal wastewater treatment system into renewable, green energy.
MaxWest will typically build facilities at wastewater treatment plant sites, capturing the energy from organic sludge. Bio solids will be gasified in the enclosed primary gasifier to produce syngas that will be oxidized in an enclosed thermal oxidizer to produce renewable thermal energy.
For Sanford, the thermal energy will replace natural gas to power a new dryer. MaxWest is also in discussions with other municipalities and industries around the United States, and Canada.
In larger systems, sufficient thermal energy may be produced to generate renewable, or green power. The renewable thermal energy may also be used to improve performance of the wastewater treatment plant. The Sanford site will serve as a showcase to demonstrate to other municipalities the way this proven technology has been applied in this innovative and yet effective way.
Traditional disposal methods for biosolids are becoming more expensive, publicly unacceptable and potentially harmful to the environment," said Richard Heien, president of MaxWest. "Leading municipal utilities are searching for a low cost environmentally friendly solution for biosolids disposal. Our system provides that solution. It eliminates costly transportation and potential air and water pollution related to the current disposal practices, landfill disposal, or spreading it on open ground.
The MaxWest system will be entitled to credits for using an alternative to fossil fuels and it works well with animal, wood, and crop wastes and other forms of carbon-based waste like plastic, making renewable green energy from disposal problems. MaxWest systems are presently operating at facilities converting wood, chicken and mixed wastes.
10:00- 10:30 AM
Break
10:30
- 11:00 AM
The Commercialization of Steam Hydrogasfication Technology
Jim Guthrie, president, Viresco Energy LLC Viresco Energy, LLC (“Viresco”) is a limited liability company with offices in Riverside, California. The Company’s objective is to become a global leader in the technology, production, and marketing of clean, renewable fuels and electricity derived from carbon-containing materials, such as biomass, biosolids, agricultural wastes, municipal waste and coal. Viresco has the exclusive global option to license and commercialize a revolutionary thermal-chemical process developed by the University of California at Riverside (12 patents have been awarded or filed.) This technology employs a proprietary hydrogasification process to convert a wide variety of carbon-containing materials into a synthesis gas at high efficiency and low cost for production of synthetic fuels and electricity generation. Our initial focus is clean synthetic diesel fuel. The next stage in the commercialization process is to design and build a pilot facility. A technical team consisting of several engineering firms, USDOE, and UC Riverside has been formed to assist Viresco in this process. The USDOE has just completed a favorable independent assessment of the technology. This talk will provide an overview of the technology, the status of the efforts to design and build the pilot plant and plans for commercialization.
11:00 - 11:30 AM
Producing Commodity Chemicals Using InEnTec Plasma Arc Technology Bill Quapp, vice president of project development , InEnTec Management of chemical residuals from refineries and chemical plants is generally performed under rules promulgated by the USEPA for hazardous wastes and known as RCRA. These rules are implemented and enforced in Texas by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Other states have similar regulatory structure. The primary focus of these rules is safe storage and transport followed by timely and complete destruction of the residuals (or wastes) to eliminate environmental risks.
However, if the residuals can be used to make a product, both the USEPA and the TCEQ rules allow the residual materials to be used for manufacturing the product and, under certain conditions, those residuals are no longer considered wastes (40CFR261.2).
InEnTec Chemical LLC is a newly formed joint venture between InEnTec LLC (previously doing business as Integrated Environmental Technologies LLC) and Lakeside Energy LLC. InEnTec LLC has developed the Plasma Enhanced Melter™ (PEM™) system for the conversion of chemical residuals into products via steam reforming gasification. The system has been deployed commercially in the US and Asia for the conversion of feedstock materials into syngas and the production of electric power. The first project for the chemical industry in the US will be located at Dow Corning’s facility in Midland Michigan.
This presentation will describe the technology and further discuss the benefits of using the technology to produce commodity chemicals such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrochloric acid and other valuable products.
11:30 -12:00 PM
Recent Developments in Modularized Air-Blown Coal Gasification Systems for Mid-Sized Coal Gasification David Wakefield, president & chief executive officer, Econo-Power International Corporation (EPIC) Most of the current publicized attention on gasification is focused on relatively large scale applications for either power generation or for the production of syngas for use as a feedstock in the production of either liquid fuels or other chemical products. These applications typically use oxygen blown gasification with the attendant requirement to include an air separation system in the overall plant design. EPIC’s development of the two-stage, fixed-bed, air-blown gasification systems make this approach very attractive for smaller, industrial scale applications by excluding an air separation plant which drives operating costs and parasitic loads to uneconomic levels. The nature of the two-stage gasifier also allows easy segregation of the two gas streams exiting the gasifier which may offer significant syngas and fuel gas benefit for chemical processes. This presentation will review EPIC’s carbon strategy and discuss various aspects of systems in other applications.
