Biomass has the potential to make a significant contribution to the UK’s energy supply. In 2008, renewable energy technologies accounted for just 5% of electricity generation in the UK, of which biomass contributed almost half.
Gasification is just one option for the greater use of biomass but, as yet, there are few plants using syngas worldwide. A recent market study estimated that by 2020 biomass gasification could be used to generate 133 TWh/year of electricity and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by over 106 million tonnes (based on 800g CO2/kW.hr grid generation).
Despite the efficiency gains demonstrated on the SGT-400, the commercial viability of a syngas-fuelled, gas-turbine-based power plant is still questionable, due to the high capital investments required and the need to compress the relatively large volumes of syngas. This situation may change if the conversion technologies associated with syngas move into maturity (ie providing cheaper plant and pressurised syngas).
Improvements, such as the compressor design, have already been applied to two turbines produced by Siemens, with predicted improvement in compressor efficiency realised, allowing reduced fuel consumption with associated saving in CO2 production.
Using syngas to fuel the proliferation of highly efficient gas-turbine-powered combined heat and power plants could contribute significantly to the Government’s CO2 reduction target.