Upgrading woody biomass to biocoal using a novel microwave induced plasma technology

真实的需要使能源生产去碳化，以便各国政府履行其义务，减少化石燃料产生的碳排放，并实现可再生能源发电的目标。使用可持续的木材作为燃料是减少与能源生产有关的二氧化碳排放量的方法之一;然而，木材具有高含水量、低能量密度，具有可变的燃烧特性，并且在改造现有的发电设备以用于共烧时产生相当大的成本。因此，发电商越来越多地将烘焙作为一种提升木质生物质以产生能量密集和可再生的“生物煤”的方法，但技术发展受到工程问题和经济问题的阻碍。该提案的主要目的有两个方面：提高和评估使用新型微波诱导等离子体（MIP）技术制造生物煤的技术经济性;以及使用系统方法来确定MIP技术在生物质供应链中的最佳位置和规模，以便实现生物煤的好处。

There is a real need to de-carbonise energy production in order that Governments meet their obligations toreduce fossil fuel derived carbon emissions and to meet renewable energy generation targets. Usingsustainable sources of wood as a fuel is one such method of reducing the CO2 emissions associated with energyproduction; however, wood has a high moisture content, low energy density, has variable combustionproperties and there are considerable costs incurred in modifying existing power plants for co-firing.Consequently, power producers are looking increasingly to torrefaction as a method of upgrading woodybiomass to produce energy dense and renewable "biocoal", but technology development has been hamperedby engineering problems and economic issues. The main aim of this proposal is two-fold: to enhance and assessthe techno-economics of using novel microwave induced plasma (MIP) technology to make biocoal; and to usea systems approach to identify the optimum position and scale of the MIP technology within the biomasssupply chain so that the benefits of biocoal can be realised.