Utilization of Pipeline for Simultaneous Transportation and Processing of Biomass

生物质利用是减缓温室气体(GHG)国际努力的一个组成部分，目前还处于非常早期的阶段。生物质设施是示范项目和“真实”项目的混合体，通常规模较小，使用卡车运输来运送原料。根据路程的不同，运输成本可能高达原材料成本的50%。越来越明显的是，规模经济要求未来的生物炼油厂的规模必须接近石化设施；过去几年里，扩大规模的动力已经强烈地显现出来，包括在欧洲和美国的关键工作。大型生物炼油厂每天可能需要多达20,000吨生物质；使用管道运输和处理大量生物质正成为降低成本和道路拥堵的一个有吸引力的选择。 油砂泥浆管道输送是一项成熟的技术，但在生物质方面还没有得到应用。在管道中同时运输和加工生物质将降低从木质纤维生物质生产生物制品/乙醇的成本。能够对使用管道运输和加工生物质的这一概念进行设计和经济分析的关键参数尚未测量。这项研究的总体目标是实现大规模利用管道运输和加工生物质，其形式是切碎的农业生物质和水的浆液。该计划的关键项目是通过实验测量在生物质管道中添加酶对关键设计参数的影响，包括管道中生物质在输送过程中的破裂程度、随浆体浓度变化的流变性、沉降性(包括临界速度)、最大浓度、压降、在实验室规模的生物质浆液中添加酶的泵送特性。结果将被用来开发商业规模的放大模型。申请的研究经费将支持一个研究小组开展这项工作。

Biomass utilization, a component of international effort on greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, is in its very early stages. Biomass facilities are a mix of demonstration and "real" projects, and are typically on smaller scale, using truck transportation to deliver the feedstock. Depending on the distance traveled, transport costs could be as high as 50% of the cost of raw material. It is becoming evident that the economies of scale require the future biorefineries to be of a size approaching petrochemical facilities; the drive for larger scale has emerged strongly in the last few years, including critical work in Europe and the United States. Large biorefineries could require as much as 20,000 tonnes of biomass per day; transporting and processing bulk volumes of biomass using pipeline is becoming an attractive option to reduce cost and road congestion. Slurry pipeline transport is a well established technology in the oil sands, but it has not been applied to biomass. Simultaneous transportation and processing of biomass in the pipeline would reduce the cost of production of bioproducts/ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass. Critical parameters that would enable the design and economic analysis of this concept of use of pipeline for transportation and processing of biomass have not been measured. The overall goal of this research is aimed at enabling large scale utilization of pipeline for transportation and processing of biomass in the form of a slurry of chopped agricultural biomass and water. The key projects of this program, are to experimentally measure the impact of adding enzymes to the biomass pipeline on the critical design parameters, including extent of breakdown of biomass in the pipeline during transportation, rheological properties as a function of slurry concentration, settling properties (including critical velocities), maximum concentrations, pressure drops, pumping characteristics of adding of enzymes in a biomass slurry in a laboratory scale set-up. Results will be used to develop models for scale-up to commercial size. The requested research grant will support a research group to carry out this work.