Integration of Pipeline Hydro-Transport of Forest Biomass with Hydrothermal Conversion Technologies for the Production of Fuel and Power

加拿大拥有巨大的森林生物质资源潜力。加拿大在处理资源和从森林生物量生产能源方面也有广泛的专门知识和大型基础设施。早期的研究表明，如果克服了运输生物质和转化为增值产品的技术挑战，生物燃料的生产在经济上可能具有吸引力。用管道水运（以生物质-水混合物-浆料的形式运输）取代昂贵的卡车运输生物质将大大解决生物质运输问题。管道水运生物质具有规模经济和持续供应的优势，也有助于生物能源设施实现具有吸引力的规模。将生物质管道输送与高效热液生物质处理技术相结合，可以改变生物经济，有助于以更低的成本和更低的温室气体（GHG）排放发电。这项研究的总体目标是发展和评估将木屑管道运输与高温液化和高温气化相结合以生产燃料和电力的概念。这是一个变革性的概念，也是首创的概念。这个项目将涉及实验工作、过程模拟和成本建模。这项研究将包括测量与高温技术特别兼容的木屑-水混合物的物理和机械特性，并将取得超越最先进技术的重大进展。实验研究结果将为生物质高温转化为生物油和合成气的模拟模型提供输入。最后，实验和模拟工作的结果将用于了解该技术的潜力。该研究项目将整合代表整个生物质价值链的利益相关者，包括生物质生产商和供应商、生物质转化部门、生物燃料利用部门、生物质政策智库和学术界。该项目旨在培养能够为加拿大经济做出重大贡献的高素质人才。

Canada has a vast forest biomass resource potential. There also exist extensive expertise and large infrastructure in Canada for handling resources and producing energy from forest biomass. Earlier studies have indicated that production of biofuels could be economically attractive if the technical challenges of transporting biomass and converting into value-added products are overcome. Replacing costly truck delivery of biomass with pipeline hydro-transport (transporting in the form of biomass-water mixtures - slurry) would significantly resolve the biomass transportation issue. Pipeline hydro-transport of biomass benefits from the economy of scale and continuous supply, also helps bio-based energy facilities achieve an attractive scale. Integrating pipeline delivery of biomass with efficient hydrothermal (HT) biomass processing technology could transform the bioeconomy and help producing power at a significantly lower cost and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The overall objective of this research is to develop and assess the concept of integrating wood chip pipeline transport with HT liquefaction and HT gasification for production of fuel and power. This is a transformative concept and first-of-its-kind. This project would involve experimental work, process simulation, and cost modeling. The research would include measuring the physical and mechanical properties of wood chip-water mixtures that are specifically compatible to HT technologies and would result in significant progress beyond the-state-of-the-art. The results of the experimental research would provide input to simulation model for the HT conversion of biomass into bio-oil and syngas. Finally, the results of the experimental and simulation work would be used in understanding the potential of this technology. This research program would integrate stakeholders representing the whole biomass value chain including biomass producer and supplier, biomass conversion sector, biofuel utilization sector, biomass policy think-tank and academia. The project aims at training 7 highly qualified personnel who could contribute significantly to Canadian economy.