Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI)

PARTICIPANT
PROFILE
Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) EERA Bioenergy
Sub Programme
Areas PSI can contribute to
Thermochemical
Fluidised bed methanation, Gas cleaning, Gas analytics,
Hydrothermal gasification, Hydrothermal liquefaction, Sulphur
analytics, Fluidised bed materials, Sulphur sorption materials,
In situ catalyst studies, Catalyst development, X-ray
spectroscopy
Algae Based
Biofuels
Hydrothermal gasification, Hydrothermal liquefaction, Nutrient
cycle
Stationary
Bioenergy
Methane from wood
The Bioenergy and Catalysis Laboratory (LBK) targets
the use of biomass feedstocks, including naturally
grown and mass-produced biomass, agriculture and
forestry residues, and organic-rich wastes. Biomass is
the most important renewable resource of Switzerland
after hydroelectricity. Thermochemical and catalytic
processes are developed for the clean and efficient
gasification of biomass from forestry and agricultural
residues.
energy production process based on biomass, the cogeneration of energy and chemicals seems to be a
highly attractive pathway, which will be further
developed in the laboratory.
Continued on next page
The hydrothermal gasification process,
developed in the Catalytic Process Engineering (CPE)
group, allows wet biomass, including purpose-grown
algae, to be processed efficiently to create synthetic
natural gas (SNG), providing a versatile renewable
fuel. The scale-up of this technology is well underway
via the spin-off company Hydromethan AG and
industrial partners, although many scientific questions
still remain to be answered. Due to the extremely tight
boundary conditions for an economically feasible
Figure 1: Mobile container for hydrothermal
gasification and methanation of wet biomass,
including algae, at different sites in Europe.
Figure 2: Pressurised pilot-scale fluidised bed
reactor for research on hydrodynamics,
demonstration of exothermic catalytic
reactions (such as methanation for production
of Synthetic Natural Gas from biomass) and to
obtain detailed data for model validation.
1 PARTICIPANT
PROFILE
Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) Energy from dry biomass
The Thermal Process Engineering (TPE) group is
focused on the conversion of abundant or waste
biomass (woody and dry herbaceous biomass) via the
conventional gasification process either into second
generation biofuels (synthetic natural gas (SNG)) or
electricity via high temperature fuel cells and gas
turbines.
System integration of gasification, gas processing and
the final conversion process is key to the successful
implementation of such technologies in the market.
New technologies have to compete with established
biomass-based technologies. Techno-economic
requirements for new technologies are therefore well
known and dictate in which directions technology
development has to go. More or less independent of
the conversion route, the following unit operations are
important: removal of particles and heavy metals,
treatment and/or removal of hydrocarbons, especially
tars, and treatment and/or removal of sulphur species.
In all research projects, a system engineering
approach is adopted. Material or process unit
development is driven by having a specific process
chain in mind. The investigated thermal processes are
operated with catalytic and non-catalytic materials. All
process units are therefore considered as chemical
reactors.
new materials and catalysts is only reasonable when
all material cycles are closed and if recycling and ecoefficiency are considered. These aspects are covered
by the Chemical Processes and Materials (CPM)
group. In the SunCHem project the group is
developing, together with academic and industrial
partners, a cycle process for the production of SNG
from algae, recycling all internal material streams.
Material characterization by X-ray
absorption spectroscopy at the Swiss
light source
Diagnostic tools for the analysis of process fluids and
materials are of central relevance to a scientific
approach to process development. To this end, the
Bioenergy and Catalysis Laboratory (LBK) operates
an X-ray absorption spectroscopy beamline at the
Swiss light source (SLS) of the Paul Scherrer Institute
(PSI). The SuperXAS beamline has been extensively
used for in situ studies of processes relevant to the
technology developments at the laboratory. The
beamline has developed over the last few years into a
centre for operando investigation of catalysts and
catalytic processes.
Catalysts for energy conversion
processes and clean exhaust gases
The development and investigation of advanced
materials, particularly catalysts, is considered as the
key for further progress in the field. The Catalysis for
Energy group (CEG) is working on catalyst
development for energy conversion processes with a
focus on exhaust gas catalysis.
Material cycles and efficient use of
resources
The development of either new chemical processes or
Figure 3: The superXAS beamline at the
synchrotron of the Paul Scherrer Institute is
dedicated to in situ investigations of catalysts
under process conditions.
CONTACT
Oliver Kröcher
E: [email protected] T: +41 56 310 20 66
W: www.psi.ch/psi-home
www.psi.ch/lbk/lbk
All photos courtesy of PSI. 2