Master INTEREE: International Master in Renewable Energies and Energy

Efficiency

Biomass pyrolysis: technologies and experiences in France

Team members:

Cynthia AU FONG SINE

Ikbale INANE
Yara SAAD
Gerardo PEÑA ZAMBRANO
Camille FERNANDES
Kenia CERQUEIRA SANTOS
Ana Gabriela ZAMUDIO VALDÉS

Teachers:
Dr. Hernández
Dr. Lapuerta
Dr. Monedero

January_17_, 2022 Cretéil, France

 INDEX

Introduction 3

I. Advantages and drawbacks of having a pyrolysis system 4

II. The different types of pyrolysis used 5

III. Description of the working principles (reactions) 8

IV. Technologies and experiences of biomass by bio pyrolysis in France 10

Conclusion 14

Bibliography 15

2
Introduction

Biomass can be used in different ways as a source of energy and a feedstock for
chemical production. Several processes have been studied and others have recent
developments to allow the use of biomass. For example, different processes such as
thermochemical , chemical, biochemical and biological. However, for this research we are
focusing on the thermochemical process in particular: pyrolysis (1).

Biomass pyrolysis is the main thermal decomposition process of biomass. This

technique is done without oxygen. It’s an endothermic process. The result of this pyrolysis can
be gas, bio-oil and bio-coal. It depends on the reactor condition, on the temperature, on the
pressure, and the residence time of fuel inside the reactor.

Pyrolysis of biomass is a process with more and more use, that’s why our research will
start with a question: Where is the progress of Biomass Pyrolysis in France?

The answer to this question will be explained by the following points:

1. The advantages and drawbacks of Bio pyrolysis technology
2. The different types of pyrolysis used for process biomass
3. The working principles
4. Technologies and experiences of bio pyrolysis carried out by different French companies

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 I. Advantages and drawbacks of having a pyrolysis system

Advantages:

- Pyrolysis has both economical and environmental advantages.

- Starting from the environmental potential it’s a renewable resource through a carbon
neutral route.
- Taking in consideration the economic potential, pyrolysis can use the waste materials
such as lumber processing waste (for example: barks, sawdust, forest thinnings, etc…),
agricultural residues (like straws, manure, etc.). It’s also a self-sustaining energy.
- If we put both environmental and economical potentials together by pyrolysis we can
convert low energy in biomass into high energy, density liquid fuels and not only that but
it has potential to produce chemicals from bio-based resources
- Pyrolysis of waste produces less fumes ( the air deficit in the reaction generates less
fumes to be treated) and thus offers the possibility of saving on treatment equipment.
- The pyrolysis process is endothermic but it can easily become autothermic and have a
positive energy balance due to the combustion of pyrolysis gasses to feed the process.
- Pyrolysis allows the in-situ concentration of waste energy in coke ( for the slow pyrolysis)
or in pyrolysis oils (for the fast pyrolysis), thus facilitating its storage ( as fuel and no
longer as waste) and it’s transport for a subsequent use and/or different site; this has the
advantage of overcoming the constraints related to the storage of waste and those
related to their transport cost.
- This technique is less complex for the waste than gasification

Drawbacks:

- When using the pyrolysis process, the waste must first be pre-treated. The waste must
first be dried and crushed.
- One of the main disadvantages of pyrolysis technology is reflected by the waste
pyrolysis plant. You need to be especially careful to choose the right supplier if not you
will have air and soil produced by unqualified waste plastic pyrolysis plants.
- If there is air in the reactor, it can cause an explosion.
- On a global scale, this method is little used.
- This technology needs too much electricity. Sometimes, the electricity product by the
pyrolyse product is less important than the electricity it consumes
- For the pyrolysis of waste, the contamination of the various products by heavy metals
and other toxic products must be considered.
- Compared to burying, this technique is expensive

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 II. The different types of pyrolysis used

There are different types of pyrolysis. In fact, depending on the conditions such as
temperature pressure etc, the types of pyrolysis are different. It’s also important to know that the
product of the different types of pyrolysis is different too. There are four different types of
pyrolysis: the torrefaction, the slow pyrolysis, the fast pyrolysis and the flash pyrolysis.

Torrefaction:

The condition of torrefaction is a slow heating rate. The temperatures rise to 200°-320°C.
The result of this process is solid: bio coal. When we heat the biomass at this low temperature,
we are releasing the volatile components and the result will be solid, it will be coal without
volatile components.
The objective of this process is biomass carbonization. When the biomass is roasted, it
becomes hydrophobic. The biomass becomes crumbly because it has a high grindability rate, it
produces less fumes during its combustion, its resistance against bacteriological attacks is
higher, it has more uniform properties and finally , its logistics, handling and storage are easier.

What’s torrefaction ?
The process involves heating up wood or other biomass to remove moisture and low
energy volatiles, increasing the energy density of the biomass.

How does it work ?

Step 1 : Collection of wood chips to be processed for fuel

usage. Or in other words : receiving and storage. Wood
chips are collected and stored to be used as biomass fuel.

Step 2 :
Drying : The wood chips are dried using a closed loop belt
dryer.

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Step 3 :
Torrefaction : the wood chips are heated using
microwave technology, they are heated about 200°C to
320°C (390° to 610° Fahrenheit), so this creates a
charcoal-like substance.

Step 4 :
Grinding and pelletizing : the product is now ground up
and made into pellets that produces up to 10% more
energy than wood (loses about 20% of its original mass,
but retains 90% of its energy)

Process Overview :

6
Slow Pyrolysis:

For the slow pyrolysis the conditions are the following: slow heating rate 10°C/s up to
400-500°C and long process time 5-30 minutes and even hours.
The objective of this type of pyrolysis is to obtain bio-oil (tars), gasses and biochar for thermal
energy ( used in boilers) and for electrical energy (used in ICEs).
The bio-oil isn’t really bio-oil in fact, if you cool down the gas coming from the reactor of the
pyrolysis, you could condense some of the high molecular weight hydrocarbons and the liquid
we obtain is really not good, is a liquid which is not suitable to be use for ICEs or boilers. For
using this liquid we should filter and blend it with other high quality fuel.

Fast Pyrolysis:

A very high heating rate, 100°C/s and short residence time ( typically < 2s),
temperatures up to 400-650°C and rapid quenching of the products are the necessary
conditions for fast pyrolysis. With these conditions we can obtain among the three products by
pyrolysis: bio-solid, liquid and gas, maximize the liquid production, and the bio-oil. It’s the way to
produce bio-liquid from lignocellulose biomass from wood, for example. The objective of this
process is condensation of intermediate liquids before cracking in order to have higher bio-oil
yield, up to 60% and obtain bio-liquids from lignocellulosic biomass.

Flash Pyrolysis:

The conditions of flash Pyrolysis are: a very high heating rate ( > 500°C/s), very high
temperatures ( 700-1000°C) and a very short residence time ( <0,5 s) of biomass into the
reactor.
The high temperature and the very high heating rates allows the cracking of the high molecular
weight hydrocarbons released from the biomass and these hydrocarbons will be converted into
very light species like CO or hydrogen.
To this extent, the purpose of the flash pyrolysis is to produce CO and hydrogen from solid
biomass.
If you want to increase the production of gas with flash pyrolysis you need very short residence
time, very high heating rate and very high temperatures.

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 III. Description of the working principles (reactions)

The animation illustrates the process of fast pyrolysis which takes the bio-oil as an
example of the final product. It includes pretreatment, pyrolysis reaction, char collection,
quenching system, and bio-oil storage.

The first step is the pre-treatment of the biomass :

The efficiency and the nature of the product depend on the particle size and the moisture
content of these stalks. The high moisture waste streams require drying and fill stock has to be
reduced before being used for pyrolysis.

The second step is the pyrolysis :

The pre-heated biomass is introduced into the pyrolysis reactor which contain the
airlock to keep oxygen and unwanted air out of the reactor; the combustor pre-heats the
process reactor and hits the biomass indirectly.
In general, pyrolysis of organic substances produces the gas and sometimes liquid products
and leaves the solid residue richer in the carbon contents chart.
Pyrolysis process differs from other high temperature processes like combustion and hydrolysis.
It usually doesn’t involve reactions with oxygen, water or any other reagents.

8
The next step is char collection :
In this step the raw gasses are introduced into a cyclone separator to remove char The
purified gasses are then quenched with cold water .
In this step, after the quenching, water quickly cools down the gasses and the bio-oil condenses
and a deposit at the bottom and the non condensable gasses are recycled to the combustor.

Finally :
The production of bio oil is stored in an oil tank for further transportation and storage as
mentioned below.

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 IV. Technologies and experiences of biomass by bio pyrolysis in France

Technologies using biomass in France

● Biomass through direct combustion:

With this technology, the fuel (mainly wood, waste from the wood processing industry, or
waste from agricultural plants) can be used as a heating system that can generate heat or
generate electricity at different times (it’s a combination between the heat and power). It has
many environmental benefits. As an example, Dalkia, a subsidiary of the EDF Group, is one of
the main operators of wood-fired power plants in France.

● Biomass through methanisation:

Organic waste (produced from household waste, sewage sludge, agricultural
wastewater, etc.) is initially transformed into biogas through biological decomposition. The
biogas is then burned to produce heat and electricity. Within the EDF Group, Dalkia Biogaz is a
subsidiary in charge of developing the agricultural, industrial and tertiary biogas sectors.

● Biomass through power plant: an exemplary partnership between the Métropole of

Lyon, ADEME and Dalkia.
Initially, the wood-gas cogeneration plant was planned in Lyon , but the project was
replaced by the connection between Lyon Confluence and Lyon’s district heating system and
the construction of a large biomass plant outside Lyon. The biomass plant was commissioned
on April 11. Has a total biomass capacity of 51 MW, the largest biomass capacity in France. It
was built by Dalkia, the EDF subsidiary that operates the Lyon heating network. They use
household wood waste from the forestry industry within a 90 km radius of the plant.

Example of a model using biomass technologies :

The objective of the study is to evaluate the potential of biomass energy recovery in
France by 2050 and to show how to use biofuel technology. To achieve this objective, they
developed a detailed MARKAL / TIMES model of biomass use as an energy carrier in France.
This model allows the creation of a detailed quantitative inventory of biomass energy. Thus, the
RES2020 project studied biomass in the context of the European Union’s renewable energy
strategy for 2020.

MARKAL/TIMES methodology :
This model is an energy/economic/environmental tool developed by Energy. A program
for the analysis of technical systems.

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Experiences of bio pyrolysis applications in France

France’s energetic passing into the European Union’s transition to net-zero carbon
emissions by 2050 and the anti-waste and circular economy French law have impulse projects
which were started and developed several years before. There have been engineering stages
with pilot models and more actually, some of them are emerging as technologies as the
following ten projects:

A. The Gaya – Saint Fons experimental platform project.

B. The Plain of Ain industrial Park’s Energy Project.

C. The Ile-de-France region (Paris Region) Project of Cometha.

D. The ETIA’s piloting project of the commune of Compiège.

E. The R-Hynoca’s piloting project of Strasbourg.

F. The Titan V piloting project of Nantes.

G. The Atemax’s plant of Saint Langis-Lès-Mortagne.

H. The Synnov waste plant in the commune of Villers-sous-Montrond.

I. The WOOD-HY project consists of 27 communes of the department of Landes.

J. The Kerval Center in Saint Brieuc Armor city.

A. The Gaya – Saint Fons experimental platform project.

The Gaya project was launched in 2010 on the initiative of 11 partners from the
industrial, institutional, and academic sectors in France and Europe. It aims to approve
innovative technology of production of biomethane from dry biomass (lignocellulose materials
such as wood, straw, etc.) to gas. The project covers several aspects; it is a cutting-edge
technology platform, the project is too a new green gas, a methanation process, and a goal of
become a component of the energy mix, and lastly as one of its goals, this project was
becoming a creation factor of new organization for the biomethane sector. This project firstly
was a model R&D plant of 1 MW, after in 2019, it become a Biomethane’s pilot with processing
of wood type A and B and Solid Recovered Fuels (SRFs) to produce gas of synthesis by
catalytic methanisation it is treated and purified as biomethane. A study of the Gaya project in
2017, shows that its emissions of C02 are 64 g CO2eq/kWh2(2).

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B. The Plain of Ain industrial Park’s Energy Project.

Transforming SRFs to methane was one of the first linked with the European energetic
transition and Circular economy, using pyro gasification to produce syngas then it is treated as
biological methanisation for energy. It is in the region of Auvergne Rhône-Alpes. A plant model
in 2020 was presented as waste’s treatment and gas renewable production process.

C. The Ile-de-France region (Paris Region) Project of Cométha.

After methanisation and treatment of biogas for the digestate as sub product of this
biomethanization, which is high in humid organic matters not degraded for the methanisation, it
is dried and dehydrated before of being processed by bio pyrolysis at high temperature in an
anoxic environment reducing its volume and producing effluents with sulfate ammonium as
source of nitrogen to be recovered into separated process. As waste’s treatment of organic
solids and liquids urbans and rural wastes of the Ile de France region. Experimental research is
developing future solutions and technologies linked to the process of thermal alternatives to
incineration and for recuperation of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen components. A
pilot phase with conception was built and put with its reactor of pyrolysis at 900°C for the gas
and biochar production. Initially, this gas is not going to be used as a source of energy because
its quantity is not enough, nor constantly produced. Residual gasses of pyrolysis will be
pretreated and filtered before emitting them. It is previewed for chars that are estimated at 80
ton per year, to stock them as waste not dangerous and into a third phase of the project they will
exchange their heat energy into the pyrolysis process (3).

D. ETIA's piloting project of the commune of Compiège.

In the Oise department in northern France, a feed by woody biomass and anaerobic
digestor’s digestate are treated into the pyro gasification unit which output of syngas is
processed into a methanisation unit. ETIA is a company owner of the Biogreen©, technology of
patented pyrolysis process operating since 2003 (4).

The Biogreen© is a slow pyrolysis continuous process with a screw reactor heated by
electricity to 350 – 750 °C and into a trough refractory. The biomass stays in the reactor
controlled with rotary seep between 5 and 30 minutes. Solids results of pyrolysis are taken out
continuously after being cooled by exchanger heating of the feed (5). Residence time of the
reactor is in the range of 15 to 40 minutes and flows of feed biomass is less than 2 Ton per hour
(6).

E. The R-Hynoca’s piloting project.

Located at Strasbourg, a city in the Bas-Rhin department, Alsace Region, this project
was started in 2019 and production began in 2021 by energy sector companies R-GDS and
Haffner. The latter has invented the Hynoca© process. This technology produces hydrogen
“green” by thermolysis of biomass. Bio pyrolysis transforms biomass, mainly wood and woody
waste at 400°C without oxygen excess or air, into syngas and biochat. The gas is passed into a
vapor-cracker unit at more than 1200 °C where it is reformed in hydrogen. The H2 purified could

12
be a carburant, it is produced at a rate of 600 Kg H2 /day. The project will develop gas
production for house heating (7).

F. The Titan V piloting project.

A Corporation between GRTgaz, Leroux & Lotz Technologies and Terawatt at Nantes
city in Loire-Atlantique department and the Pays de la Loire Region of France le project of
industrial pilotage production of methane by bio pyrolysis of woody wastes, sewage sludges and
SRFs. This project became the fusion between processes of gasifier of the platform R&D
Innov’Energy of Leroux & Lotz Technologies in Nantes city with a biomethanization unit
developed by Terawatt (8).

G. The Atemax’s plant of Saint Langis-Lès-Mortagne.

The commune of Langis-Lès-Mortagne located in the Orne department in

North-Western, France will have a project of transformation of 30.000 Ton of animal’s floor in
syngas and energy by bio pyrolysis and it is going to start in 2022. Economy is estimated at
70% of the consumption in fusil gas for its animal’s floors production (9). It is an application to
produce biogas from the rendering sector with CARECO’s technology which is based on a
gasification with a vapor fluidized bed atmospheric unit (10).

H. The Synnov waste plant.

The commune of Villers-sous-Montrond in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region has

developed a biomass gasification plant whose energy production is estimated to be 7 MW in
electrical power and 12 MW for thermal power. The unit of pyrolysis is at 850 °C. It is fed with
25% of woody wastes, 25% of shredding wastes and 50% of recovered wood; its flux is 6 Ton
per hour. Syngas is produced, then is treated in a cracker reactor for methanisation (11).

I. WOOD-HY project of 27 communes of the department of Landes.

To be developed in 2022, a biorefinery with a pyrolysis unit and vapor gasifier reactor is
designed to process 15000 Ton of forestry wood which have been planted for this project (12).

J. The Kerval Center in Saint Brieuc Armor city.

The Kerval center is a waste treatment center in Saint Brieuc Armor city, it was
modernized in 2016. The Energy unit of the center produces between 11 to 14 GWh by
bio-pyrolysis of 20000 Ton of solid recovered fuels from its treated wastes. The project will be
developed into a local energy source for house heating and electrical power for industries (13).

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Conclusion

We live in a society of accelerated consumption and high disposal rates of goods. Energy
consumption is growing and is based on the use of fossil fuels. Reducing greenhouse gas
emissions would be possible if we use more and more alternative energy sources such as
hydro, wind, photovoltaic and biomass.

Renewable energies have become very important as substitutes for fossil energies. Europe has
integrated this dimension into their energy strategies and increased electrical production after
renewable resources. The global agreement for energy transition has put France in a race
towards zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Biomass as an important deposit of energy will be part of this strategy. Moreover, pyrolysis is an
option of technology for transforming biomass, an energetic vector more or less directly
convertible, into electricity. Bio Pyrolysis processes have important challenges: to develop
industrial technology with high capacity, and sustainability (socially just and economically
viable). But it’s important to know that this process has advantages and drawbacks.

A pyrolysis plant is designed for the thermochemical processing and utilization of biomass and
other organic polymeric waste to produce liquid and organic products as well as fine biochar.
There are various types of pyrolysis technologies. Far less CO2 and energy is released from the
biomass, which leads to new energy-rich reaction products. Mainly bio gas and condensed bio
oil.

Today, four types of bio pyrolysis are known, the torrefaction, the slow pyrolysis, the fast
pyrolysis and the flash pyrolysis. The final product of each type of pyrolysis is different, in fact,
depending on the reactor condition, on the temperature, on the pressure and on the residence
time of the fuel in the reactor, the product will be not the same. The final product of torrefaction
is solid, for the slow pyrolysis are gas and coal, for the fast pyrolysis it’s liquid and for the flash
pyrolysis is gas.

The working principles dependending on the final product we want to produce with the pyrolysis
process. Some biomass should be pretreated before being used, so if it’s necessary it’s the first
step of the process. Afterwards, the biomass is introduced into the pyrolysis reactor. And the
last steps are the collection and the storage of the product.

In France, as biomass is the first source of renewable energy, there are increasing projects with
pyrolysis included; we have presented examples of plants within; Dalkia, a biofuel (direct
combustion) and bio methane producer and others ten projects running units of pyrolysis with
their process for gasification in order to produce bio methane. These plants are Slow or Fast
pyrolysis types with mainly solid recovered fuels, woody wastes as a type of biomass treated,
where lower dozens of tons are handled.

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