EU project for low cost advanced zero emission power generation from biomass

Developing biomass power plants[1] to produce electricity with near-zero gas and PM emissions  at less than 0,10 €/kW, with high energy efficiency (50% compared to the current 20%) at low investment and operating costs[2].

This is the objective of the European project BLAZE[3], comprising 9 partners, including ENEA and the University Guglielmo Marconi as coordinator.

Funded as part of the Horizon 2020 programme, the project aims at developing an advanced zero-emission cogeneration technology (CHP) Combined Heat and Power, by using low-cost and short-chain biomass feedstocks, (e.g. agricultural and agro-industrial waste, residues from the maintenance of forests and urban green, dry organic fraction of municipal solid waste. BLAZE will achieve this result by combining the technology of gasification, carried out in bubbling fluidized bed reactor, with the technology of high-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC).

In addition to the University Guglielmo Marconi and ENEA, other partners from public research, the academic sector (Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), the industrial sector (Walter Tosto, SOLIDpower, HyGear), and others with expertise in technical-economic and environmental impact assessment (VERTECH Group, European Biomass Industry Association) are present,  operating for an effective dissemination and exploitation of the results achieved, to facilitate the subsequent stages of industrialization and commercialization of the technology.

At the Trisaia Research Centre different types of biomass residues, selected among those considered of major energy interest and possible use, will be tested.

“After chemical and physical-chemical characterization, the identified feedstocks will be used in experimental gasification campaigns in fluidized-bed reactor. The objective of these campaigns will be to define the process conditions at which the conversion of biomass into gaseous product will be the highest”, ENEA researcher Donatella Barisano explained.

“Through the use of primary (in-bed) methods for reducing the load of contaminants directly in the implementation phase of the gasification process, materials will be identified that can contribute to the production of a gaseous stream of high quality, in terms of composition and calorific value, and low degree of contamination”, she said.

At the Casaccia Research Center, solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFC) will be tested to study their performance according to the quality of the supplied gas.

“Wi will focus on the main contaminants of the gas produced to identify the type of SOFC that, in the final project phase of technologies integration will achieve the best performances (i.e. high electrical efficiency, stability in operation and long lifetime”,  Stephen McPhail, the other ENEA researcher involved in he project, pointed out.

“For this purpose, gaseous mixtures of suitable composition and containing both organic and inorganic contaminants will be tested”, he concluded.

For more information please contact:

Donatella Barisano, ENEA -Laboratory “Thermochemical processes for the Exploitation of  Biomass, Residues and Waste” - donatella.barisano@enea.it

Stephen McPhail, ENEA - laboratory “Development of Chemical and Thermofluidodynamic Processes for Energy”, stephen.mcphail@enea.it

[1] Small- sized power plants (0,1 - 5 MWe) and medium-sized power plants (25 - 100 kWe)

[2] (approximately 4 k€/kWe e 0,05 €/kWh, respectively)

[3] Biomass Low cost Advanced Zero Emission small-to-medium scale integrated gasifier-fuel cell combined heat and power plant