Assessing Wood-Based
Synthetic Natural Gas (Bio-SNG) Technologies
Thorsten F. Schulz
L.Barreto, S.Kypreos, S.Stucki
Energy Economics Group Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI)
International Energy Workshop, Cape Town, 28 th June 2006
Methanation Plant
η η
η η Bio-SNG = 0.55 η η
η η Heat = 0.10
Residential Heat Energy for
Mobility Process Heat
Illumination
Commercial Cooling
Energy Service
Gas Grid
Refineries
Power & CHP Plants
Heat Networks (Local & District)
H
2Production
Agricultural Sector Commercial
Sector Residential
Sector Transportation
Sector
Final Energy Primary Energy
D e m a n d
R e s o u rc e A v a il a b il it y a n d P ri c e , …
Industrial Sector
Reference Energy System
Heated Rooms Person Kilometres
Chemicals
Illuminated Area
Air-conditioned Workplace
Useful Energy (Demand)
Marg inal C osts
Cap acitie s
Em issio ns Ene
rgy F low
Bio-SNG Implementation
Biomass Methanation Plant
CHP Plant Bio-SNG
Electricity and Heat
Transportation Sector
All Sectors
Residential Sector
Scope of the Analysis
a) Baseline : 50 US$ 2000 /bbl in 2050
b) Scenarios
• Oil Price : up to 130 US$ 2000 /bbl in 2050
• Bio-SNG Subsidies : up to 10 US$ 2000/ GJ
• Combined Oil Price & Bio-SNG Subsidies
Automatic firing 7%
Other uses 2%
Room heating 10%
Not used theoretic potential
81%
Unused theoretical potential 81%
Biomass 2000
Total theoretical biomass potential ~ 100 PJ
- 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050
P ri m a ry E n e rg y C o n s u m p ti o n [ P J ]
Unused Latent Heat Geothermal
Other Renewables Hydro
Nuclear
Electricity (net exports) Coal
Oil
Natural Gas Biomass
Baseline
Unused Biomass Potential ~ 80 PJ
1 2
3 4
5 6
7
8 9 10
100 90 120 110
130
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Primary 100
Consumption [PJ]
Biomass for Methanation
Subsidy [US$
2000/bbl]
Oil price in 2050 Baseline
Scenario Sensitivity Analysis
6 50
3 80
0 110
Subsidy Oil Price in 2050
Threshold
Oil Price - 2050
Oil Price in [US$
2000/bbl]
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
100 110 120 130
P ri m a ry B io m a s s C o n s u m p ti o n [ P J ]
Methanation Plant (Bio-SNG toTransportation Sector) Methanation Plant (Bio-SNG to Residential Sector) Methanation Plant (Heat to All Sectors)
CHP (>2 MWel Gasification)
Conventional Biomass Technologies
Oil Price - 2050
Transportation Sector
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
F in a l E n e rg y C o n s u m p ti o n [ P J ]
Bio-SNG
Natural Gas
Electricity
Diesel
Gasoline
Avi. Gasoline
Bio-SNG Subsidy - 2050
Subsidies in [US$
2000/GJ]
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
6 7 8 9 10
P ri m a ry B io m a s s C o n s u m p ti o n [ P J ]
Methanation Plant (Bio-SNG toTransportation Sector)
Methanation Plant (Bio-SNG to Residential Sector)
Methanation Plant (Heat to All Sectors)
A threshold for the penetration of wood-based synthetic natural gas technologies is clearly identifiable
The use of bio-SNG in the transportation sector has a larger potential than in the residential sector
Synergies between bio-SNG and natural gas could be exploited
Conclusions
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 Natural Gas
[US$/GJ]
Crude Oil [US$/GJ]
Crude Oil
[US$/bbl] 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 50
7 7.3 7.7 8
5.5 5.7
4.6 5 5.3 5.6 6 6.3 6.7
3.3 3.6 3.8 4 4.3 4.5 4.8 5 5.2
Additional: Selected Resource Prices Baseline
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050
Biomass Price [US$/GJ]
Low Price Medium Price High Price
Additional: Methanation Plant II
Fixed O&M
Variable O&M Costs Costs [US/kW] [CHF/kW]
input input
65 55 10 100 996 34.9 0.125 8000 15 2010 5
[hours/a] [a] [%]
Lifetime Starting year
Discount Rate
[%] [%] [%] [MW]
input
[Rp/kWh]
input Thermal
Efficiency
Capacity Investment Costs
Plant Factor Total
Efficiency
Main Product Efficiency
