Integrating Black Liquor Gasification With Pulping Process Simulation Economics And Potential Benefits PDF Download

As many of the recovery boilers and other pieces of large capital equipment of U.S. pulp mills are nearing the end of their useful life, the pulp and paper industry will soon need to make long-term investments in new technologies. The ability to install integrated, complete systems that are highly efficient will impact the industry's energy use for decades to come. Developing a process for these new systems is key to the adoption of state-of-the-art technologies in the Forest Products industry. This project defined an integrated process model that combines mini-sulfide sulfite anthraquinone (MSS-AQ) pulping and black liquor gasification with a proprietary desulfurization process developed by the Research Triangle Institute. Black liquor gasification is an emerging technology that enables the use of MSS-AQ pulping, which results in higher yield, lower bleaching cost, lower sulfur emissions, and the elimination of causticization requirements. The recently developed gas cleanup/absorber technology can clean the product gas to a state suitable for use in a gas turbine and also regenerate the pulping chemicals needed to for the MSS-AQ pulping process. The combination of three advanced technologies into an integrated design will enable the pulping industry to achieve a new level of efficiency, environmental performance, and cost savings. Because the three technologies are complimentary, their adoption as a streamlined package will ensure their ability to deliver maximum energy and cost savings benefits. The process models developed by this project will enable the successful integration of new technologies into the next generation of chemical pulping mills. When compared to the Kraft reference pulp, the MSS-AQ procedures produced pulps with a 10-15 % yield benefit and the ISO brightness was 1.5-2 times greater. The pulp refined little easier and had a slightly lower apparent sheet density (In both the cases). At similar levels of tear index the MSS-AQ pulps also produced a comparable tensile and burst index pulps. Product gas composition determined using computer simulations The results demonstrate that RVS-1 can effectively remove> 99.8% of the H2S present in simulated synthesis gas generated from the gasification of black liquor. This level of sulfur removal was consistent over simulated synthesis gas mixtures that contained from 6 to 9.5 vol % H2S.A significant amount of the sulfur in the simulated syngas was recovered as SO2 during regeneration. The average recovery of sulfur as SO2 was about 75%. Because these are first cycle results, this sulfur recovery is expected to improve. Developed WINGems model of the process. The total decrease in variable operating costs for the BLG process compared to the HERB was in excess of $6,200,000 per year for a mill producing 350,000 tons of pulp per year. This represents a decrease in operating cost of about $17.7/ton of oven dry pulp produced. There will be additional savings in labor and maintenance cost that has not been taken into account. The capital cost for the MSSAQ based gasifier system was estimated at $164,000,000, which is comparable to a High Efficiency Recovery Boiler. The return on investment was estimated at 4%. A gasifier replacement cannot be justified on its own, however if the recovery boiler needs to be replaced the MSSAQ gasifier system shows significantly higher savings. Before black liquor based gasifer technology can be commercialized more work is necessary. The recovery of the absorbed sulfur in the absorbent as sulfur dioxide is only 75%. This needs to be greater than 90% for economical operation. It has been suggested that as the number of cycles is increased the sulfur dioxide recovery might improve. Further research is necessary. Even though a significant amount of work has been done on a pilot scale gasifiers using liquors containing sulfur, both at low and high temperatures the lack of a commercial unit is an impediment to the implementation of the MSSAQ technology. The implementation of a commercial unit needs to be facilated before the benefits of the MSSAQ technology with ZnO absorbtion will become acceptable to the paper industry.