Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. PYSOLO: Solar-driven Biomass Pyrolysis Mid-term Stakeholder Event, 06-11-25 Marco Binotti, Project Coordinator
www.pysolo.eu Marco Binotti, Politecnico di Milano, Mid-term Stakeholder Event, 06-11-2025 2 The PYSOLO Project Title: PYrolysis of biomass by concentrated SOLar pOwer Scope:PYSOLO will integrate CSP technology and biomass pyrolysis in an innovative and very flexible concept at TRL4able to produce increased amount of high value bio-products (bio-oil and bio-char) compared to existing technologies and able to efficiently use renewable heat and electricity from variable renewable energies Funding mechanism: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions Budget: 4.9 M€ Starting date: 1st July 2023 Duration: 48 months Coordinator: Politecnico di Milano Consortium: 9 partners, 4 countries
www.pysolo.eu •Biomass Pyrolysis is athermal degradation induced by supplying heat (250-700°C) in inert environment, producing bio-oil,pyrogas and char. •Heat required for the reaction à usually provided by burning afraction of the pyrolysis products (pyrogas/char) àeconomic and environmentally inefficient step à loss of high value biogenic carbon, reduction of the carbon efficiency, reduction of the overall yield Marco Binotti, Politecnico di Milano, Mid-term Stakeholder Event, 06-11-2025 3 Conventional Pyrolysis
www.pysolo.eu 4 •Heat for pyrolysis is provided by solid particles (e.g. sand, bauxite) heated in a rotary kiln solar receiver The PYSOLO Concept Marco Binotti, Politecnico di Milano, Mid-term Stakeholder Event, 06-11-2025
www.pysolo.eu 5 •Heat for pyrolysis is provided by solid particles (e.g. sand, bauxite) heated in a rotary kiln solar receiver •Excess thermal power can be stored in a hot particle storage to run the pyrolyzer for more hours •Low cost excess renewable EE could be used to heat up the particles with extra advantages •If high EE costs are expected gas and bio-oil might be burnt in an Internal Combustion Engine to produce EE The PYSOLO Concept Marco Binotti, Politecnico di Milano, Mid-term Stakeholder Event, 06-11-2025
www.pysolo.eu 6 Goal of the project is to test the key components of the PYSOLO system at TRL4: •PYROLYSIS PLANT: pyrolyzers (2 types), induction heating system and the PHCchar separator •SOLAR PLANT: rotary kiln particle receiver and particle transport system PYSOLO Experimental Activity SolarRec rotary kiln Fludized Bed Pyrolyzer Auger Pyrolyzer Induction heating PHC-char separator Marco Binotti, Politecnico di Milano, Mid-term Stakeholder Event, 06-11-2025
www.pysolo.eu Marco Binotti, Politecnico di Milano, Mid-term Stakeholder Event, 06-11-2025 7 PYRO MODELLING RECEIVER MODELLING PYROLIZERS/PHC-CHAR SEPARATOR/INDUCTION HEATING TEST AUG FB PYROLYSIS SYS VALIDATION AT TRL4 SolarRec AUG FB SolarRec WIDE SPECTRUM SYSTEM MODELLING AND ANALYSIS PHC CHARACTERIZATION SOLAR RECEIVER COMMISSIONING RECEIVER VALIDATION AT TRL4 AUG FB SolarRec AUG FB SolarRec SolarRec BIOREFINERY INTEGRATION SCALE-UP STUDY WP4: Overall system analysis and scale-up PHC type: Biomass type: The PYSOLO Project Workflow WP2: Development of the pyrolysis unit for solar pyrolysis WP3: Development of the solar receiver for solar pyrolysis DETAILED TEA, LCA and RISK
www.pysolo.eu SOB4: To successfully operate the induction heating system (TRL4) for efficient electricity conversion (WP2). KPI and related target: heating efficiency +10% in comparison to electric heating SOB5: To demonstrate, through techno-economic analysis, a carbon efficiency (i.e. the portion of carbon in the biochar and biooil) improvement and cost reduction of bio-oil production (WP4). KPI and related target: (i) total carbon efficiency >80%; (ii) reduction of bio-oil production costs by at least 20% compared to a conventional pyrolysis process, (assumption: biochar selling price of 400 €/t). SOB6: To demonstrate that the full-scale process can achieve a substantial CO2negative emissions on LCA balance (WP4) KPI and related target: net CO2emissions of at least -0.3 kgCO2 (per kg of dry woody biomass fed to the plant) on LCA basis, including the emissions associated to biomass collection and transport. 8 SOB1: To successfully operate the TRL4 solar particle receiver in experimental campaigns with artificial and real solar radiation at temperatures and with particle heat carrier (PHC) relevant for solar pyrolysis (WP3). KPI and related targets: peak/daily average thermal efficiencies higher than 80%/ 70%, (or higher than 85%/75%, respectively when performances are adapted to a larger-scale experimental equipment); ~300 cumulative operating hours. SOB2: To stably operate the TRL4 pyrolysis units with the selected PHCs and process conditions (WP2) KPI and related target: a relative variation in the mass yield of solid and liquid product within a run of up to 6 hours over at least 4 repetitions of maximum 10% (~300 cumulative operating hours). SOB3: To successfully operate TRL4 hot PHC-char separator (WP2) KPI and related target: biochar recovery efficiency in the PHC stream > 90%. The PYSOLO Objectives PYSOLO overarching objective consists in the validation in lab (TRL4) of a solar pyrolysis process by testing its two individual key units (i.e. the solar particle receiver and the pyrolysis reactor), demonstrating its environmental benefits and the techno-economic feasibility, with realistic economic and regulatory boundary conditions for the EU context in a mediumlong term horizon (10-15 years). Marco Binotti, Politecnico di Milano, Mid-term Stakeholder Event, 06-11-2025
www.pysolo.eu 9 Thank you! Marco Binotti, Politecnico di Milano, Mid-term Stakeholder Event, 06-11-2025 Marco Binotti Project Coordinator
[email protected] Associate Professor Politecnico di Milano
