Bath Plant

Biomass Use in the Cement Sector A Fuel Users Perspective

April 14, 2011

Outline

Cement 101 – Cement and Concrete Primer

Biomass Fuels – a cement industry perspective

Cement 2020 – what’s next in the development process

Photos: Front slide, hemp produced for trial; Above – Shredded mixed biomass for the trial: Below – Close up of shredded biomass mix

About Lafarge Canada

Lafarge Canada is part of the Lafarge Group, headquartered in Paris, France.

Lafarge is the world leader in building materials, with top- ranking positions in all of its businesses: Cement, Aggregates & Concrete, and Gypsum.

Lafarge is ranked 6th in the “Carbon Disclosure Project”, for the sixth year in a row is listed in the “Global 100 most Sustainable Corporations in the World”, and entered the global “Dow Jones Sustainability Index” in 2010 in recognition of its sustainable development actions.

With the world’s leading building materials research facility, Lafarge places innovation at the heart of its priorities, working for sustainable construction and architectural creativity.

With 78,000 employees in 78 countries, Lafarge posted sales of 15.8 billion Euros in 2009.

Lafarge Canada is the largest cement producer in Canada.

Cement 101

Our product

Cement is to concrete as yeast is to dough

Cement is the glue that holds concrete together

More concrete sold per year than all other building materials combined.

Excellent Environmental features

Long lasting

LEED building materials

Low embodied energy

LIMESTONE

CLAY

FLYASH

IRON

Lime

CaO

Silica

SiO2

Alumina

Al2O3

Iron

Fe2O3

Major Oxides

7

The Cement Manufacturing Process

Kiln Feed:• 79% Limestone (calcium source - CaO)• 16% Shale (silica and alumina source-SiO2 , Al2 O3 )• 3% Slag (iron source - Fe2 O3• 2% Sand / Silica Rock (silica source - SiO2 )

Minor elements present in kiln feed:– Sulphur, chloride, sodium, potassium

Calcination of limestoneCaCO3 CaO + CO2 (60% of GHG emissions)

Clinkering:CaO + SiO2 + Al2 O3 + Fe2 O3 Calcium Silicates + Calcium Aluminates

Calcium Alumino-ferriteCement:

Clinker + gypsum + limestone (+ flyash + slag) cement

Typical Cement Kiln

The burner heat source is at the discharge end of the kiln, so the feed gets hotter as it moves its way down the kiln

Flame temperature is 2300ºC

At 1450ºC clinker material pours out the end of the kiln into the cooler

Kiln

Important Cement 101 Implications for Ag Fuels

Ash components are partitioned (sequestered) into the product (see cobalt example below)

Unique combustion conditions (high temperatures, ultra-long residence times)

Systems are sized and designed for coal use

At 5% of the world’s CO2 emissions, the opportunity is huge. Ideas to emerge out of Cement 2020 could be adopted worldwide (e.g. 40% reduction in CO2 from cement industry is equivalent to removing Canada’s CO2 emissions.

Inputs Outputs

(Coal/Coke)/biomass(90:10)

Raw mix Stack Emissions Clinkerby difference

Partitioning Factors

Cobalt 26.0 506.8 0.126 533 99.976%

Biomass Fuel – Opportunities & Challenges

Photo of the injection of biomass into the kiln during the biomass demonstration test in October, 2010

Results will be made available at www.cement2020.com

What are the important questions for fuel use?

Chemistry

C-H ratio• “Lower Heating value”• Refractory compounds

Particle size

Ash & metals• Partitioning• Effects on product

quality

Free moisture

Practical Matters

Storage

Transportation

Reliability of Supply

Processing

Cx Hy + (x+0.5y)O2 =>

xCO2 + (0.5y) H2 O

Cobalt example – 99.98% sequestered in cement

A pile of coal will require 2.5-3 same size piles of biomass for the same energy value.

Coal is typically 60- 80% carbon while biomass is 40-50% carbon.

Wood can be 50% moisture

Note: We may end up consuming more energy when using biomass

Challenge 1: Producing biomass fuels

Supply

ForestSlash, Harvest

SolidPower, Steel,

Cement, Home, Greenhouse, other

thermal

Fuel ProductProcessing

LiquidTransportation, Thermal, Power

GasPower, Home,

Commercial, other thermal

Purpose Grown

Crops, Agriforest, stover

Waste / ByproductPulp & paper,

post consumer, biosolids, other

Pelletization

Baling / Shredding

Torrefaction

Liquefaction

Pyrolysis

Gasification

These technologies may be applicable to a variety of feedstock sources.

A brief aside – what is a Gigajoule???

A unit of energy, 1 million joules = GJ

It is accepted practice to compare prices of fuels, apples to apples, using $/GJ

1 GJ = 278 kW.h. *

1 GJ = 947,817 BTU

* As energy released which, with electricity efficiency etc would not equal the electricity delivered to an end user.

Some mathematics (for illustration)

Start with 1 Acre

4 tonnes per Acre = 4 Tonnes

18 GJ/Tonne [dry] = 72 GJ/acre

Revenue of $150/ac = $2.08/GJ

Price to produce bales on the farm?

Pelletization = $50/tne = $2.8/GJ

Transportation of pellets

30 tonnes = 540 GJ/truck [minus water]

Cost at $5/loaded km = $0.93/GJ/100km

Price FOB to fuel user 200 km away is $6.74/GJ

Excludes additional costs at fuel user’s site

These are all assumptions and can be adjusted in the privacy of your own home.

Clearing the air on pellets

Doing the math assuming loose biomass at 20 tonnes per truck load results in a transportation cost of $1.4/GJ/100 km (also and importantly avoids on site cost to re-grind pellets, if necessary)

Breakeven is over 400 km – assuming 1% of land within a 400 km radius…1.24 million tonnes of biomass available

Advantages of pellets

Recognized product

Good for systems designed to use pellets

Economical at long transportation distances

Some benefit in heating value (GJ/tonne) [Drier]

Improved conveyability

Disadvantages

Cost & must be stored in covered storage

Cement kilns prefer smaller particle size fuel

Dusting and off-gassing

17

Challenge 2: Cost of Biomass Fuels

Fuel Type Cost per Gigajoule

Gasoline $24

Natural Gas $5-$12

Grown Biomass $6-$10 (OMAFRA est)

Coal $3-$5

Coke $2-$4

Note: Coal releases about 90 kg CO2 /GJ; a “Cap & Trade” cost of $50/tne CO2 will add about $4.5/GJ to the cost of coal.

Challenge 3: the Quality of Biomass as a Fuel [Or…“know thy enemy”]

Characteristic Coal Biomass

$/GJ $3-$5 $6-$10

Energy Density 32 GJ/m3 13 GJ/m3

Shipping Boat Truck

% Ash 5-20% 3-10%

Ash Chemistry Useful Neutral

Availability High Low-Moderate

CO2 Emissions 100% <10%

Other Emissions Present Lower (caution)

Water Use 0.16 m3/GJ Variable, TBD

Storage Outdoor Covered?

Problems to be solved (and how Cement 2020 is working on them)

How to improve biomass fuel quality

Use waste heat

Carbonization? Torrefaction?

How to create biomass ready fuel infrastructure

Start with biomass byproducts, co-products

Continue crop development research (yield improvement)

Water use

Include water in LCAs

Cost

What is the case for government subsidies?

Food vs Fuel

Policy development

Emissions from combustion

Less of an issue when replacing fossil fuels, especially coal – biomass demonstration

For unsophisticated cases, standards around biomass use and associated emission controls

Gasification for home use?

Other social aspects

Local fuel is a big positive

Trucks vs boats

Land use and biodiversity

Community involvement

Cement 2020

Life Cycle Assessment of ag biomass and other sources

Carbon

Water

Greener Fuel Screening Protocol

Landscape issues with land conversion to biomass production

How best to use waste heat

Electricity?

Carbonization?

Both?

Road map

Implementation in 2012

• Partners

– Lafarge, SVI, WWF Canada, NRCan, MOE, Env. Canada, Queen’s, RMC, Portland Cement Association

• Steering Committee

– Rob Cumming, Brian Gasiorowski, Warren Mabee, Sebnem Madrali, Andrew Pollard, Glynn Robinson, Steven Price

• Researcher and Contributors

– Darko Matovic, Ted Grandmaison, Tom Carpenter, John Chandler, Sam Fujimoto, Sharon Regan, Goni Boulama, Mike Lepage, International Review Team, Lafarge Engineer Team

• Project Management

– Ron Quick, Alison Obenauf, David Hyndman, Anjali Varma, Sarah Harrison

Thank you to NRCan and Environment Canada for their financial support

Follow us on Twitter! Cement 2020 business cards are available at the front desk