Liquid fuel production system and liquid fuel production method

Abstract

To provide a liquid fuel production system and a liquid fuel production method, which can always be operated under such conditions that the fuel production cost becomes minimum.SOLUTION: A liquid fuel production system 1 comprises: a gasification furnace 30 that generates a synthesis gas from a biomass raw material; an electrolytic apparatus 60 that generates hydrogen from water by electricity generated using renewable energy; a liquid fuel production apparatus 4 that produces a liquid fuel using the synthesis gas generated by the gasification furnace 30 and hydrogen generated by the electrolytic apparatus 60 as raw materials; and a control apparatus 7 that controls the gasification furnace 30 and the electrolytic apparatus 60. The control apparatus 7 comprises: cost calculation means that calculates the fuel production cost; comparison means that compares the present fuel production cost with the fuel production cost without a hydrogen supply; hydrogen supply amount adjustment means that adjusts the hydrogen supply amount based on the comparison data obtained by the comparison means; H2 / CO ratio calculation means that calculates the H2 / CO ratio; and H2 / CO ratio adjustment means that adjusts the H2 / CO ratio.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a liquid fuel production system and a method for producing liquid fuel. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, electrosynthetic fuels, which are made from hydrogen generated using electricity generated by renewable energy sources and carbon sources such as biomass and carbon dioxide emitted from factories, have been attracting attention as an alternative to fossil fuels.

[0003] The general procedure for producing liquid fuels such as methanol and gasoline using biomass as a feedstock is as follows: a gasification process in which biomass feedstock that has undergone a specified pretreatment is gasified together with hydrogen, oxygen, and steam in a gasifier to produce a synthesis gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide; a cleaning process in which the synthesis gas that has been produced is cleaned and tar is removed; an H2 / CO ratio adjustment process in which the H2 / CO ratio of the synthesis gas that has undergone the cleaning process is adjusted to a target ratio corresponding to the liquid fuel to be produced; a desulfurization process in which sulfur components are removed from the synthesis gas that has undergone the H2 / CO ratio adjustment process; and a fuel production process in which liquid fuel is produced from the synthesis gas that has undergone the desulfurization process. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-147504 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] When the price of hydrogen is sufficiently low, it is sufficient to supply only the necessary and sufficient amount of hydrogen, but when the price of hydrogen rises sharply, hydrogen supply must be stopped.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a liquid fuel production system and a liquid fuel production method that can always be operated under conditions that minimize fuel production costs, thereby contributing to improved quality control in the production process and ultimately to energy efficiency. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following means. [1] A liquid fuel production system for producing liquid fuel from biomass feedstock, a gasifier that produces synthesis gas from biomass feedstock; an electrolysis device that generates hydrogen from water using electricity generated using renewable energy; a liquid fuel production device that produces liquid fuel using the synthesis gas produced by the gasification furnace and the hydrogen produced by the electrolysis device as raw materials; a control device that controls the gasification furnace and the electrolysis device, The control device is a liquid fuel production system having: cost calculation means for calculating a fuel production cost; comparison means for comparing the current fuel production cost with the fuel production cost when no hydrogen is supplied; hydrogen supply amount adjustment means for adjusting the amount of hydrogen supplied based on the comparison result by the comparison means; H2 / CO ratio calculation means for calculating the H2 / CO ratio; and H2 / CO ratio adjustment means for adjusting the H2 / CO ratio.

[0008] According to the present invention, when the price of hydrogen rises sharply, the amount of hydrogen supplied is reduced without stopping the supply of hydrogen, thereby enabling operation under conditions that always minimize fuel production costs.

[0009] [2] A liquid fuel manufacturing method for manufacturing liquid fuel from biomass feedstock, a gasification step for producing synthesis gas from biomass feedstock; an electrolysis process in which hydrogen is produced from water using electricity generated using renewable energy; a liquid fuel production process in which liquid fuel is produced using the synthesis gas produced in the gasification process and the hydrogen produced in the electrolysis process as raw materials; a control step for controlling the gasification step and the electrolysis step, In the control step, a current fuel production cost α and a fuel production cost β without hydrogen supply are calculated, and if the fuel production cost α is lower than the fuel production cost β, the amount of hydrogen supply is increased; A method for producing liquid fuel, wherein when the H2 / CO ratio does not match a target value, the H2 / CO ratio is adjusted to further increase the amount of hydrogen supplied if fuel costs decrease, or to return the amount of hydrogen supplied to the previous amount if fuel costs do not decrease.

[0010] According to the present invention, when the price of hydrogen rises sharply, the amount of hydrogen supplied is reduced without stopping the supply of hydrogen, thereby enabling operation under conditions that always minimize fuel production costs. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a liquid fuel production system and a method for producing liquid fuel that can always be operated under conditions that minimize fuel production costs. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a liquid fuel production system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] 1 is a flow diagram showing a method for producing a liquid fuel according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A liquid fuel production system and a liquid fuel production method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0014] [Liquid fuel production system] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a liquid fuel production system according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the liquid fuel production system 1 includes a biomass feedstock supply device 2 that supplies biomass feedstock; a gasification device 3 that gasifies the biomass feedstock supplied from the biomass feedstock supply device 2 to produce synthesis gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide; a liquid fuel production device 4 that produces liquid fuel using the synthesis gas supplied from the gasification device 3 and the hydrogen produced by an electrolysis device 60 as raw materials; a power generation facility 5 that generates electricity using renewable energy; a hydrogen generation and supply device 6 that generates hydrogen and oxygen from water using the electricity generated in the power generation facility 5 and supplies the produced hydrogen and oxygen to the gasification device 3; and a control device 7 that controls the gasification device 3, the power generation facility 5, and the hydrogen generation and supply device 6, and liquid fuel is produced from the biomass feedstock using these components.

[0015] The biomass raw material supply device 2 performs predetermined pre-processing on biomass raw materials such as rice grains, bagasse, and wood, and supplies the pre-processed biomass raw materials to the gasification furnace 30 of the gasification device 3 via the raw material supply path 20. Here, the pre-processing of the biomass raw materials includes, for example, a drying process for drying the raw materials and a crushing process for crushing the raw materials.

[0016] The gasification apparatus 3 includes a gasification furnace 30 that gasifies the biomass raw material supplied via the raw material supply path 20, a gasification furnace sensor group 31 consisting of a plurality of sensors that detect the internal condition of the gasification furnace 30, a water supply device 32 that supplies water into the gasification furnace 30, an oxygen supply device 33 that supplies oxygen or air into the gasification furnace 30, a heating device 34 that heats the gasification furnace 30, a scrubber 35 that cleans the synthesis gas discharged from the gasification furnace 30, and a desulfurization device 36 that removes sulfur components from the synthesis gas cleaned by the scrubber 35 and supplies the cleaned synthesis gas to the liquid fuel production apparatus 4.

[0017] The water supply device 32 supplies water stored in a water tank (not shown) into the gasifier 30. The oxygen supply device 33 supplies oxygen stored in an oxygen tank (not shown) into the gasifier 30. The heating device 34 heats the gasifier 30 by consuming fuel supplied from a fuel tank (not shown) and electricity supplied from a power source (not shown). The amount of water supplied from the water supply device 32 to the gasifier 30, the amount of oxygen supplied from the oxygen supply device 33 to the gasifier 30, and the amount of heat input from the heating device 34 to the gasifier 30 are controlled by the control device 7. Note that in the liquid fuel production system 1, there are cases where it is not necessary to actively supply water from the water supply device 32 to the gasifier 30 by supplying hydrogen from the hydrogen generation and supply device 6 (described below) into the gasifier 30 or into the raw material supply path 20. In this case, the water supply device 32 can be omitted from the liquid fuel production system 1.

[0018] When water, oxygen, heat, etc. are fed into the gasification furnace 30, which has been charged with biomass raw material, using the water supply device 32, oxygen supply device 33, and heating device 34 described above, a total of 10 types of gasification reactions and their reverse reactions, such as those shown in the following formulas (1-1) to (1-5), proceed within the gasification furnace 30, and synthesis gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide is produced.

[0019] [ka]

[0020] The gasification furnace sensor group 31 is composed of, for example, a pressure sensor that detects the pressure inside the gasification furnace 30, a temperature sensor that detects the temperature inside the gasification furnace 30, an H2 / CO sensor that detects the H2 / CO ratio corresponding to the ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide in the synthesis gas inside the gasification furnace 30, and a CO2 sensor that detects carbon dioxide inside the gasification furnace 30. Detection signals from these sensors that make up the gasification furnace sensor group 31 are sent to the control device 7.

[0021] The gasification device 3 mixes the synthesis gas generated by the gasification reactions shown in the above formulas (1-1) to (1-5) and the reverse reaction thereof with hydrogen supplied from a hydrogen generation and supply device 6 described below, thereby adjusting the H2 / CO ratio of the synthesis gas to a predetermined target ratio corresponding to the liquid fuel to be produced (for example, when producing methanol, the target H2 / CO ratio is 2), and then supplies this synthesis gas to the liquid fuel production device 4.

[0022] The liquid fuel production device 4 is equipped with a methanol synthesis device, an MTG (Methanol To Gasoline) synthesis device, an FT (Fischer Tropsch) synthesis device, an upgrading device, etc., and by using these, liquid fuels such as methanol and gasoline are produced from synthesis gas adjusted to a predetermined H2 / CO ratio in the gasification device 3.

[0023] The power generation facility 5 is composed of a wind power generation facility that generates electricity using wind power, which is a renewable energy, a solar power generation facility that generates electricity using sunlight, which is also a renewable energy, etc. The power generation facility 5 is connected to a hydrogen generation and supply device 6, and electricity generated using renewable energy in the wind power generation facility, solar power generation facility, etc. can be supplied to the hydrogen generation and supply device 6. The power generation facility 5 is also connected to a commercial power grid 8. As a result, some or all of the electricity generated in the power generation facility 5 can be supplied to the commercial power grid 8 and can also be sold to an electric power company.

[0024] The hydrogen generation and supply device 6 includes an electrolysis device 60, a hydrogen filling pump 61, a hydrogen tank 62, a pressure sensor 63, and a hydrogen supply pump 64, and uses these to generate hydrogen using electricity supplied from the power generation equipment 5, and supplies the generated hydrogen to the gasification device 3.

[0025] The electrolysis device 60 is connected to the power generation facility 5, and generates hydrogen and oxygen from water by electrolysis using power supplied from the power generation facility 5. The electrolysis device 60 is also connected to the commercial power grid 8. This allows the electrolysis device 60 to generate hydrogen and oxygen not only using power supplied from the power generation facility 5, but also using power supplied from the commercial power grid 8 by purchasing power from an electric power company. The amounts of hydrogen and oxygen generated by the electrolysis device 60 are controlled by the control device 7.

[0026] The hydrogen filling pump 61 compresses the hydrogen produced by the electrolysis device 60 and fills it into the hydrogen tank 62. The amount of hydrogen filled by the hydrogen filling pump 61 is controlled by the control device 7. The hydrogen tank 62 stores the hydrogen compressed by the hydrogen filling pump 61. The pressure sensor 63 detects the internal tank pressure of the hydrogen tank 62 and sends a detection signal to the control device 7. The remaining amount of hydrogen in the hydrogen tank 62 is calculated by the control device 7 based on the detection signal of the pressure sensor 63. Therefore, in this embodiment, the hydrogen remaining amount acquisition means for acquiring the remaining amount of hydrogen in the hydrogen tank 62 is made up of the pressure sensor 63 and the control device 7.

[0027] The hydrogen supply pump 64 supplies hydrogen stored in the hydrogen tank 62 into the gasification furnace 30 of the gasification apparatus 3. The amount of hydrogen supplied from the hydrogen supply pump 64 into the gasification furnace 30 is controlled by the control device 7. Note that, although Fig. 1 illustrates a case in which hydrogen stored in the hydrogen tank 62 is supplied into the gasification furnace 30 by the hydrogen supply pump 64, the present invention is not limited to this. The hydrogen stored in the hydrogen tank 62 may be supplied upstream of the gasification furnace 30, more specifically, into the raw material supply path 20 for the biomass raw material.

[0028] The control device 7 is a computer that controls the amount of water supplied by the water supply device 32, the amount of oxygen supplied by the oxygen supply device 33, the amount of heat input by the heating device 34, the amount of hydrogen produced by the electrolysis device 60, the amount of hydrogen filled by the hydrogen filling pump 61, and the amount of hydrogen supplied by the hydrogen supply pump 64, based on detection signals from the gasification furnace sensor group 31 and detection signals from the pressure sensor 63 of the hydrogen tank 62, etc.

[0029] The control device 7 has a cost calculation means for calculating the fuel production cost, a comparison means for comparing the current fuel production cost with the cost when no hydrogen is supplied, a hydrogen supply amount adjustment means for adjusting the amount of hydrogen supplied based on the comparison result by the comparison means, an H2 / CO ratio calculation means for calculating the H2 / CO ratio, and an H2 / CO ratio adjustment means for adjusting the H2 / CO ratio.

[0030] According to the liquid fuel production system 1 of this embodiment, when the price of hydrogen rises sharply, the amount of hydrogen supplied is reduced without stopping the hydrogen supply, thereby enabling operation under conditions that always minimize fuel production costs.

[0031] [Liquid fuel manufacturing method] A liquid fuel production method according to one embodiment of the present invention is a method for producing liquid fuel from biomass feedstock, and includes: a gasification process for producing synthesis gas from the biomass feedstock; an electrolysis process for producing hydrogen from water using electricity generated using renewable energy; a liquid fuel production process for producing liquid fuel using the synthesis gas produced in the gasification process and the hydrogen produced in the electrolysis process as feedstocks; and a control process for controlling the gasification process and the electrolysis process. In the control process, a current fuel production cost α and a fuel production cost β in the absence of hydrogen supply are calculated, and if the fuel production cost α is lower than the fuel production cost β, the hydrogen supply amount is increased; if the H2 / CO ratio does not match a target value, the H2 / CO ratio is adjusted; if the fuel cost decreases, the hydrogen supply amount is further increased; and if the fuel cost does not decrease, the hydrogen supply amount is restored to the previous amount.

[0032] The method for producing a liquid fuel according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the specific steps of the method for producing liquid fuel according to this embodiment. Hydrogen is supplied to the gasification apparatus 3 so that the H2 / CO ratio of the synthesis gas generated in the gasification furnace 30 reaches a target (step S1). The current fuel production cost α and the fuel production cost β when no hydrogen is supplied are calculated (step S2). It is confirmed whether the fuel production cost α is lower than the fuel production cost β (step S3). If the fuel production cost α is lower than the fuel production cost β (if YES), the amount of hydrogen supplied to the gasification apparatus 3 is increased (step S4). If the fuel production cost α is equal to or greater than the fuel production cost β (if NO), the amount of hydrogen supplied to the gasification device 3 is set to the lower limit of the threshold (step S5). Thereafter, after adjusting the H2 / CO ratio, the current fuel production cost α is recalculated (step S6). Thereafter, it is confirmed whether the fuel production cost α is lower than the fuel production cost β (step S7). If the fuel production cost α is lower than the fuel production cost β (YES), the process proceeds to step S4. If the fuel production cost α is equal to or greater than the fuel production cost β (if NO), the supply of hydrogen to the gasification device 3 is stopped (step S8). Following step S4, the H2 / CO ratio of the synthesis gas generated in the gasifier 30 is obtained (step S9). Thereafter, it is confirmed whether the H2 / CO ratio is equal to the target (step S10). If the H2 / CO ratio is equal to the target (YES), it is checked whether the fuel production cost has decreased (step S11). If the fuel production cost has decreased (YES), the process proceeds to step S4. If the fuel production cost does not decrease (NO), the hydrogen supply amount is returned to the previous amount (step S12). If the H2 / CO ratio is not equal to the target (if NO), the H2 / CO ratio is adjusted, and then the current fuel production cost α is recalculated (step S13), and the process proceeds to step S11.

[0033] According to the liquid fuel production method of this embodiment, even if the price of hydrogen rises sharply, the amount of hydrogen supplied can be reduced without stopping the hydrogen supply, thereby enabling operation under conditions that always minimize fuel production costs.

[0034] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention as set forth in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0035] 1 Liquid fuel production system 2. Biomass raw material supply device 20 Raw material supply route 3 Gasifier 30 Gasifier 31 Gasifier sensors 32 Water supply equipment 33 Oxygen supply device 34 Heating device 35 Scrubba 36 Desulfurization equipment 4 Liquid fuel production equipment 5. Power generation facilities 6. Hydrogen generation and supply device 60 Electrolyzer 61 Hydrogen filling pump 62 Hydrogen Tank 63 Pressure Sensor 64 Hydrogen supply pump 65 Carbon dioxide capture equipment 66 Carbon Dioxide Tank 67 Carbon Dioxide Conversion Device 68 Fuel synthesis device 7 Control Device

Claims

1. A liquid fuel production system for producing liquid fuel from biomass feedstock, a gasifier that produces synthesis gas from biomass feedstock; an electrolysis device that generates hydrogen from water using electricity generated using renewable energy; a liquid fuel production device that produces liquid fuel using the synthesis gas produced by the gasification furnace and the hydrogen produced by the electrolysis device as raw materials; a control device that controls the gasification furnace and the electrolysis device, The control device includes a cost calculation means for calculating a fuel production cost, a comparison means for comparing the current fuel production cost with the fuel production cost when no hydrogen is supplied, a hydrogen supply amount adjustment means for adjusting the amount of hydrogen supplied based on the comparison result by the comparison means, and a H ２ H / CO ratio is calculated ２ / CO ratio calculation means, and ２ H to adjust the / CO ratio ２ and a CO / CO ratio adjusting means.

2. A method for producing liquid fuel from a biomass feedstock, a gasification step for producing synthesis gas from biomass feedstock; an electrolysis process that produces hydrogen from water using electricity generated using renewable energy; a liquid fuel production process in which liquid fuel is produced using the synthesis gas produced in the gasification process and the hydrogen produced in the electrolysis process as raw materials; a control step for controlling the gasification step and the electrolysis step, In the control step, a current fuel production cost α and a fuel production cost β without hydrogen supply are calculated, and if the fuel production cost α is lower than the fuel production cost β, the amount of hydrogen supply is increased; H ２ If the H / CO ratio does not match the target value, ２ A method for producing liquid fuels in which the hydrogen / CO ratio is adjusted to further increase the hydrogen supply if fuel costs decrease, or to return the hydrogen supply to the previous amount if fuel costs do not decrease.

Images