BIOMASS GASIFICATION FOR GAS TURBINE-BASED POWER-GENERATION

The Biomass Power Program of the US Department of Energy (DOE) has as a major goal the development of cost-competitive technologies for the production of power from renewable biomass crops. The gasification of biomass provides the potential to meet this goal by efficiently and ec onomically producing a renewable source of a clean gaseous fuel suitab le for use in high-efficiency gas turbines. This paper discusses the d evelopment and first commercial demonstration of the Battelle high-thr oughput gasification process for power generation systems. Projected p rocess economics are presented along with a description of current exp erimental operations coupling a gas turbine power generation system to the research scale gasifier and the process scaleup activities in Bur lington, Vermont.