Integration of biocrude production from fast pyrolysis of biomass with solar PV for dispatchable electricity production

Abstract

This article analyses the integration of distributed biocrude production facilities using fast pyrolysis with solar photovoltaic (PV) for dispatchable electricity production. The strong growth of intermittent electricity generation from solar PV and wind is leading to a greater need for energy storage at grid scale and dynamic demand management. Various forms of energy storage, including electrochemical (e.g. batteries), mechanical (e.g. flywheels) and gravitational (e.g. pumped-hydro), are being developed. This work studies the issues of integrating fast pyrolysis of biomass to produce biocrude that can be readily stored in tanks and combusted to produce electricity when required to supplement the electricity generation from a solar PV unit to meet an arbitrary energy demand curve. The use of biomass pyrolysis in this application has a range of benefits, including the flexibility to augment intermittent renewables, the integration of more bioenergy into the electricity sector and the creation of commercial quantities of biocrudes that can be refined into renewable transport fuels such as jet fuel for which few other alternatives exist. Biocrudes, especially partially upgraded, can be stored and used when required in engines and gas turbines, making them a suitable fuel for augmenting the intermittent nature of solar and wind projects. The development of the distributed 100% renewable power stations using a mix of biomass/ biocrude and solar PV and/or wind would also increase the certainty of supply, knowledge of quality and price of raw biocrudes that can also be used to supply a centralized biorefinery, thereby substantially reducing the risk of investing in new biorefinery capacity.