Abstract
AbstractThis paper describes an economic analysis of the GoBiGas plant, which is a first‐of‐its‐kind industrial installation for advanced biofuel production (ABP) via gasification, in which woody biomass is converted to biomethane. A previous technical evaluation of the demonstration unit confirmed that it is technically feasible to construct advanced biofuel production plants, using commercially available and widely used components. Thus, significant cost reductions for equipment cannot be expected as a consequence of learning effects. However, the equipment itself accounted for <20% of the total investment cost at GoBiGas and there exists the potential to reduce the production cost through learning how to assemble the process and reduce project‐specific costs. The analysis shows that a plant with capacity of 200 MW of biomethane is an attractive scale for future stand‐alone ABP plants with respect to limiting the production cost. For a 200‐MW ABP plant operated using forest residues as fuel, the production cost for biomethane is estimated at approximately 600 SEK/MWh, (60€/MWh, 75US$/MWh), which is equivalent to 5.4 SEK/liter gasoline [0.54 €/liter, or 2.5USD per gallon (9.9 SEK/€, 8 SEK/USD)], where the feedstock accounts for about 36% of the production cost. The most significant uncertainty factors pertaining to the estimated production costs are expected to relate to: trade conditions; the location of the installation; and the local price of feedstock. Thus, there is some potential for implementing cost‐competitive ABP systems of smaller capacity if low‐grade feedstocks (eg, waste‐derived woody biomass) can be utilized, and/or if the unit can be integrated with the already existing infrastructure.
Highlights
In this report, cost data for a first-of-its-kind, demonstration plant for advanced biofuel production (ABP), namely the GoBiGas plant, are analyzed to derive an estimate of the production costs of biofuels in a commercial-scale ABP plant of similar type
A major part of a gasification-based ABP plant will consist of similar reactor systems regardless of whether the selected product is methane or some other biofuel, such as methanol, dimethyl ether (DME), mixed alcohols or Fischer- Tropsch crude
The investment cost of the ABP plant is based on the investment cost of the GoBiGas plant and the bars indicate how the investment cost changes as the estimated scale factors (SFs) are changed by ±0.1
Summary
Cost data for a first-of-its-kind, demonstration plant for advanced biofuel production (ABP), namely the GoBiGas plant, are analyzed to derive an estimate of the production costs of biofuels in a commercial-scale ABP plant of similar type. The GoBiGas plant was built in the harbor area of Gothenburg, Sweden, by Göteborg Energi, which is an energy company own by the. The GoBiGas project included two phases, whereby the first phase involved the construction of a demonstration plant capable of producing 20 MW of biomethane and the second phase involved the construction of a commercial plant with a production capacity of about 100 MW. This work is based on the experience and data from the demonstration plant with 20 MW of production, which is referred to as the “GoBiGas plant.”
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
