Exergy analysis of synthetic

natural gas production

method from biomass
Arranged by : RIZKA MAYASARI
03012681318015

Why Study Exergy?

In the last several decades, exergy analysis has

begun to be used for system optimization.
By

analyzing the exergy destroyed by each

component in a process, we can see where we
should be focusing our efforts to improve system
efficiency.
It can also be used to compare components or
systems to help make informed design decisions.

Introduction
Most of the world energy consumption is supplied by
non-renewable energy sources such as oil, coal and
natural gas. In many countries the main energy source is
natural gas.
In order to solve the problems of depletion of fossil
fuels and their destructive influence on the environment,
synthetic natural gas (SNG) is suggested as the
important future energy carrier. Sustainable SNG
produced from biomass can provide an attractive option
for renewable biofuels.

Objectives

The objective of this paper is to determine the exergetic

efficiency of the biomass-to-SNG conversion process.
In the investigated technology a woody stream was
chosen as a feedstock to produce SNG, which has to
meet the local quality requirements.
This work is focused on the north part of the
Netherlands, where the Groningen gas is distributed.
The main requirements for the SNG produced are: gross
calorific value (HHV) 31.6 38.7 MJ/Nm3 and Wobbe
index 43.4 44.4 MJ/Nm3

Process Description

Figure 1: A block diagram of a biomass gasification process integrated

with methane synthesis.

Exergy Analysis

Exergy is defined as the maximum amount of work that

can be obtained from a material stream, heat stream or
work interaction by bringing this stream to environmental
conditions.
The exergy concept is based on both the first and
second law of thermodynamics
The main reason of exergy analysis is to detect and
evaluate quantitatively the losses that occur in thermal
and chemical processes.
Three forms are the major contributors to total exergy
and they are: thermal exergy, work exergy, and
exergy of material.

The exergy content of the heat stream Q, called as a thermal exergy

Q, is calculated as:
1

Work interaction, such as mechanical Wx, or electrical work We, is a

completely ordered form of energy and therefore the exergy value
W equals to the amount of work done
2

The quality of a material stream can be expressed using its physical

and chemical exergy.
3

The physical exergy is calculated using enthalpy and entropy data

for the given system:
4

The standard chemical exergy of a pure chemical compound ch is

equal to the maximum amount of work obtainable when a
compound is brought from the environmental state, characterized
by the environmental temperature T0 (25C) and environmental
pressure P0 (1 atm), to the dead state, characterized by the same
environmental conditions of temperature and pressure, but also by
the concentration of reference substances in standard environment.
The exergy balance of a process can be represented in the following
form using exergy values of all streams entering and leaving the
process:
5

The exergetic efficiency is defined as the ratio between useful

exergy outputs from the process to the necessary exergy input to
this process. In this study three definitions of rational exergetic
efficiencies were applied as follows:

Results

Influence of gasification conditions on exergetic

efficiency

Figure 2 Exergetic efficiency ( 3) of the biomass-to-SNG

technology at various gasification conditions

CONCLUSION
This paper shows the results of the exergetic analysis of
biomass-to-SNG process. The main process units of this
technology are gasifier, gas cleaning, synthesis gas compression,
CH4 synthesis and final SNG condition.
The study was focused on the influence of the gasification
pressure on the whole process. The analysed gasification
temperature was set to 700C and the pressure range was
changed from 1 to 15 bar.
The results showed that the largest exergy losses take place
in the biomass gasifier, CH4 synthesis part and CO2 capture unit.

Thank you