Semi-Mobile Bioenergy from Agricultural and Forest Residues in Chile

The German-Chilean research project ‘Semi-Mobile Bioenergy from Agricultural and Forest Residues in Chile and Beyond’ aims at developing feasible concepts for regional bioenergy chains. One part of the project is to use mobile Thermo-Catalytic Reforming (TCR®) units to convert biogenic residues into high quality fuels directly at the facility where the residues occur. The TCR® is an intermediate pyrolysis combined with a unique integrated catalytic reforming step. Within the scope of the project, a TCR® plant with a capacity of 2 kg/h will be containerized and connected with a CHP to utilize gas and oil. Within this framework, several preliminary trials with feedstocks from Chile were carried out at the Fraunhofer UMSICHT facility. Various biogenic and industrial residues like forestry and agriculture residues were successfully tested. The products carbonisates, gas, and oil were characterized and the high quality has been proved in several downstream and upstream processes such as CHP, gasifier, and HDO treatments to produce transport fuels. Straw and wood pellets were processed at different parameters to optimize the product yields and qualities for the CHP operation. Through this innovative process, it will be possible to increase local value creation and reduce Chile’s dependency on energy imports.
Proceedings of the 26th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 14-17 May 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 635-638