Bath Plant

Biomass Use in the Cement Sector

A Fuel Users Perspective
April 14, 2011
Outline

Cement 101 Cement and
Concrete Primer

Biomass Fuels a cement
industry perspective

Cement 2020 whats next in
the development process
Photos: Front slide, hemp produced for trial;
Above Shredded mixed biomass for the trial:
Below Close up of shredded biomass mix
About Lafarge Canada

Lafarge Canada is part of the Lafarge Group,
headquartered in Paris, France.

Lafarge is the world leader in building materials, with top-
ranking positions in all of its businesses: Cement,
Aggregates & Concrete, and Gypsum.

Lafarge is ranked 6th in the Carbon Disclosure Project,
for the sixth year in a row is listed in the Global 100 most
Sustainable Corporations in the World, and entered the
global Dow J ones Sustainability Index in 2010 in
recognition of its sustainable development actions.

With the worlds leading building materials research facility,
Lafarge places innovation at the heart of its priorities,
working for sustainable construction and architectural
creativity.

With 78,000 employees in 78 countries, Lafarge posted
sales of 15.8 billion Euros in 2009.

Lafarge Canada is the largest cement producer in Canada.
Cement 101
Our product

Cement is to concrete as
yeast is to dough

Cement is the glue that holds
concrete together

More concrete sold per year
than all other building
materials combined.

Excellent Environmental
features

Long lasting

LEED building materials

Low embodied energy
LIMESTONE
CLAY
FLYASH
IRON
Lime

CaO
Silica

SiO2
Alumina

Al2O3
Iron

Fe2O3
Major Oxides
7
The Cement Manufacturing Process
Kiln Feed:
79% Limestone (calcium source - CaO)
16% Shale (silica and alumina source-SiO
2
, Al
2
O
3
)
3% Slag (iron source - Fe
2
O
3
2% Sand / Silica Rock (silica source - SiO
2
)
Minor elements present in kiln feed:
Sulphur, chloride, sodium, potassium
Calcination of limestone
CaCO
3
CaO + CO
2
(60% of GHG emissions)
Clinkering:
CaO + SiO
2
+ Al
2
O
3
+ Fe
2
O
3
Calcium Silicates + Calcium Aluminates
Calcium Alumino-ferrite
Cement:
Clinker + gypsum + limestone (+ flyash + slag) cement
Typical Cement Kiln

The burner heat
source is at the
discharge end of
the kiln, so the feed
gets hotter as it
moves its way
down the kiln

Flame
temperature is
2300C

At 1450C
clinker material
pours out the end of
the kiln into the
cooler
Kiln
Important Cement 101 Implications for Ag Fuels

Ash components are partitioned (sequestered) into the
product (see cobalt example below)

Unique combustion conditions (high temperatures,
ultra-long residence times)

Systems are sized and designed for coal use

At 5% of the worlds CO
2
emissions, the opportunity is
huge. Ideas to emerge out of Cement 2020 could be
adopted worldwide (e.g. 40% reduction in CO
2
from
cement industry is equivalent to removing Canadas
CO
2
emissions.
Inputs Outputs
(Coal/Coke)/biomass
(90:10)
Raw mix Stack Emissions Clinker
by difference
Partitioning
Factors
Cobalt 26.0 506.8 0.126 533
99.976%
Biomass Fuel Opportunities & Challenges
Photo of the injection
of biomass into the
kiln during the
biomass
demonstration test in
October, 2010
Results will be made
available at
www.cement2020.com
What are the important questions for fuel use?

Chemistry

C-H ratio
Lower Heating value
Refractory compounds

Particle size

Ash & metals
Partitioning
Effects on product
quality

Free moisture

Practical Matters

Storage

Transportation

Reliability of Supply

Processing
C
x
H
y
+ (x+0.5y)O
2
=>
xCO
2
+ (0.5y) H
2
O
Cobalt example
99.98% sequestered
in cement
A pile of coal will
require 2.5-3 same
size piles of biomass
for the same energy
value.
Coal is
typically 60-
80% carbon
while biomass
is 40-50%
carbon.
Wood can be 50%
moisture
Note: We may
end up
consuming more
energy when
using biomass
Challenge 1: Producing
biomass fuels
Supply
Forest
Slash, Harvest
Solid
Power, Steel,
Cement, Home,
Greenhouse, other
thermal
Fuel Product Processing
Liquid
Transportation,
Thermal, Power
Gas
Power, Home,
Commercial, other
thermal
Purpose
Grown
Crops, Agriforest,
stover
Waste /
Byproduct
Pulp & paper,
post consumer,
biosolids, other
Pelletization
Baling /
Shredding
Torrefaction
Liquefaction
Pyrolysis
Gasification
These technologies
may be applicable
to a variety of
feedstock sources.
A brief aside what is a Gigajoule???

A unit of energy, 1 million
joules = GJ

It is accepted practice to
compare prices of fuels,
apples to apples, using $/GJ

1 GJ = 278 kW.h. *

1 GJ = 947,817 BTU

* As energy released which, with
electricity efficiency etc would not
equal the electricity delivered to an
end user.
Some mathematics (for illustration)

Start with 1 Acre

4 tonnes per Acre = 4 Tonnes

18 GJ /Tonne [dry] = 72 GJ /acre

Revenue of $150/ac = $2.08/GJ

Price to produce bales on the farm?

Pelletization = $50/tne = $2.8/GJ

Transportation of pellets

30 tonnes = 540 GJ /truck [minus water]

Cost at $5/loaded km = $0.93/GJ /100km

Price FOB to fuel user 200 km away is $6.74/GJ

Excludes additional costs at fuel users site
These are all
assumptions and
can be adjusted in
the privacy of your
own home.
Clearing the air on pellets

Doing the math assuming loose biomass at 20 tonnes per truck load results in
a transportation cost of $1.4/GJ/100 km (also and importantly avoids on site
cost to re-grind pellets, if necessary)

Breakeven is over 400 km assuming 1% of land within a 400 km radius1.24
million tonnes of biomass available

Advantages of pellets

Recognized product

Good for systems designed to use pellets

Economical at long transportation distances

Some benefit in heating value (GJ/tonne) [Drier]

Improved conveyability

Disadvantages

Cost & must be stored in covered storage

Cement kilns prefer smaller particle size fuel

Dusting and off-gassing
17
Challenge 2: Cost of Biomass Fuels
Fuel Type Cost per Gigajoule
Gasoline $24
Natural Gas $5-$12
Grown Biomass $6-$10 (OMAFRA est)
Coal $3-$5
Coke $2-$4
Note: Coal releases about 90 kg CO
2
/GJ; a Cap &
Trade cost of $50/tne CO
2
will add about $4.5/GJ to
the cost of coal.
Challenge 3: the Quality of Biomass as a Fuel
[Orknow thy enemy]
Characteristic Coal Biomass
$/GJ $3-$5 $6-$10
Energy Density 32 GJ/m3 13 GJ/m3
Shipping Boat Truck
% Ash 5-20% 3-10%
Ash Chemistry Useful Neutral
Availability High Low-Moderate
CO
2
Emissions 100% <10%
Other Emissions Present Lower (caution)
Water Use 0.16 m
3
/GJ Variable, TBD
Storage Outdoor Covered?
Problems to be solved (and how Cement 2020 is
working on them)

How to improve biomass fuel quality

Use waste heat

Carbonization? Torrefaction?

How to create biomass ready fuel
infrastructure

Start with biomass byproducts,
co-products

Continue crop development
research (yield improvement)

Water use

Include water in LCAs

Cost

What is the case for government
subsidies?

Food vs Fuel

Policy development

Emissions from combustion

Less of an issue when
replacing fossil fuels,
especially coal biomass
demonstration

For unsophisticated cases,
standards around biomass use
and associated emission
controls

Gasification for home use?

Other social aspects

Local fuel is a big positive

Trucks vs boats

Land use and biodiversity

Community involvement
Cement 2020

Life Cycle Assessment of ag biomass and other sources

Carbon

Water

Greener Fuel Screening Protocol

Landscape issues with land conversion to biomass production

How best to use waste heat

Electricity?

Carbonization?

Both?

Road map

Implementation in 2012
Partners
Lafarge, SVI, WWF Canada, NRCan, MOE, Env.
Canada, Queens, RMC, Portland Cement
Association
Steering Committee
Rob Cumming, Brian Gasiorowski, Warren Mabee,
Sebnem Madrali, Andrew Pollard, Glynn Robinson,
Steven Price
Researcher and Contributors
Darko Matovic, Ted Grandmaison, Tom Carpenter,
J ohn Chandler, Sam Fujimoto, Sharon Regan, Goni
Boulama, Mike Lepage, International Review Team,
Lafarge Engineer Team
Project Management
Ron Quick, Alison Obenauf, David Hyndman, Anjali
Varma, Sarah Harrison
Thank you to NRCan
and Environment
Canada for their
financial support
Follow us on Twitter! Cement 2020 business
cards are available at the front desk