1999

Kurkela, Esa

The publicly funded gasification and pyrolysis research activities of VTT have been integrated into a three-year programme to elevate the profile of Finnish gasification and pyrolysis R&D and to efficiently maintain contacts with foreign enterprises that utilise these technologies. The programme is focused on applied technical research, and on process and equipment development done in co-operation with industries. The total volume of the programme in 1997-99 will amount to FIM 35 million, the main financiers being VTT, several EU Pro-grammes, the Technology Development Centre (Tekes) and a number of enter-prises. In addition to VTT's R&D projects, several confidential industrial and demonstration projects are also linked to the PROGAS programme. The PROGAS programme aims at promoting development and commercialisa-tion of energy production methods based on gasification and pyrolysis technol-ogy as well as creating new export products. The processes concerned will be more efficient, environmentally sounder and, in the long term, also more profit-able than the competing conventional combustion technology. This aim will be achieved through the following technical sub-tasks: · Supporting on-going and planned demonstration projects based on pressur-ised gasification through follow-up studies, test runs and solving critical problems · Improving the competitiveness of simplified IGCC plants by developing gasification of coal and biomass mixtures, hot gas cleaning and other critical parts of the process · Supporting demonstration projects based on atmospheric-pressure gasifica-tion, and solving critical problems that are hampering the commercialisation of the gasification systems for problematic agrobiomasses and wastes · Development and demonstration of power plant concepts based on flash py-rolysis and diesel engines and development of catalytic tar cleanup, presently the bottleneck of the gasification diesel power plant · Development of biomass-based flash pyrolysis oils to boiler fuels · Active development of new conversion methods for solid fuels and initiation of new research and development projects.