Case Study: Simulation of Synthetic Natural Gas Production Plant from Empty Fruit Bunches

Abstract

Colombia has a privileged geography and location that allow it to have a great potential in terms of variety and availability of useful raw materials to produce synthetic natural gas (SNG) through the combined gasification-methanation process. In this study, the steady state simulation model of a proposed plant to produce SNG from empty fruit bunches (EFB) is done in Aspen Plus. The combined gasification-methanation process has been modeled in four stages. In the first stage, the moisture content of the biomass is reduced. In the second stage, gasification of the dry EFB is performed. In the third stage, cleaning and conditioning of the produced gas (syngas) is carried out, removing ash, tars, COS, H2S and CO2. In the fourth stage, methanation of the syngas is carried out using Tremp technology to produce SNG. The SNG produced contains a methane molar concentration of 95% and an approximate yield of 0.064 m3 SNG/kg of biomass. The plant simulation has been improved by means of an energy integration, implemented through Pinch technology. The energy integration enabled savings of 100 % of the required heating utilities and 37.7 % of the cooling utilities.