Production of methanol from a mixture of torrefied biomass and coal

This paper investigated the influence of adding torrefied biomass within an entrained flow coal gasifier for the production of methanol. Computer simulations of gasifying a mixture of torrefied biomass and coal within an entrained flow gasifier, synthesis gas purification, and methanol synthesis were carried out using the Aspen plus program package. In addition, economic analyses are presented based on the net present value. It was shown that, based on the predictions for future prices of the raw materials and methanol, usage of a mixture of biomass and coal within entrained flow gasifiers would be feasible and could become economically even better than the usage of coal only. The net emissions of CO2 would also be significantly lowered. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.