Abstract
Abstract
In France, 100 Mtoe of the 250 Mtoe primary energy resources is oil, used mostly for transport (about 60%), while 50 Mtoe is gas and coal. The reduction in greenhouse effect gases as well as in economic reliance on fossil fuels is highly dependent on the reduction in automotive fuels from oil and gas. Moreover, in the European transport sector, increased use of Bioenergy in industry usually creates rural development and a gain of 2 to 3 % in net additional jobs per 1 000 toe/year substituted. Hence, strategic and economic as well as environmental and technical motives justify an increased use of renewable fuels in the transport sector. In France, it is proven that the biomass produced annually could potentially substitute for up to 25% of fossil fuels used for transport.
The most energy efficient way to convert biomass into liquid fuels is by thermal steam gasification of biomass feedstock to a syngas (H2 and CO) coupled with a synthesis unit. This gasification offers flexibility regarding both feedstock and final product, but it requires additional development and improvement to reach economic profitability. Taking this into account, a project has been launched by l'Institut Français du Pétrole (IFP) and le Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA), in order to develop a process that produces a synthesis gas from various biomass resources with the required purity for direct industrial fuel synthesis uses.