Bioenergy May/June 2013 by Woodcote Media Ltd

May/June 2013 Issue 3 â&#x20AC;˘ Volume 4

Shifting focus

The largest natural gas fuelling chain in the US is investing heavily in renewables

Compare and contract Raw material scarcity is still impacting the pellet market in Scandinavia

This degression will not stand

A change to the RHI is needed to avoid the risk of unnecessary tariff degression

Regional focus: Scandinavia

Bioenergy xxxx

Consulting Engineers First Choice

Hurst biomass fired systems lead the alternative energy boiler market with innovative “Hands Free” solid-fuel-feed and combustion designs. Complete modular construction for easy low cost installation. Husrt has 46 years specializing in custom design of biomass steam plants and cogeneration systems.

xx • December 2011

Bioenergy Insight

contents Bioenergy

Contents Issue 3 • Volume 4 May/June 2013 Horseshoe Media Limited Marshall House 124 Middleton Road, Morden, Surrey SM4 6RW, UK www.bioenergy-news.com publisher & Editor Margaret Dunn Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4126 margaret@bioenergy-news.com Deputy EDITOR James Barrett Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4146 james@bioenergy-news.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Keeley Downey Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4183 keeley@horseshoemedia.com INTERNATIONAL Sales MANAGER Anisha Patel Tel: +44 (0) 203 551 5752 anisha@bioenergy-news.com North America sales representative Matt Weidner +1 610 486 6525 mtw@weidcom.com PRODUCTION Alison Balmer Tel: +44 (0)1673 876143 alisonbalmer@btconnect.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES £130/€160/$210 for 6 issues per year. Contact: Lisa Lee Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4160 Fax: +44 (0)20 8687 4130 marketing@horseshoemedia.com

2 Comment

3 Biomass news

8 Biopower news 9 Biogas news

14 Biopellet news

17 Technology news 25 Incident report 26 Green page

29 US House farm bill removes funding certainty

A small round-up as the US moves towards sealing its farm bills which will affect energy sectors

30 IBTC: Setting the standards for torrefied biomass 32 Plant update – Scandinavia 34 Power to neutrality

Ena Energi CEO explains why he is not satisfied with simply being a ‘provider’ of renewable energy

35 Looking long-term

Could diversification be on the cards at Norwegian pellet company Pemco Trepellets

36 Compare and contract

In a region dense with forestry it’s surprising to learn that raw material scarcity is still one factor impacting the pellet market in certain parts of Scandinavia

39 Danish power in the Far East An abundance of feedstock and change of attitude toward renewable energy has made China the destination of choice for PlanEnergi

40 Denmark’s hot topic

41 This degression will not stand

A small but important change to the Renewable Heat Incentive is needed to avoid the risk of unnecessary tariff degression

43 Hammering coal

Biomass is finding a niche as more and more power plants look for alternatives to coal

45 Retrofitting for the future 47 Hybrid theory

A Germany-based paper mill needed a biomass system that seemingly did not exist – so how did it get to where it wanted to go?

49 Achieving renewable compliance Follow us on Twitter: @BioenergyInfo

50 Shifting focus

No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in any form by any mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or other means without the prior written consent of the publisher. Whilst the information and articles in Bioenergy Insight are published in good faith and every effort is made to check accuracy, readers should verify facts and statements direct with official sources before acting on them as the publisher can accept no responsibility in this respect. Any opinions expressed in this magazine should not be construed as those of the publisher. ISSN 2046-2476

Bioenergy Insight

The nation’s largest natural gas fuelling chain is investing heavily in renewables, and wants to provide biogas producers access to an untapped market

52 New additives address biomass boiler operational issues Fouling, corrosion and agglomeration issues related to biomass combustion can be mitigated using additives

54 The grass can be greener 55 Success is tough times

57 Cleaning up A US gasification plant chose to use a wet syngas-cleaning system as opposed to a solely dry technology

MAY/JUNE 2013 Issue 3 • Volume 4

Shifting focus

The largest natural gas fuelling chain in the US is investing heavily in renewables

59 Food waste digestion becomes reality in Somerset

Compare and contract

62 The coal copycat The start-up of two torrefaction plants could prove industry game-changers

Raw material scarcity is still impacting the pellet market in Scandinavia

This degression will not stand

64 Digesting the possibilities

A change to the RHI is needed to avoid the risk of unnecessary tariff degression

65 Attention to detail

66 An Insight into ADBA 76 Event listing Ad index

Regional focus: Scandinavia FC_Bioenergy_May/June_2013.indd 1

04/06/2013 17:09

Front cover image courtesy of ADBA

May/June 2013 • 1

Bioenergy comment

Boost for biogas

I Margaret Dunn Publisher

n May we heard the good, albeit perhaps surprising, news that electricity produced from landfill biogas may be eligible for renewable identification numbers (RINs) in the US, under several proposals for amendments to the RFS2. In May we heard the good, albeit perhaps surprising, news that electricity produced from landfill biogas may be eligible for renewable identification numbers (RINs) in the US, under several proposals for amendments to the RFS2. This is great news for a fuel that has largely flown under the radar in the US until now and will undoubtedly increase the interest in biogas projects across the globe. So far only a handful of biogas producers have registered under the RFS to generate RINs, out of the over 1,000 biogas facilities in the US, so this is something we expect to hear much more about this year. In this issue we spend quite

a few pages examining the biogas sector to coincide with the upcoming UK Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) conference. Biogas projects as a general rule are a tough sell to investors. They can take a long time to get off the ground, they’re costly and they carry plenty of risks, such as the source material not producing as much biogas as expected. They also tend to be fairly unpopular with the public. When proposed for rural locations close to a feedstock source, opponents tend to cite noise, odour and traffic concerns as some of the major objections. Last month I had the opportunity to visit a biogas plant in Denmark to see firsthand what all the fuss was about. To combat some of the challenges, such as insufficient feedstock, several farms in the region of Billund had partnered together to feed slurry into one biogas plant via pipelines. Not only did this reduce

the traffic often required to transport the feedstock by road, it also minimised odour and optimised the amount of biogas produced. This model of industry collaboration provides just one example of how biogas can be produced efficiently. In fact biogas produced from anaerobic digestion has been shown to be five to nine times more land use efficient than biodiesel and two and a half to nine times more efficient than bioethanol. Although we’re certainly not suggesting this is a competition, it is good to see that regulators are starting to realise than biogas is not a fuel to be ignored. We hope you learn a little more about this sector of the bioenergy market from this issue and if you have any comments of your own to add, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Best wishes, Margaret

2 • May/June 2013

Bioenergy Insight

xxxxxx Bioenergy

biomass news

Funding for Wisconsin bioenergy centre to continue

Bioenergy growth predicted with Cambodian purchase

The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Centre in Wisconsin, US has had its funding by the US Department of Energy (US DoE) renewed for another five years.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed so Sino Bioenergy can acquire a Cambodian agriculture project.

The centre receives $25 million (€19.2 million) a year from the US DoE and supports almost 400 researchers. ‘Our researchers, in partnership with the states of Wisconsin, Michigan and

affiliated industries, have made substantial progress toward developing the next generation of advanced biofuels,’ says centre director Tim Donohue. ‘During this first funding cycle, the centre produced over 400 research publications and nearly 60 patents related to bioenergy.’ The next steps now that extra funding has been secured are for the centre to develop sustainable practices with enhanced biofuel crops and to increase the conversion efficiency of biomass into fuels and chemicals. l

Sino will purchase 100% of the 198,900,000 shares in Sky Energy holdings at US$0.60 each and the deal is undergoing due diligence before final sign off. A Sky Energy subsidiary, Noble Success, is cultivating cassava in Cambodia and intends to plant Sino’s exclusive rice seed crops. It will use the by-product for biomass and believes it can produce up to 270,000 tonnes from its cassava plantation alone. ‘This planned acquisition is another opportunity for us to utilise both our super rice seeds and our refuse derived fuel technology,’ says Sino Bioenergy president Daniel McKinney. ‘We are looking forward to closing this acquisition.’ l

Biocoal research to begin in Canada The Centre Technologique des Résidus Industriels and FPInnovations in Canada will jointly research the potential production of biocoal from forest residues.

It is a three year project funded to the tune of CN$1.8 million (€1.3 million) by five relevant companies. ‘The competitiveness of the forestry industry depends on its ability to explore new markets and develop new products,’ Jean Hamel, VP of bioproducts at FPInnovations was quoted as saying.

‘This research project is providing us with an opportunity to help diversify the range of products offered by the forestry industry, by replacing bituminous coal in higher added value applications, such as in the fields of water and gas treatment, metallurgy as well as

in soil remediation.’ The funding is set to come from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Resolute Forest Products, Natural Resources Canada, CRIBIQ (a Québec consortium for research and innovations in industrial bioprocesses) and Airex Energy. l

SES snaps up Danish seaweed cultivating business Seaweed Energy Solutions (SES) has reached an agreement to acquire 100% of Danish company Seaweed Seed Supply (SSS) to reinforce its position in largescale seaweed cultivation for renewable energy. SSS´ goal of increasing production to 100,000 tonnes by 2017 from the current 5,000 tonnes capacity can now become a reality via this purchase.

Bioenergy Insight

SES technology will be introduced into Denmark and the two companies will jointly improve and adapt it to the local environment. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. ‘The deal in Denmark reinforces our ambition to develop seaweed as a sustainable source of biomass for fuel, feed and other products — and we will make the ocean cleaner at the same time,’ said SES CEO Paal Bakken. SES is currently seeking investors for its technology development and its plans to increase production in Norway and Denmark. l

Going green: SES moves into the algae sector

May/June 2013 • 3

xxxxxx Bioenergy

biomass news

Biomass boiler fits in perfectly with historic UK accommodation

A UK charity, the Gorning Heath Almshouses, has used a National Lottery grant to purchase a biomass boiler to help heat its buildings. The £50,000 (€58,600) windfall was put towards a £155,000 system that will burn wood pellets on behalf of the charity to heat low-cost housing for 17 pensioners. The almshouses, which are nearly 300 years old and Grade One listed, were previously heated by seven oil boilers. ‘We wanted to reduce our carbon footprint and save money,’ says trustee Garry Foster. ‘A biomass boiler fitted our requirements perfectly and could be sensitively installed to preserve the building’s integrity. We are now installing sheep’s wool as roof insulation to further help to reduce heat bills.’ The rest of the system’s cost was raised via fund-raising and additional grants from other charitable trusts. l

Royal opening for Scottish biomass plant The Helius Corde biomass energy plant and animal feed processing unit in Rothes, Scotland has opened. The plant was officially opened on 17 April by HRH the Duke of Rothesay and it will use by-products from nearby malt whisky distilleries to produce renewable energy and an animal feed protein supplement. The plant, owned and operated by the joint venture of Helius Energy, Rabo Project Equity and the Combination of Rothes Distillers (CORD), will generate enough electricity to power 9,000 homes, saving around 46,000 tonnes per year of CO2. A further reduction of 18,000 tonnes CO2 per year will be saved via the closing of an existing gas fired CORD facility. The total development and construction cost of the 8.3MW project is £60.5 million (€70.6 million).

4 • May/June 2013

‘Projects like these will increasingly form part of the UK energy mix and we were proud HRH the Duke of Rothesay joined us to formally open our plant,’ says Helius Energy’s CEO Adrian Bowles. Aalborg Energie Technik (AET) provided the complete turnkey design, supply, erection and commissioning of the biomass CHP project, including fuel reception, handling and storage systems through to the flue gas treatment system. At the heart of the plant is AET’s combustion system and boiler. The fuel dosing and combustion technology provides optimal combustion conditions and results in low emissions, high boiler efficiencies, high plant availability and low maintenance costs. The Helius Corde plant is the second biomass plant to be built by AET in the UK. The first is a 15MWe power only plant at Western Wood in Port Talbot in Wales, which opened in 2008. l

News in brief Funds used Maine-ly for biomassbased energy projects THE US Department of Forestry has invested millions of dollars into boosting biomass use throughout Maine. The $11.4 million (€8.6 million) has gone towards the Fuels for Public Buildings grant which aims to bring 24 biomass conversion projects online in the likes of schools, public buildings and hospitals across the state. The latest project, at an education centre in Ashland, is scheduled to be completed in May.

Bulgaria fuels new renewable energy project

A NEW biofuels plant in Sofia, Bulgaria has awarded the construction contract to Greek company Aktor-Helektor. The project, set to use waste as feedstock, is set to take 19 months to come to fruition and cost around €109.2 million. This is the second renewable energy project for the capital city as it joins another bioenergy system which is set to reduce Sofia’s natural gas usage by 10% by creating heat from city waste materials.

US states battle it out for biomass fuel project

The Colorado Economic Development Commission (CEDC) has dangled a multi-million dollar carrot in front of biomass company Cool Planet Energy Systems (CP) to try and entice it to the state. CP, a California-based start-up, claims to have a petrol generating process via biomass and plant waste that does not need to rely on federal subsidies. The CEDC hopes $3 million (€2.3 million) in tax credits will be enough to secure around 400 jobs the project will bring via corporate headquarters and a large-scale facility. Texas is the other state believed to be in the running.

EGP purchase spurs on biomass power project

Energy provider Enel Green Power (EGP) and Italybased SECI Energia have signed an agreement for the acquisition by EGP of 50% of Powercrop, a Maccaferri Group business dedicated to biomass energy conversion. With this acquisition, EGP will aim to develop biomass energy across a short supply chain with SECI by constructing five new facilities with a capacity of 150MW each. If fully implemented, the project could generate up to one billion KWh. Local agricultural and forestry industries will provide feedstock that is in line with EU recommendations of available biomasses. The project will also aim to provide jobs to former sugar factory workers who may have suffered since the sugar sector reform and to those working in the closest agricultural districts.

Bioenergy Insight

Port of partnerships biomass news Bioenergy

biomass meets

market

Bioenergy Insight

Welcome to the port of Amsterdam. Where biomass meets market. The port of Amsterdam has the ambition to grow in a sustainable way. As second-largest coal port of Europe we have all the facilities and experience to storage, tranship and process biomass. Amsterdam has a unique, logistical location within the world largest international, energy hub ARA (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp). Amsterdam has also excellent connections for transit to the hinterland.

The port of Amsterdam offers a dynamic international hub and achieves this by closely cooperating with partners in the business, city and region. Want to know more about the port of Amsterdam where all kinds of biomass meet market? Go to www.portofamsterdam.nl or contact Port of Amsterdam Commercial Division, Cluster Energy directly via lex.de.ridder@portofamsterdam.nl

May/June 2013 â&#x20AC;˘ 5

biomass news

Europe shouldn’t halt transport decarbonisation says ePure European ethanol association ePure has responded to the draft report by European parliament member Corinne Lepage which focused on the European Commission’s (EC) proposal for a directive amending the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) and the directive of the use of energy from renewable sources. ‘We see some constructive suggestions in Lepage’s draft report but also some ideas that give cause for real concern,’ states Rob Vierhout, ePure secretary general. EPure recalls that renewable ethanol, made in Europe, produces greenhouse gas emission savings for transport between 50-90% compared to fossil fuels. The ethanol industry therefore does not endorse the suggested proposal in Lepage’s report to postpone the reduction of GHG emissions under the FQD to 2025. ‘If we are serious about decarbonising transport then there should not

The reports by certain ‘green’ associations have further stirred ePure into defending renewable fuel

be a call for postponing measures,’ adds Vierhout. The industry can neither agree to use ILUC factors as a sustainability criterion and ePure holds the position that, at this stage, there is not a minimum of scientific consensus on ILUC effects. ‘Yet, even if you take into account the supposed land use change emissions of biofuels mentioned in

reports commissioned by the NGOs Greenpeace, Transport and Environment, the European Environmental Bureau and BirdLife Europe, renewable ethanol still allows for impressive substantial emissions savings,’ ePure said in a statement. ‘For the technology of lignocellulosic ethanol to come to full deployment, and keep the investments in

Europe, we strongly favour a mandatory, dedicated target for advanced biofuels of at least 2%, but not virtual measures such as multiple counting,’ adds Vierhout. ‘A target creates certainty that investors need, but calling for ILUC factors for certain advanced biofuels in the near future adds another uncertainty we do not support.’ l

FSE Energy ensures the success of our woldwide customer base through the delivery of the highest quality heat and energy equipment solutions. Product details at www.fseenergy.com. 6 • May/June 2013

Bioenergy Insight

biomass news

UK hospitals set to benefit from Green Investment Bank fund Two hospitals in Cambridge, UK are set to benefit from a multi-million pound investment from the Green Investment Bank for a biomass project. The £18 million (€21 million) injection is the Bank’s first foray into aiding a National Health Service renewable energy project.

The first two plants at the head of the push would be delivered into Congo and Cambodia, tentatively based at 5MW and 10MW of power respectively. ‘Usually, the cost to build a plant is between $1.2 and $1.5 million per

megawatt,’ WS group CEO Chan Cheu Leong was quoted as saying. ‘Potentially we may build up to 30 new plants across the globe over the next five to 10 years.’ The size of the plants will be dictated by the needs of the respective countries but Leong added that bigger plants were not an unfeasible thought for WS moving forward. ‘The sizes I quoted are suitable for developing countries where energy is not sufficient,’ he continued. ‘We are seeking rice mill and palm oil mill operators in the respective countries for potential strategic partnerships too.’ l

LANDIA PUMPS AND MIXERS

angemeld e nt déposé .

PaPetndeinng t

Bioenergy Insight

Malaysia-based Wah Seong Corporation (WS) is to expand its renewable energy division via plans to build biomass generated power plants in South America and Africa.

. Paten

The grant comes in at CA$680,230 (€522,375) and the facility will burn waste wood from a nearby forest. As well as the municipal building, heat will also be provided to a nearby business, a school and four residences. ‘Building clean energy infrastructure is an investment in the economic prosperity and long-term sustainability of Telkwa,’ says Prince George MP Bob Zimmer. ‘I am pleased our government is supporting this environmentally friendly initiative that will create jobs, strengthen the local economy and support the growing needs of the community.’ It is also believed the project will reduce local CO2 emissions by around 10 tonnes a year. l

as well as displacing over 25,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. l

The Canadian government has awarded the village of Telkwa a grant to retrofit a municipal building with a biomass heating system.

No need to panic: two hospitals are set to go green

Wah Seong seeks to provide biomass plants to several continents

Pa te

New Canadian biomass project receives government backing

If planning permission is approved, the new facility will provide Addenbrooke and Rosie hospitals with a CHP unit, biomass and dual fuel boilers and heat recovery from medical incineration. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which operates both hospitals, predicts the move to renewable energy will save over £20 million in energy costs over 25 years,

e ldt . Br

When You Need Pumping and Mixing Solutions that Work! Contact the World‘s Leading Manufacturer of Heavy-Duty Chopper Pumps and Mixing Solutions - with over 20 Years‘ Experience in the Biogas Industry. LANDIA PUMPS AND MIXERS

us - Meet A, B D at A stand ... no. B1

SLUDGE PUMPING DIGESTER MIXING FEEDSTOCK CONDITIONING

www.LandiaWorld.com

May/June 2013 • 7

biopower news Zimbabwe keen to increase biomass-led electricity production The Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Authority has received license application to build a biomass power plant from Lurosa Investments.

The proposed 2MW facility would generate electricity from timber waste feedstock in the east of the country. Zimbabwe currently uses more electricity

than it produces at peak times (2,000MW against 1,200MW). It has been reported that 70,000 tonnes of biomass is produced a year and that figure could double by 2015. Zimbabwe has a big timber industry which is spread over 120,000 hectares of land. The Lurosa application is one of 11 others which, when totalled together, represents an investment of $10 billion (€7.7 billion) and could produce up to 5,400MW. l

EIB supports construction of CHP station in Poland Shoreham’s power station

Renewable electricity plant gets approval in UK The green light has been given for a new renewable power station at Shoreham Port, UK this month. Plans for the electricity generating facility, set to cost around £20 million (€23.6 million), were passed by a Adur District Council committee. Construction will be handled by Edgeley Green Power and the facility will cover one acre next to the existing Shoreham power station on Fishergate terminal. ‘We are delighted our

8 • May/June 2013

plans have been approved and we aim to become fully operational in early 2015,’ says Edgeley CEO Mike Reynolds. ‘Projects such as this are important because they contribute to the security of energy supply and will create local jobs.’ Reynolds adds the facility will look to generate 32MW, which is enough to power 18,000 homes for a year. It will be fuelled by a range of vegetable oils, plant oils and animal fats which are not fit for human consumption. The fuel will be transported direct to the site by ship rather than road. l

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is to provide a €140 million loan to Elektrocieplownia Stalowa Wola for the construction of a combined cycle gas turbine power station.

The facility will have an electricity capacity of 450MWe, a heating capacity of 240MWh and is expected to be operational in the second half of 2015.

It will be built on an existing industrial site within the boundaries of the Stalowa Wola power plant in south east Poland, providing power to the grid and heat to neighbouring towns as well as industrial off-takers. EIB promotes the development of sustainable and secure energy supplies. It was attracted to the project as the plant’s overall efficiency is reported to reach a level above the industry average, helping to reduce coal consumption at the Stalowa Wola power plant by 100,000 tonnes per year. l

New bioenergy plant in Sweden progresses

Bioenergy plant operator Katrinefors Kraftvärme (KK) is set to build a new CHP plant in Sweden with local municipal energy company VänerEnergi. This will be the second plant involving KK, a 50/50 joint venture owned by Metsä Tissue (MT), and it will be based near a MT mill in Mariestad. Construction was slated to start this April and be operational by the end of 2014. MT will supply around half of the €30 million cost. l

Bioenergy Insight

biogas news New UK biogas plant almost ready for phase two A new £8 million (€9.4 million) anaerobic digestion facility in County Durham, UK is near completion as it reaches the end of its first phase. As the region’s first commercial food waste facility by Emerald Biogas (EB) nears completion, it is now planning the second phase after securing a number of feedstock contracts for food waste. EB will also explore the potential of biogas injection technology and a vehicle fuel station. The biogas plant at Newton Aycliffe Industrial Estate

New biogas project discussed in Wisconsin Hearings will be held to discuss a proposed biogas plant and manure digester in Wisconsin, US. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has earmarked the first gathering to consider an air pollution permit, the second for a discharge system permit. Both hearings will take place in May. The application to operate manure storage facilities, two biogas-fired engines and anaerobic digesters from GL Dairy Biogas. The DNR has initially stated the project should be approved and an environmental assessment is being prepared. l

Bioenergy Insight

will, at full capacity, process 50,000 tonnes of food waste per year and generate 1.56MW of electricity, enough to power 2,000 homes. ‘Despite the difficult winter and the associated problems

it brought, we are confident that waste processing and energy production will begin in June,’ says EB director Adam Warren. ‘We can look forward to creating renewable energy for neighbouring

industrial companies and producing fertiliser from the digestate for use by the local agricultural community.’ Phase two of the biogas plant will, EB says, double the capacity at the facility. l

THE REMEDY FOR DIGESTION PROBLEMS… If you’re existing gas and agitator mixing system is causing problems in your digesters, it could be time to do something different. After all, why expect different results if you are doing the same thing over and over again?

Deposition in Digesters doesn’t happen overnight, it creeps up until:

• •

Gas production is compromised by lack of available capacity. Septicity occurs due to lack of mobility.

•

Downstream equipment becomes unreliable due to excessive grit & fibrous material.

The result - Downtime, decommissioning the digester, emptying large amounts of material and ultimately zero production and high contractor costs.

Take a look at Rotamix – a refreshingly different approach Rotamix Features

design to suit application • 10Bespoke year nozzle warranty • Drop-in for active tank installation • No internalsystem moving parts • Foam suppression option • On-going technicalsystem support for your process •

Rotamix Benefits

digester volume • Retained solids reduction • Maximised gas production • Increased cleanout costs • Minimal • Simple installation and low maintenance costs

System Mix Ltd. Sawtry Court, Brookside Industrial Estate, Sawtry, Huntingdon sales@pumpmix.co.uk

www.pumpmix.co.uk AB12-541B

May/June 2013 • 9

biogas news

Bank offers large funding to Scottish biogas facility A Scottish biogas provider has received multi-million pound funding from high street bank chain Barclays. Energen Biogas (EB), a joint venture between Shanks Waste management and Paragon Efficiencies, has been given access to £7.25 million (€8.5 million) via Barclays’ Cashback for Business scheme.

EB’s biogas facility in Cumbernauld is now fully operational and can process 60,000 tonnes of waste a year after 12 months of testing. ‘Renewables is a key growth area for us, and Energen Biogas exemplifies the types of business we are looking to support,’ says Barclays relationship director Andrew Meadowcroft. ‘Shanks Group is a long-standing client of ours and we have worked with the joint venture on this project from the early stages.’ l

Renewable support: Barclays allows long-term partner access to funds

New biogas project set for Scotland Renewable energy company Biogen, a 50/50 joint venture between Kier and Bedfordia, has signed a deal with the city of Edinburgh and Midlothian Councils to design and build a new food waste recycling plant.

The anaerobic digestion plant, to be based in Midlothian, will process 30,000 tonnes of waste per year made up of household food waste collected by the local authorities and food waste from commercial sources.

10 • May/June 2013

This will generate around 1.4MW of renewable energy for the grid and also produce biofertiliser for farmland. ‘The construction of the AD plant will make a valuable contribution to the Scottish government’s aim to reduce the amount of waste, including food waste, sent to landfill by 2017,’ says Biogen CEO Richard Barker. ‘This project is another welcome addition to our pipeline across the UK as we already have live projects in Scotland, England and Wales.’ Work on site is planned to begin in February 2014 with the AD plant expected to produce electricity by autumn 2015. l

Bioenergy Insight

biogas news

Wastewater plant to introduce in-house sustainable power project A unanimous vote will mean US-based biogas producer Anaergia will utilise biogas currently being flared at a location owned by the Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority (VVWRA) in California. The agreement will last 20 years and aims to produce thousands of megawatt hours of renewable electricity annually. This will be pumped back into the facility to reduce its reliance on local utilities. ‘We’re fortunate to have the ability to turn that waste into energy and reduce the costs to our ratepayers long into the future,’ says VVWRA commissioner Scott Nassif, who adds that Anageria will design, build and own the system at no capital cost to VVWRA. l

Anaergia is due to make a splash in California

New biogas project to join North Dakota ethanol facility

MOBILE CHIPPERS Made in Germany

A project to co-locate a nitrogen fertiliser facility at an ethanol plant has reached the financing stage in North Dakota, US. The fertiliser plant, to be based alongside the 153 million gallon a year Tharaldson Ethanol in Casselton, will produce anhydrous ammonia, urea ammonium nitrate and urea from biogas made by the ethanol stillage. The facility will be installed by Agrebon, which is working with Progressive Nutrient Systems and the Leading Edge Angel Fund, and is hoped to break ground in the summer. ‘We’re creating nitrogen out of the ethanol plant’s stillage, removing the insolubles and oil through an anaerobic digester to make biogas and returning the water as backset with only the minerals remaining,’ Agrebon co-owner Scott Dyer was quoted as saying. ‘The biogas is then processed on-site into nitrogen, some of which goes back to the ethanol process as yeast nutrients. For every 25mgy of ethanol produced, our system is able to produce 11.5 million pounds of nitrogen.’ l

Bioenergy Insight

www.jenz.de

JENZ HEM 820 DQ-Truck

JENZ HEM 540 Z

Manufacturers of heavy duty mobile machinery. Custom build to individual speciﬁcations. Quality machines with excellent service support all over the world. 

more efficiency



less wear



less energy use

ElmiaWood 5th–8th June Booth: 329

JENZ GmbH Maschinen- und Fahrzeugbau, Germany WegholmerStrasse14∙ 32469Petershagen ∙ +495704/94090∙ info@jenz.de

May/June 2013 • 11

biogas news

South African biogas project sets completion marker Ground will soon break on the first commercial biogas plant in Bronkhorstspruit, South Africa. Project development company Bio2Watt will build, own and operate the 3MW capacity facility, which it aims to have online by the end of spring 2014 latest. The Bronkhorstspruit location allegedly provides the project with proximity to key fuel supplies, grid access and sufficient water supplied by one of the largest feedlots storm water collection dams. The biogas plant will provide direct and indirect employment for approximately 30 people. l

Bali biogas project set for expansion A biogas digester project for households in Bali is set to be expanded according to local news sources. Gde Suarja, project coordinator for Yayasan Rumah Energi, has stated a target of 500 digesters throughout the country by 2014 is now the aim. ‘As of now, 405 units have been installed in 39 districts across nine regencies. We have targeted installation of 500 units by reaching out to more

villages, with support from local administrations and NGOs,’ Suarja was quoted as saying. Having started in 2009, the programme began four years ago and claims to have benefited hundreds of families, especially farmers and breeders as it allows them to turn their livestock waste into environmentally friendly gas for household use. Provinces included in the project include Yogyakarta, Lampung, Bali and South Sulawesi. l

UK biogas network feasibility to be explored The development of a UK biogas network has received funding by renewable energy concern Wrap to assess its feasibility. The funds will go to bioeconomy consultants NNFCC and biomathane

injection providers CNG Services, who will both work with Cheshire-based farmers, to begin looking into this field. ‘The idea of a hub of farms feeding the national grid with low carbon gas is attractive,’ said NNFCC’s head of biomass & biogas Lucy Hopwood was quoted as saying. ‘Developing biogas networks could be an important way of getting more

farmers involved in anaerobic digestion, which will benefit the rural economy and improve farm resource efficiency.’ The will take in feedstock and technology options, as well as health and safety requirements, infrastructure ownership and regulatory barriers. The amount of funding has not been disclosed. l

Biogas plants set for Indian state schools Kerala state agriculture minister K P Mohanan says his department wants to green light the installation of biogas plants in government and aided schools across the state. The waste generated at the schools will be treated for biogas production and used back on-site to help power canteens. There will be separate schemes for primary, UP and high schools. Primary schools will have a scheme of Rs13,000 which can produce gas for an hour, Rs17,500 for two hours

12 • May/June 2013

Lunch in schools across Kerala will soon be served within biogas powered canteens

in the UPs and Rs23,500 which has a capacity to produce gas for over two hours for high schools.

Total project expenditure comes to around Rs25 crore. Mohanan says the department had approached

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to ask for the sufficient funds. l

Bioenergy Insight

biogas news

Panda power to fuel French zoo’s biogas project Beauval Zoo in France is to install an on-site biogas plant to take advantage of the waste produced by some of its residents. The CHP plant is set to cost around €2.3 million but will heat stables, pens and buildings and also provide the zoo with additional power that

could also go to the national grid. It is believed the move will save the zoo up to 40% on its gas bill alone. ‘This initiative is a perfect fit in the policy of sustainable development that we have been applying for a long time,’ Delphine Delord, spokeswoman for the zoo, was quoted as saying. Suppliers of fuel for the plant include two pandas that are currently on loan at the zoo from China. l

These pandas welcomed the biogas news with a flourishing fanfare

Indiana farm moo-ving with clean transport energy A farm in Indiana, US has begun fuelling its fleet of 42 tractor-trailers by re-using the cattle dung it collects on-site. Fair Oaks Farms (FOF) has around 30,000 cows as part of its operation and it has a $12 million (€9.2 million) digester on its property that converts their manure, and that of pigs, into natural gas. The business used to simply convert manure into CHP for its barns and other structures but now some of it is used to keep the fleet on the roads. ‘As long as we keep milking cows,

Driving force: cows help keep FOF’s fleet on the road

we never run out of gas,’ FOF CEO Gary Corbett was quoted as saying. ‘The switch to cow power saves us

from using 2 million gallons of diesel fuel a year and the US Department of Energy believes this to be the largest fleet powered by agricultural waste currently in operation in this country.’ The overall bioenergy project began in June 2011 when FOF contracted Clean Energy to build two fuelling stations. The project received financial backing from grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Indiana Office of Energy Development. A study on the project by the Innovation Centre for US also says the FOF system captures 98% of methane emissions produced. l

New UK biogas plant almost ready for phase two

Bioenergy Insight

it brought, we are confident that waste processing and energy production will begin in June,’ says EB director Adam Warren. ‘We can look forward to creating renewable energy for neighbouring

industrial companies and producing fertiliser from the digestate for use by the local agricultural community.” Phase two of the biogas plant will, EB says, double the capacity at the facility. l

Explosion protection for grinding, Balance & Flow Control mixing and filtering system for all bulk goods

Q-Rohr®-3

www.c-lever.info

As the region’s first commercial food waste facility by Emerald Biogas (EB) nears completion, it is now planning the second phase after securing a number of feedstock contracts for food waste. EB will also explore the potential of biogas injection technology and a vehicle fuel station. The biogas plant at Newton Aycliffe Industrial Estate

will, at full capacity, process 50,000 tonnes of food waste per year and generate 1.56MW of electricity, enough to power 2,000 homes. ‘Despite the difficult winter and the associated problems

www.q-rohr.com

A new £8 million (€9.4 million) anaerobic digestion facility in County Durham, UK is near completion as it reaches the end of its first phase.

REMBE® GMBH SAFETY + CONTROL · Gallbergweg 21 · 59929 Brilon/Germany · T + 49 (0) 29 61 - 74 05 - 0 · F + 49 (0) 29 61 - 5 07 14

May/June 2013 • 13

biopellet news New biomass facility destined for UK port The Port of Immingham, UK has awarded a new biomass handling facility design contract to Graham Construction (GC). Nearly 12 acres will be taken up by the fullyautomated bulk handling

terminal which will be able to handle 3 million tonnes of pellets a year. There will also be four silos capable of storing 100,000 tonnes of pellets onsite. ‘The challenge is now to complete the design and construction of this project on programme and provide ABP with a plant that meets their requirements,’ says GC director Leo Martin. l

UK wood pellet plant temporarily stops operations UK bioenergy company Dalkia has ceased operations at its wood pellet facility in County Durham as an investigation into alleged dust emissions is conducted. Dalkia is working with the Environment Agency to determine if the dust is coming from its facility or from another location,

following concerns from local residents. The wood pellets produced at the facility are from grade A wood waste and are used on-site and at local authority boiler houses. In a statement Dalkia said it stopped operations ‘as soon as it received complaints’ but that ‘the Agency hadn’t come to any rulings yet’. Dalkia is a subsidiary of EDF Energy and French waste management business Veolia Environment. l

New pellet facility set for Georgia A wood pellet manufacturer in Atlanta, US is to build a new multi-million plant this year in Wilkinson County, Georgia.

The facility will include four 20,000-tonne silos

Enova Energy Group was attracted to Wilkinson County because of its location, according to SVP of development Ben Easterlin. ‘Georgia is located in a great fibre basket with excellent infrastructure improvements at this location, including rail to the port of Savannah,’ Easterlin was quoted as saying. The $115 million plant, with construction mooted to start in June, will bring up to 75 jobs to Wilkinson County according to Jonathan Jackson, economic development director. l

Extended vision via Rentech’s new acquisition US-headquartered biomass supplier Rentech has acquired Fulghum Fibres in Georgia to extend its wood pellet portfolio. The purchase means Rentech can now convert two mothballed

14 • May/June 2013

facilities in Canada into pellet mills along with contracts with Drax Power and Ontario Power Generation for the sale and delivery of over 4 million tonnes of product over 10 years. ‘This will launch us into the wood fibre and pellet supply business, with immediate cash flow and

growth opportunities, and allow us to take advantage of our fibre relationship in the province of Ontario,’ D. Hunt Ramsbottom, Rentech CEO, was quoted as saying. An agreement between Rentech and the Port of Quebec has also been signed to ensure terminalling and warehousing services are in place. l

Bioenergy Insight

biopellet news

Port investment sparked by Drax’s future pellet demands Associated British Ports (ABP) has signed a 15-year contract with Drax Power which will see terminal investments of up to £100 million (€118 million) to handle wood pellet shipments at the Humber ports of Hull and Goole. The move will support Drax Power’s conversion to a low carbon electricity producer through replacing coal with sustainable biomass. Its power station, located in Selby, is the UK’s largest single producer of electricity, meeting approximately 7% of the country’s electricity needs. It plans to convert three of its existing coalfired generating units to biomass moving forward. ABP will invest in handling equipment and storage facilities at Hull in order

to handle up to 1 million tonnes of biomass each year to be supplied to Drax by rail. Warehouse space will also be increased its port of Goole, which is located seven miles from Drax. ABP will also create an import facility at its Humber International Terminal in Immingham to handle Panamax-size bulk carriers which will service up to 3 million tonnes of wood pellets a year. The investment will require a new quayside discharge plant to move the biomass from the ships to new silos capable of storing up to 100,000 tonnes. ‘These three investments look set to secure the Humber region’s position within the development of a low carbon energy future,’ says ABP’s group CEO James Cooper. The project will generate around 100 jobs at ABP’s ports during the construction phase and over 100 permanent positions will be supported once the facilities become fully operational. l

New wood pellet facility due in Louisiana German Pellets is set to start constructing a $300 million (€229.9 million) plant in central Louisiana, US. The proposed 1 million tonne capacity a year plant will be located in the town of Urania and is expected to employ 80 people once completed. This is the second renewable project to hit central Louisiana after Sundrop Fuels announced a new plant of its own recently. ‘Pellet consumption worldwide is on the rise, especially in Europe, and this means that the construction of large production capacities is necessary,’ says German Pellets CEO Peter Leibold. The plant is expected to be operational in 12 months’ time. l

Bioenergy Insight

Biomass power for sustainable production and profits

Green energy solutions from ANDRITZ. Using biomass fuels for power generation offers important environmental and economic benefits. The key is to design a flexible solution, capable of handling the variations in biomass materials and moisture contents. ANDRITZ delivers complete solutions – from biomass receiving to fuel feeding to combustion (boilers or gasifiers) to ash handling to on-going service. BFB and CFB boilers from ANDRITZ are proven in installations around the world. Rebuild services enable conversion of existing boilers to biomass firing and co-firing. ANDRITZ has been a leading technology and service partner for forest products companies for many decades. Talk to us about sustainable, renewable solutions.

ANDRITZ Oy Tammasaarenkatu 1 00180 Helsinki, Finland Phone: +358 (0)9 450 5555 E-mail: powergeneration.ne@andritz.com

www.andritz.com

biopellet news

Wood pellet conversion for Danish power station presses ahead Danish heat companies Centralkommunernes Transmissionsselskab (CTR), VEKS and Dong Energy have finalised a new agreement concerning the expansion of unit two at the Avedøre power station towards becoming 100% fuelled by wood pellets. The agreement lasts until 2027 and the investment is marked at almost DKK100 million (€13.4 million). ‘The heat agreement that we’ve agreed on is

good. The ability to expand our capacity to burn wood pellets is a key element of Dong’s strategy concerning renewable electricity and heat generation and allowing us to reduce our CO2 emissions,’ says Dong executive VP Thomas Dalsgaard. The expansion of unit two will comprise a new fuel mill and additional capacity for transporting wood pellets from the port to the Avedøre storage facilities. The expansion will take place over the next 18 months with an operational date pencilled in as 1 October 2014. ‘The transition to greener heat from Avedøre will probably reduce CO2 emissions from the heat supply in Copenhagen

Hotting up: Copenhagen to benefit from new biomass conversion

by just over 10% a year from 2015,’ says Ayfer Baykal, chairman of CTR’s board of directors. ‘This will provide a sound contribution to CTR’s

objective to supply CO2-neutral heat to its owner municipalities by 2025, and to Copenhagen becoming the world’s first CO2-neutral capital.’ l

Increased export Wood pellet facility on projections the increase for GCRE Waste heat-to-power equipment supplier Gulf Coast advance US Renewable Energy (GCRE) reveals it is to double capacity port plans at its wood pellet manufacturing plant in Georgia, US. Expansion plans are in the pipeline for the Port of Pascagoula in Mississippi, US to accommodate future wood pellet exports. It is believed the State of Mississippi will provide up to a third of the financing for the project, which will include the removal of a warehouse to make way for a storage silo. The new facilities will initially be able to handle about 500,000 tonnes of wood pellets a year. ‘The demand is going to increase which is why this facility is designed to be expandable to accommodate more product,’ says port executive director Mark McAndrews. ‘You need deep water and you need to accommodate Panamax type ships. We felt this was a good fit for us.’ The wood pellets exported from the Port of Pascagoula will be manufactured by a new plant in North Mississippi. l

16 • May/June 2013

A new facility earmarked for Copiah County has also been mooted and both projects should make a combined total of 80 new jobs. The original facility in Lucedale will double its pellet capacity from 160,000 to 320,000 tonnes and the new one will join it at that higher capacity straight off the bat. GCRE’s investment into the Lucedale operation will now go from $25 million (€19.4 million) to $40 million. l

New wood pellet plant in Canada gathers pace Canada-based Port Allen, owned by the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, may become the location for a new wood pellet facility.

Biomass Secure Power (BSP), situated in British Columbia, has an option on 90 acres of the Port Allen land up until the end of August. BSP CEO Jim Carroll says a plant

would represent ‘$400 million (€307 million) investment across four phases which could ultimately produce 4 million tonnes of wood pellets a year’. The first three phases are benchmarked to be completed 18 months from any initial ground breaking. The port directors have given BSP standard lease terms for the land and wharfage, but any ultimate decision for construction would go before the port commission. l

Bioenergy Insight

xx Bioenergy

technology news

New rotary valve can Jeffrey Rader increase plant efficiency relocates to Schenck Process, a producer Downtown Stockholm of applied measurement Jeffrey Rader, a TerraSource Global company, has relocated its office from Spånga to Ostermalm in Stockholm. Tony Lubiani, VP of TerraSource Global, says the ‘move was important because we now have a more convenient location for our staff and our visiting customers’. Jeffrey Rader manufactures size reduction and process equipment for the forest product industries, biomass power, recycling and plastics/ base resin manufacturers. It designs and produces material handling systems and equipment to unload, convey, screen and crush many different bulk materials such as woodchips and pellets, biomass, alternative fuels and other recyclables. l

Bioenergy Insight

and process technologies, has expanded its portfolio of blow-through rotary valves.

The new IDMS 120 injection blowthrough rotary valve features a wear-reduction concept and overload-protection system. It is suitable for fluidised bed furnaces in the power generation sector and was developed to meet the The IDMS 120 is suitable for the power generation sector pneumatic requirements created by the use of alternative fuels, including wood chippings and fibres, to generate energy. A conveying blower uses air pressure to move fuel through a pipeline into the furnace. The basic requirement is to safely feed the material into the pipeline, which is under high pressure. The IDMS can feed fuel into a pipeline at pressures of up to 350mbar. l

May/June 2013 • 17

technology news

Elmac launches new flame arrester range Elmac Technologies has expanded its range of flame arresters with a new series for biogas and AD plants, suitable for use with gases in explosion groups IIA1 and IIA. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques have been used to create an enhanced crimped ribbon flamearresting element for the EVA series which delivers high flow capacities with minimal pressure drop. The element design makes the arrester less susceptible to fouling and clogging. As well as improving the flow characteristics of the EVA, Elmac has also expanded the material options, connection types and nominal bore size range (now up to 600mm) of the series.

The booming biogas industry has seen a rise in demand for flame arresters

‘The rapid rise in the number of anaerobic digestion and biogas plants in the UK has increased demand for flame

arresters specifically tailored to IIA1 and IIA explosion groups,’ says Elmac’s operations director Peter Evans. l

Bangladesh grants Himark a patent for its EIEP technology Waste-to-energy company Himark has been issued a patent in Bangladesh for its Enhanced Integrated Ethanol Fermentation (EIEP) technology. The EIEP patent family covers technology that boosts ethanol yield by up to 10% when ethanol production is integrated with

an on-site anaerobic digester, with no additional feedstock or enzyme or energy costs. This adds bottom-line profits to an ethanol plant’s base business, reduces costs and fresh water usage. The EIEP technology is currently licensed to one of the largest biogas plants in the US at Western Plains Energy, in addition to Growing Power Hairy Hill in Canada, the world’s first certified integrated biorefinery. In July 2012 the technology was issued a correspondent patent in Mexico. l

New coupon scheme to boost bio-based technologies in Europe Small and medium enterprises in north west Europe can apply for ‘innovation coupons’ to help them assess the feasibility of taking a biobased idea or technology to industrial production. The coupon scheme is being launched by Bio Base NWE, a new €6.2 million project funded under the INTERREF

18 • May/June 2013

IVB NWE framework programme. A coupon, each worth up to €10,000, can be used to access the technology and expertise of the Bio Base Europe pilot plant in Belgium. There are only 50 available. The pilot plant is a multi-purpose facility, which can be used for developing a range of bio-based products and processes in areas like biorefining, biomass pre-treatment, biocatalysis, fermentation, downstream processing and green chemistry.

‘The UK has excellent process development and scale-up facilities, helping companies move bio-based research concepts towards commercial reality,’ says Adrian Higson, head of biorefining at NNFCC and UK representative for the project. ‘But now through the Bio Base NWE project we’re increasing the options open to UK companies by providing access to Europe’s best facilities and networks.’ The call for requests is now open and will close at the end of March 2015. l

Bioenergy Insight

technology news

Los Alamos improves biomass-to-fuel process Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists and collaborators from the University of Guelph in Canada have identified a process that offers an efficient means to convert non-food based biomass into fuels and chemical feedstocks, reducing fossil fuel dependence and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The scientists have published an article in the Nature Chemistry journal, The hydrodeoxygenation of bioderived furans into alkanes. The piece describes how to take building blocks that are derived from glucose or cellulose and couple them with other bio-derived building blocks to give new molecules that have between eight and 15 carbons in a row.

The researchers then convert these molecules into hydrocarbons that are similar to those found in petrol and diesel, enabling an opportunity to synthesise drop-in fuel replacements or industrial chemicals such as polymers, pharmaceuticals and pesticides Los Alamos research better converts energy from fields into fuel tanks from biomass. The laboratory says this approach is an alternative allows researchers to generate a range route to convert these molecules into of alkanes from a range of biomasshydrocarbons that use much less energy derived molecules and the team and have a high degree of conversion is now looking to improve catalyst to provide pure products. The method recyclability and scale-up methods. l

T: +44 (0)1282 677092 E: bioenergy@kirk-environmental.com www.kirk-environmental.com

KIRK ENVIRONMENTAL LEAds ThE wAy IN LIquId & BIOgAs sTORAgE sOLuTIONs fOR wATER, wAsTEwATER, BIOwAsTE & BIOgAs wORLdwIdE. • PERMASTORE® Glass-Fused-ToSteel Tanks • TRICOBOND™ Epoxy Coated Steel Tanks • Poured In Situ Concrete Tanks • Stainless Steel Tanks & Digester Roofs • BIODOME® Double Membrane Gas Holders • Access Steelwork & All Ancillary Items • In-house Engineering, Project Management and Construction CALL TOdAy TO dIsCuss yOuR PROJECT ON +44 (0)1282 677092

Bioenergy Insight

May/June 2013 • 19

technology news

Bulk solid radar reaches milestone Vega, a supplier of instrumentation technology, produced its 100,000th noncontact radar sensor for bulk solids. The Vegaplus SR68 is the first noncontact radar sensor for bulk solids and in February 2013, around nine years after it was launched, it reached the production milestone. The two-wire loop powered sensors are a preferred alternative to maintenance-

intensive mechanical ‘plumb bob’ systems, or ultrasonic sensors, which require a clear, dust-free view to the product. Instead the sensors offer accurate readings while remaining independent of dust, filling noise, strong air currents and high temperatures. The landmark sensor went to Bühler in Switzerland, who are using it for level measurement in a 25m high cement silo. Vegaplus 68 is optimised for ranges up to 75m and temperatures up to 400°C. l

The radar sensor was recently installed by Bühler

Trials show microwave technology could power the UK’s future A new biocoal treated with microwave technology from Rotawave Biocoal has more benefits than raw biomass, recent trials have revealed. The trials were part-funded by the government’s Technology Strategy Board, with SSE and University of Leeds. Initial results from a year-long technical evaluation, led by the university,

showed that that biocoal produced by Rotawave’s patented technology can be introduced as a co-firing fuel into coal-fired power generation to reduce carbon emissions with little or no need for the capital-intensive refurbishment and modifications of power stations to use other sources of biomass. The microwave technology produces energy dense pellets from wood. It continuously creates low carbon fuel from organic matter; the microwaves within the patented continuous drum system form part of an integrated process which generates more

thermal energy than it consumes. The data shows that Rotawave’s biocoal gives off less greenhouse gas and burned in the power station in a similar manner to coal: mill power was unchanged, flame stability was normal and mill reject rates were acceptable. Rotawave supplied its wood pellets, manufactured near Chester, to SSE’s Uskmouth B Power Station in south Wales. Tests were carried out during the combustion and milling process to ascertain the suitability and feasibility of the product and to analyse emissions. l

Pentalver launches bespoke service for biomass sector Pentalver has launched a bespoke service using its ISO containers to create a solution for housing new boilers and fuel stores. Container boiler rooms are portable, easy to install and offer an alternative to permanent

20 • May/June 2013

structures. Those built from shipping containers are also structurally strong with a physical weight bearing capacity in excess of 20 tonnes. The company says it, with an existing supply of new or pre-used containers and storage facilities, is able to rework the internal container space to create a separate boiler house and

fuel store specific to the needs of the boiler or fuel, with an internal capacity of 33.2m3 (this space can be increased by joining more ISO containers together). Sam Baggley, Pentalver’s group container sales manager, says: ‘With the government committed to meeting 15% of the UK’s energy demand from renewable sources by 2020

and financial assistance available through the Renewable Heat Incentive, biomass installations are on the increase. ‘On all projects, we work closely with biomass installers to ensure regulation compliance or alternatively our staff can undertake the installation of the boiler on a client’s behalf.’ l

Bioenergy Insight

technology news

Two new biogas projects ramp up in UK Xergi has signed contracts to supply two anaerobic digestion plants to UK-based company Tamar Energy.

These plants will be among the first projects in Tamar’s overall plan for a network of more than 40 biogas plants across the UK, with a total capacity of 100MW, by 2018. Tamar was set up in February 2012 with a capital base of almost £100 million (€116.8 million) via investment from a number of influential shareholders, including the Duchy of Cornwall, Dubaibased investment company Fajr Capital and supermarket brand Sainsbury’s. A project in Nottinghamshire is to use a patented Xergi technology which can digest large quantities of poultry manure within a biogas plant.

Martin Engineering and CCC partner

‘Poultry manure contains high levels of nitrogen. This impedes the biological process in the digester which means that most standard biogas plants are not capable of processing large quantities of poultry manure,’ says Xergi sales manager Jørgen Fink. ‘Our technology removes some of the nitrogen before the poultry manure is added to the digester however.’ In addition to poultry manure, that particular AD plant will also process vegetable waste and maize silage. The plant will be able to generate 3MW of electricity and is expected to be commissioned in January 2014. The other project will be in Lincolnshire and located close to one of the region’s largest potato producers and processors. This plant will process vegetable waste and maize silage to produce 1.5MW of electricity and is scheduled to be commissioned in December 2013. l

Martin Engineering and CCC Group, which delivers construction, manufacturing, design and engineering services, have formed a partnership to design and manufacture conveyor solutions for engineered transfer points. As part of the agreement CCC will design, engineer and install the chutes, with Martin Engineering delivering the transfer point components, including load zone and settling zone. The primary benefit to customers will be a focus on transfer points. The alliance will initially target biomass, ports, coalfired power, mining and aggregates applications, eventually expanding into other industries and materials. l

AET deliver biomass-fired boilers and combined heat and power or power plants between the sizes of 25 – 170MWth. Our plants are characterized by: l High fuel flexibility l High availability (+99 %) l High boiler efficiency (+92 %) l Very low maintenance costs High fuel flexibility The AET Combustion System enables the use of many biomass fuels – separate or in combination. The biomass fuels can originate from forestry, agriculture, residual products from process industries or is based on industrial waste.

Aalborg Energie Technik a/s Alfred Nobels Vej 21 F, DK-9220 Aalborg Oe. Telephone: +45 96 32 86 00, fsl@aet-biomass.com, The Helius-CoRDe-Rabobank biomass CHP plant in Scotland burns wood and distillers grain

Bioenergy Insight

www.aet-biomass.com

May/June 2013 • 21

technology news

BTS launches new AD plants BTS Italia has shifted its commitment from large-scale anaerobic digestion plants to small- and medium-sized farms in order to provide fully functional and easy-to-manage biogas plants in a short period of time. The new biogas plants, branded LineaFarmer, address small- and medium-sized farms looking for additional income. They are able to produce 50-300kW through the fermentation of sewage and manure. The standardised modules are equipped with all the required components: machinery, industrial computers suitable to work in any environment, control systems and alarms. A remote management system has been designed to increase the plant’s yield and efficiency, allowing operators to coordinate the plant from electronic devices. Remote management ensures maximum control at any time while the alarm system highlights malfunctions. In addition, a database including information about the efficiency of the plant gives an overview of how much energy is being produced over time. l

Veolia aids Felda in new business venture Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies’ anaerobic thermophillic digestion technology is helping a biogas plant in Malaysia supply renewable energy to the national grid. Pomethane, developed by Veolia’s subsidiary Biothane treats acidic effluents with high chemical on

demand content that are commonly found in the palm oil mill industry. The technology is an alternative to the traditional open lagoon system. Felda Palm Industries has installed Pomethane at its Serting Hilir facility, where it treats 770m3/day of POME and generates 1.2MW/hr of power. Electricity generated is used to power the mills’ production, and is also transmitted to a grid owned by local energy provider Tenaga Nasional Berhad. l

Pump mixer quality counts Pump and mixer manufacturer Landia UK has achieved the maximum quality score in the independent audit UVDB Verify Approval. In addition to its 100% UVDB quality approval by Achilles, Landia has also achieved, via onsite assessment, 98% for Health and Safety and 93% for Environment. l

New rheometer from Brookfield Brookfield has launched a new rheometer which provides users with integrated temperature control from the screen. A rheometer is a laboratory device used to measure slurry or other liquid flows in response to applied forces. The DV3T was engineered to allow the user to control the temperature of Brookfield TC Series Baths or the Brookfield Thermosel System without a PC. The redesign enhances ease of use and includes new features. The 7” touchscreen displays all test parameters along with measured values for yield stress, viscosity and temperature. The TC Series Baths have

22 • May/June 2013

also been upgraded with a new design that includes the addition of touchscreen technology, one-touch control with adjustable pre-set temperatures and multiple language capability. The Brookfield Thermosel System is a high temperature system that allows manufacturers to precisely control samples up to 300°C. The company’s new RheocalcT software gives the operator the ability to control and automate testing with the DV3T Rheometer, TC Series Bath and Thermoseal System from a dedicated PC. It also collects data automatically, provides comparative analysis of results — both tabular and graphical — and permits applications of maths models. l

The DV3T rheometer from Brookfield

Bioenergy Insight

technology news

New input system for biogas applications Weltec Biopower has developed a liquid input system which prevents outages and therefore safeguards the technical stability of AD systems. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new MultiMix crushes fibrous and sticky input materials such as grass silage, solid manure and co-substrates which increases their surface, making them suitable for bacteria. Bacteria are not always able to completey process carbohydrates and proteins to biogas as a result of their long, smooth surfaces. Additionally, MultiMix separates foreign matters like rocks and metals prior to input which decreases the risk of the pumps and agitation systems incurring damage, as well as build-up occurring in the fermenter and in the pipelines. The system can be retrofitted into existing technologies and is installed between the dosificator and

Bioenergy Insight

MultiMix can be retrofitted into existing plants

the fermenters. The substrates are added to the MultiMix and mixed with recirculate, a mashing process which is supported by a screw system and roughens the fibres at the same time. Weltec says its new system encourages

biological decomposition and allows for a faster and greater gas yield. The technology reduces the risk of floating or sinking layers developing in the fermenter and decreases the amount of agitation requires. l

May/June 2013 â&#x20AC;˘ 23

technology news

New process helps store excess energy and purify raw biogas Krajete has developed a new process for storing electricity generated from renewable energy sources. The patent-pending technology is based on microorganisms and enables an efficient and environmentally friendly conversion of CO2 and hydrogen into storable methane. The innovative method makes use of a natural metabolic process in microorganisms known as ‘archaea’ to generate pure methane — the main constituent of natural gas. In addition to power storage, the clean solution also provides resourceconserving options for the production of biofuels and the low-cost purification of biogas and waste gas. Krajete says the technology, which directly converts CO2 and water into methane of high purity, is now ready for licensing following a fourth patent application. The process is suitable for a number of applications, including the purification of raw biogas to produce pure natural gas and the production of second geration biofuels. l

ReFood achieves PAS110 certification for AD digestate Anaerobic digestion (AD) plant operator ReFood’s Doncaster, UK facility has achieved the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 110 certification for producing quality digestate. The plant, opened in 2011, collects and recycles 45,000 tonnes of food from businesses across the Yorkshire region and converts it into 2.8MW of electricity — enough to power 5,000 homes. It also generates heat for local businesses and produces a nutrient-rich organic fertiliser, Dynagro. The PAS110 certification informs farmers the digestate is of a consistent quality that

EXPERTS IN BIOGAS POWER PLANTS • REPOWERING – optimise or overhaul your biogas power plants • MAXIMUM BIOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY – more than 85% of fermentable mass is converted into biogas • SERVICE and REPLACEMENT PARTS – even on biogas power plants from third-party manufacturers • BIOLOGY - biological support and speciﬁc laboratory tests • MODULAR CONSTRUCTION - 50 kWel - 1.5 MWel modules

24 • May/June 2013

is beneficial to their crops. ReFood has also achieved the Anaerobic Digestion Quality Protocol which sets the quality criteria for outputs from AD, which means the digestate can be defined as a product rather than a waste. PAS110, first published in February 2010, sets parameters on input materials and the management system for the AD process. For ReFood, the certification will ensure that the fertiliser produced by its plants is made using suitable materials and effectively processed by AD to deliver a high quality product that meets market needs and protects the environment. The Doncaster plant has undergone a year-long validation programme to demonstrate compliance with the standard. l

Maximum output not only from corn! It is possible to use 100% manure, agricultural by-products and grass silage!

B.T.S. Italia srl via S. Lorenzo, 34 I-39031 Brunico T +39 0474 37 01 19 F +39 0474 55 28 36 info@bts-biogas.com

www.bts-biogas.com

Bioenergy Insight

incident report Bioenergy A summary of the recent major explosions, fires and leaks in the bioenergy industry Date

Location

Company

Incident information

25/05/13

Salt Lake City, Utah, US

Arbor Pellet

Three 8ft high piles of waste wood caught fire at Arbor’s pellet manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City. It originated in one pile at around 1.30pm but had spread to two further piles of wood by the time fire fighters arrived at the scene. Nobody was injured as there was no one at the site when the incident occurred. An investigation found the cause of the fire to be ‘undetermined’.

06/05/013

Michigan, US

Michigan Wood Pellet Fuel

A fire broke out at Michigan Wood Pellet Fuel’s facility in the small hours. Firefighters were alerted after members of the public reported smoke and flames coming from the building as three departments were deployed to tackle the blaze. Captain Chris Tinney of the Holland Department of Public Safety was quoted as saying that the fire was contained to a small area of the 46,000sq ft upon their arrival. ‘We believe it was due to a fire in some electrical conductors,’ he added. ‘The fire was contained to a very small area and damage is limited.’ Damage to the facility is estimated to be under $10,000 (€7,645).

27/04/13

Vermont, New England, US

Vermont Wood Pellet Co.

The wood pellet plant in Vermont was forced to temporarily close after an explosion occurred following a fire in a sawdust hopper. The fire was reported at around 4am after the explosion blew off the hopper’s protective plating and allowed the fire to spread. Nobody was injured and damage was described as minimal. The plant has since reopened.

25/04/13

Shakopee, Minnesota, US

Koda Energy

Koda Energy’s CHP plant was badly damaged following a fire in two of its fuel storage silos and the company says it does not know when steam and electricity production will commence again. The facility burns woodchips and other biomass materials to generate electricity which it sells to Xcel Energy. The fire damaged two biomass fuel silos, the conveyor system and a truck unloading facility. A damage assessment and repairs are underway, as is an investigation into the cause of the blaze.

Bioenergy Insight

May/June 2013 • 25

green page Pet food waste ‘jelly good’ for biogas Perhaps the owners of pet food brands such as Pedigree, Purina and Whiskers should take notice of a potential new revenue stream within the world of renewable energy? Mosley Waste Management (MWM) in the UK is taking animal food waste, which occurs from the factory production of pet food, via containers to be delivered to an anaerobic digestion plant that produces combined heat and power for the national grid. ‘We pick up around 15 tonnes of waste from this industry a week from six local factories,’ explains Simon Mosley, director of MWM. ‘It used to be more but the companies have become better at reducing their own waste over the years, but it still remains a viable

Waste not, want not: pet food waste is being recycled into bioenergy

business avenue for us.’ Mosley adds MWM has planning approval for its own on-site biogas plant which is an on-going concern. Sounds like Mosely and his team are ‘barking up the right tree’ with these ventures. l

A true renewable champion A believer in the power of renewable energy in India is still giving back despite recently passing away in May. SB Chhaya, 85, was the man behind a biogas-driven crematorium in Ambernath as he wanted the service to be available to all people, not just the wealthy. Through his non-government organisation Nagrik Seva Mandal, which gives people in rural areas access to energy, medical and educational supplies, Chhaya oversaw the change that now sees the

26 • May/June 2013

crematorium run on biogas and not expensive wood. He contacted the Tata Energy Research Institute in the 1990s and it came up with the working model that is still in use today. ‘Chhaya wanted to ensure the crematorium was a well maintained place after he took it over while, at the same time, making sure the poor should not be deprived of a dignified cremation for want of money,’ Sunil Chaudhari, president of the Ambernath Municipal Council, was quoted as saying. Chhaya also donated his organs to science after his passing — a true believer in helping others to the very end. l

Top BI Tweets Here is a selection of interesting things from our Twitterverse! (#bioenergyinfo) US EPA ‫‏‬ We’ve reached an agreement with Wal-Mart over environmental violations. It will pay over $81 million in penalties over mishandling hazardous wastes Jessica Shankleman ‫‏‬ World Bank says we need to double or triple investment to deliver sustainable energy for all by 2030 Fuel Freedom ‫‏‬ Ethanol fuels the second year winners of the EcoCar2 competition – one more year to go! Biogas Maxx ‫‏‬ The Co-operative Group to divert all food store waste from landfill to generate biogas materials & energy recovery NNFCC ‫‏‬ In 2010 41% global population relied on wood or other biomass to cook and heat their homes Edward Davey ‫‏‬ I’m in Korea to push UK’s low carbon energy ideas and opportunities, visiting their Global Green Growth Institute. Korea real leader on climate

Bioenergy Insight

• Value-adding solutions for boiler performance •

Aurora™ Solutions eliminate slagging, fouling & corrosion Aurora™ Solutions broaden your fuel portfolio Aurora™ Solutions treat the entire fireside system www.imerys-aurora.com Bioenergy Insight

May/June 2013 • 27

Bioenergy regulations

You are not gambling when you choose

Biofuels International is the industry’s ONLY audited magazine. Our BPA audit assures you that our circulation and readership numbers are correct. This information proves you’re saying the right thing to the right people in the right place. January/February 2013 Issue 1 • volume 7

The 5% equation

international

How is Europe reacting to the EC’s latest transportation fuel proposals?

Double counting Nothing but a headache?

UPM Biofuels

www.biofuels-news.com xx • May/June 2013

UPM Biofuels Regional focus: biofuels in southeast Asia and Australasia Regional focus: biofuels in Europe FC_Biofuels_November_2012.indd 1

22/01/2013 14:36

Bioenergy Insight

regulations Bioenergy A small round-up as the US moves towards sealing its farm bills which will affect energy sectors

US House farm bill removes funding certainty

n the US, the House Agriculture Committee passed a new fiveyear HR 1947 farm bill, which eliminates or reforms more than 100 programmes, by a vote margin of 36 to 10 in May. The agricultural industry generates almost $300 billion (€232 billion) a year throughout the country but it is dependant on weather conditions, like the severe droughts experienced across several states last year that hit the industry hard. Twelve months ago Congress was only able to extend the farm bill until this September, but this vote represented another chance to craft legislation which could effectively challenge climate change and help farmers prepare against future floods, heat waves and more droughts as predicted by the US Climate Assessment. The Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO) however thanked several representatives for sponsoring an amendment to provide mandatory funding to energy title programmes in HR 1947, also known as the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013. While the bill does contain an energy title, an amendment to make funding of energy programmes mandatory was defeated. ‘We thank the entire committee for reauthorising the programmes, but mandatory funding is vital to their continued success. We look forward to working

Bioenergy Insight

with all Congress members and senators to ensure that a Farm Bill gets enacted this year that includes mandatory funding for these important programmes,’ says Brent Erickson, executive VP of BIO Industrial and

Rural Energy for America Programme (REAP) The REAP provides loan guarantees and grants to farmers and small rural businesses to encourage renewable energy use and

‘While we appreciate the House Agriculture Committee reauthorising the biomass programmes, we urge them to follow the Senate’s lead and support a strong energy title’ Environmental Section. The US senate is currently also debating amendments to another bill named SB 954, which includes a reported $615 million of mandatory energy funding to be distributed over the next five years. As the majority of all funding goes into four main energy programmes, here is a breakdown of how each bill affects each one up until 2018: Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) This aims to fund research development and demonstration projects looking at feedsotcks, biofuels and bio-based products. The HR 1947 is to provide the BRDI with up to $20 million in annual discretionary funding, but SB 954 will maintain around $26 million of mandatory funding a year.

increased efficiency. The HR 1947 will give $225 million of discretionary funding, while SB 954 will authorise $252 million of mandatory funding. Biorefinery Assistance Programme (BAP) BAP is in place to help biofuel projects strive to become commercial through new technologies and facilities. SB 954 is to hand over $176 million of mandatory funding but HR 1947 will eliminate grant funding for demo plants while allowing a yearly discretionary fund of $75 million to be put in place. Biomass Crop Assistance Programme (BCAP) Helping farmers to establish, produce and deliver biomass by matching payments for energy crops, BCAP has been allocated $94 million in mandatory funding by

SB 954, while HR 1947 will cut payments for collection, harvest and storage of energy crops while authorizing $75 million annual discretionary funding. ‘We thank the members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, especially senator Amy Klobuchar, for increasing the funding for REAP, and Senators Joe Donnelly and Pat Roberts for a bipartisan proposal to improve risk management options for biomass crops,’ says Lloyd Ritter, co-director of the Agriculture Energy Coalition. ‘We look forward to working with them to ensure the continued success of Farm Bill energy programmes.’ The Americas regional president of bio-enzymes producer Novozymes still has a cause for concern over these announcements relating to HR 1947 however. ‘Funded farm and energy policy is better: it puts those benefits into action. On that score, we’re concerned the House bill missed the mark,’ says Adam Monroe of the committee bills. ‘While we appreciate the House Agriculture Committee reauthorising the biomass programmes, we urge them to follow the Senate’s lead and support a strong, fully-funded energy title. Stable farm and energy policy is good as it creates jobs, supports farmers and encourages private investment.’ The Senate bill is expected to go to the floor at time of writing while the House bill is slated for June. l

May/June 2013 • 29

Bioenergy regulations

IBTC: Setting the standards for torrefied biomass

orrefied biomass has some recognised advantages over traditional biomass including increased calorific value, increased energy density and improvements in a range of physical properties such as durability, homogeneity and hydrophobic behaviour. This leads to overall reduced costs of production and transportation, plus reduced storage area among other benefits. Therefore this fuel type is attracting significant interest from industrial users and utilities, particularly in Europe. After some years of technology development, with the usual dropout of some of the actors, some well reputed companies are now ready to start rolling out of their technology as systems or component suppliers respectively are implementing first industrial scale projects. Despite the high expectations and the promising results however, the sector is still surrounded by some uncertainties like the variety of different technologies, the lack of product quality standards, unclear requirements from transport or the uncertainty on sustainability criteria on biogenic feedstock to utilities. The International Biomass Torrefaction Council (IBTC) was established in 2012 in order to discuss common interests not under competition and utilise synergies to overcome the barriers that affect the market development. The main objective of IBTC is to promote the use of torrefied biomass as energy

30 • May/June 2013

the risk takers in the value chain — and national or sectorial associations, as well as other bodies or groups like consultants, stevedores or surveyors dedicated to the promotion of the use and building of supply chains of torrefied biomass. IBTC priorities

Torrefied pellets like these are seen as the next step in feedstock advancement

carrier for the power and heat markets, undertake studies and projects to increase the depth of knowledge and gain the permissions eventually needed for the trade of torrefied products, while commonly voice the concerns of the industry to the outside world. Michael Wild is the chairman of the group which is coordinated from AEBIOM by Cristina Calderón as general manager. IBTC members Currently 13 companies split between Europe and the US joined the initiative as full or supporting members: Amandus Kahl, Andritz, Areva Renewables, Biolake, CMINESA, ECN, Energy Valley, GDF-Suez, DNV KEMA, River

Basin, Rotawave, Torr-Coal and Vattenfall. There has been further interest from other organisations that want to throw their support behind the cause in the future. Full members of IBTC are all companies involved in developing biomass torrefaction technology, pellet/briquette machine manufacturing, the technical division of the utilities, biomass traders — in short

One of the first concerns of the industry in which IBTC started to work on was the lack of clear definition and quality standards for torrefied biomass. A draft standard for torrefied pellets and briquettes was developed by IBTC, based on existing wood pellets/briquettes standards structures, which were successfully presented by the Austrian Standardisation Committee (ÖNORM) to the ISO Committee in March. The IBTC initiative found support from most countries and the ISO Committee accepted the proposal, which is now categorised as New Work Item Proposal. IBTC’s work in 2013 will focus on further important topics like REACH, MSDS/SDS registration, transport requirements and safety issues. l For more information:

Contact Cristina Calderón, IBTC general manager, on calderon@ aebiom.org; www.aebiom.org

Upcoming IBTC events 17 April: 3rd IBTC meeting, Brussels 18 April: Torrefaction session during the European Bioenergy Conference, Brussels (www.aebiom.org/conference/) October: 4th IBTC meeting, Berlin October: IBTC presentation, USIPA conference, Miami January 2014: IBTC presentation Central European Biomass Conference

Bioenergy Insight

xxxxxx Bioenergy – Reliability in Biogas Farming

FLEXFEED®. This is where all feedstocks are mixed, homogenised and pre-heated. This ensures a fast incorporation when fresh material is fed into the digestion process.

● FLEXFEED® – The heart of Xergi, preparing and heating the feed-stock for digestion. Flexible, accurate and simple ● GASMAX® – State of the art digester technology delivering more gas or using less feedstock, you decide ● MODULAR BUILD – Ensures a short on-site construction period and secures a faster return on investment

GASMAX® Digester with single central stirrer. Low energy consumption with the most effective stirring and agitation process. Low Maintenance – Low Cost.

● PRE-TREATMENT OF FEED-STOCK – Xergi pre-treatment and feeding improves digestion and reduces problems ● XERGI SCADA CONTROL – Xergi’s market leading process control system makes your life easy ● FLEXI-DESIGN planning consent already

High specification secondary digestion process guarantee’s an effective plant and complete digestion of all feedstock. Easy access to operational components – improved returns. Fully automated plant that is ‘Operator Friendly‘ In-house SCADA control system combined with over 20 years of experience ensures Xergi customers are happy they made the right decision when selecting a technology supplier – Happy Customers.

● With over 25 years of experience, Xergi is the perfect partner for your project – your investment is in safe hands ● will require ● Xergi as YOUR development partner, we can help with Design, Planning, Build and Commissioning, Finance, Electricity Sales and Service and Support ● Xergi is UVDB Verify audited and approved

Xergi Ltd 823 Salisbury House 29 Finsbury Circus London EC2M 5QQ

01483 600098 cst@xergi.com

05C59B

www.xergi.com

- excellence in biogas

Bioenergy Insight magazine brings you a new weekly newsletter focusing exclusively on bioenergy. Updates will cover new pellet, biogas and biopower plants, new types of biomass, production technologies and the latest industry regulations.

Free weekly bioenergy news! For advertising queries contact: anisha@bioenergy-news.com • +44 (0) 203 551 5752 To submit company news please email editorial@horseshoemedia.com

www.bioenergy-news.com Bioenergy Insight

May/June 2013 • xx

Bioenergy plant update

Renewable plant update – Scandinavia Dong Energy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition

Project start date Completion date Investment

Doranova Denmark Heat and electricity 1GW 1.5 million tonnes a year of wood pellets Dong Energy is looking to convert three of its coal- and gas-fired power stations to consume wood pellets instead 2013 2015 €609 million

Fortum Power Location

Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Completion date

32 • May/June 2013

Two plants: one in Järvenpää, Finland and another in Jalgava, Latvia Combined heat and power Finland: 280GWh of heat and 130GWh of electricity Latvia: 230GWh of heat and 110GWh of electricity Biomass, including wood and peat moss Construction Metso 2013

Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Project start date Completion date

Jeppo, Finland Biogas 1.8MW. The build will include three 4,000m3 fermenters Fibrous materials such as grass silage, straw and co-substrates Construction Weltec Biopower May 2013 (announced) Q3 2013

Rauhalahti power plant Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Project start date Completion date

Jyvaskyla, Finland Renewable heat and power 140MW of district heat 87MW of electricity Peat, wood fuel and coal Upgrade Metso Q2 2013 Q3 2013

Kujalan Komposti Oy and Gasum Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Investment

Lahti, Finland Renewable energy and vehicle fuel 50GWh Biogas from biowaste Construction December 2012 (announced) The project was awarded a €5.7 million investment from Finland’s Ministry of Employment and the Economy. Total cost: €17 million

Bioenergy Insight

plant update Bioenergy Savon Voima Oyj Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Project start date Completion date Investment

Leppävirta, Finland Renewable energy 8MW Biomass such as forest residue and peat Construction Metso January 2013 (announced) End of 2013 €9 million

Lohjan Energiahuolto Oy Loher, Metsäliitto Cooperative and Ääneseudun Energia Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Completion date Investment

Lohja, Finland Renewable heat 160,000MWh Wood-based fuels Construction Lohjan Biolämpö Oy January 2013 €17 million

Tampereen Energiantuotanto Oy Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Completion date

Tampere, Finland Renewable heat 33MW with pellets and 47MW with light fuel oil Wood pellets Construction MW Power Early 2013

Katrinefors Kraftvärme Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Completion date Investment

Mariestad, Sweden Renewable heat and power 28MW of heat 7MW electricity Biomass Construction April 2013 Q4 2014 €30 million

Fortum Värme Location Alternative fuel Capacity Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Project start date Completion date

Stockholm, Sweden Renewable heat and power 330MW Construction Andritz January 2013 (announced) Q3 2015

Vimmerby Energi and Miljö Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Project start date Completion date Investment

Tallholmen, Sweden Renewable heat and power 26MWth of heat 7MWe of electricity Forest residues Construction Metso February 2013 (announced) Q4 2014 €25 million

Vaskiluodon Voima Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Completion date

Vassa, Finland Renewable power 140MW Wood residue Construction April 2013

Taaleritehdas Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock

Construction / expansion / acquisition Project start date Investment Comment

Bioenergy Insight

Between five and seven plants across Finland Biogas 60,000-120,000 tonnes Household biowaste, wastewater slurry, industrial byproducts and agricultural waste Construction April 2012 (announced) €90 million The company is planning to build five to seven plants at a cost of €90 million over the next couple of years. It will also acquire a biogas plant from Vambio

Vamamo Energi Location Alternative fuel Capacity Feedstock Construction / expansion / acquisition Designer / builder Project start date Completion date Investment

Sweden Heat and power 13.4MW of heat 3.6MW of electricity Forest residues Construction Metso November 2012 (announced) Q3 2014 €17 million

*This list contains major plant projects in Scandinavia, including the information available at the time of printing. If you would like to update or list any additional plants in future issues please email keeley@horseshoemedia.com

May/June 2013 • 33

Bioenergy profile The CEO of Ena Energi explains to James Barrett why he is not satisfied with simply being a ‘provider’ of renewable energy

Powering to neutrality

na Energi (EE), a Swedish municipallyowned company, celebrated its 40th year of existence in 2012 but it has only been involved in the production of renewable energy for roughly half of that time. Sweden is consistently near the top of global renewable energy consumption polls; in 2011 alone it produced and used 50TWh in district heating systems and almost 6TWh of electricity. EE’s newly appointed CEO Tomas Ulväng reveals his company contributed 250GWh of heat and 100GWh of power to that overall mix. ‘We built a bio-boiler in the early 1990s that could generate 24MW of electricity and 55MW of heat initially,’ he says. ‘Since then the feedstock mixture of 150,000 tonnes has evolved to now be made up of 99% sustainable sources. The reason for all this adaptation was simply a desire to reduce our dependency on oil.’

devote time to researching alternatives like bio-oil which ‘will need investment in both time and money to test’. ‘Another angle could be to increase the use of recycled wood,’ he adds. ‘We’ve been adapting our boiler to handle such a move by upgrading the ash dispenser to handle larger volumes of the waste product which is becoming more apparent these days. We are also using metal removing equipment to remove any within newly delivered feedstock.’ EE has also been conducting feasibility tests to potentially use sewage sludge as Ulväng believes retaining a ‘curious interest’ in new technologies is a potent way of keeping his company at the forefront of renewable energy processes. ‘The phosphorus collected via the ash of sludge can be sold as a by-product to farmers, plus the sludge itself can help prevent rusting inside the boiler, so it serves a dual purpose,’ he explains.

Looking at angles

Changing focus

Over the past 12 months EE has been looking to become a more cost-effective operation by looking for less expensive feedstocks. Currently 60% of its current fuelling mix comes from woodchips, 20% is recycled wood, an even 10% split for both bark and salix (willow) and less than 1% from fossil oil. That small amount of fossil oil is utilised because severe winters can sometimes hamper production. Ulväng reveals he wants EE to become fully carbon neutral at some point in the future, hopefully in the next ‘couple of years’, and will

EE also looks at ways to ensure its own sustainability evolves to keep operations in line with the company’s renewable aspects. Ulväng says it tries to use locally-sourced fuel for its transportation needs, but there has also been another development on this front recently. ‘We have started reducing the amount we spend on raw water by reusing condensation created by our flue gas condenser,’ he explains. ‘I feel it is important to constantly look for and be aware of ways of improving our energy and environment impact.’

34 • May/June 2013

‘There has been an increased focus on CHP development in Sweden in the recent past and I feel this is due to its high efficiency and carbon dioxide neutrality,’ he continues. ‘This generates a positive reaction from the public, a lot more positive than discussions about nuclear- and coal-based power projects.’ Ulväng, as EE’s new CEO, has his own ideas for the future of the company and it includes casting its net out wider than simply providing renewable energy. ‘I want to change the focus from EE being seen “only as a provider“ by becoming closer to our customers and markets in other ways,’ he explains. ‘We are seeing increased market competition, from products like heat pumps, and we must

work hard to collaborate with new customers while retaining our current crop.’ He goes on to explain that EE should be listening to what customers want rather than telling them what they need. The company may look to set up projects, headed by people knowledgeable in the bioenergy sector, to go out and liase with current and potential clients to discuss future offerings and discuss any concerns. ‘I think we, as an industry, need to make sure the public has access to and understands the statistical information that outlays what bioenergy can offer too,’ Ulväng smiles. ‘If we can all work together, it will not only be us and them that will benefit, but so will the planet.’ l

Down by the river: Ena Energi contributed 350GWh of energy to Sweden in 2011

Bioenergy Insight

profile Bioenergy James Barrett finds life at Norwegian pellet company Pemco Trepellets ticking along nicely, but could diversification could be on the cards?

Looking long-term

emco Trepellets (PT) is a pellet provider based in Norway, with a presence in Sweden to boot, but despite recording healthy market share at home, the company has its sights on another goal moving forward. ‘Our market share in Norway is 50% and at about 2% in Sweden, but one must consider the market size for pellets is much bigger across the border than it is at home,’ says PT CEO Hakon Knappskog. PT is one brand owned by Pemco Investment which has historically moved in oil and chemical circles, but it has focused on packaging and renewable energy more recently. It acquired two pellet plants from Statoil in 2009 and not looked back. ‘One is based here in Brummundal and the other is in the Swedish town of Saffle,’ Knappskog explains ‘Total combined pellet production is currently 55,000 tonnes a year and, of that, roughly 17,500 tonnes is made in Norway, so we do have to import an amount from Sweden to help us fulfil orders we receive from heating plants.’ It would not be as simple as to just expand operations at

Smiles all round: an inspector completes another boiler service

the Brummundal as Knappskog says that there is not any viable space to grow at that site: ‘But this is not a concern as the business does well and we have good logistics infrastructure that can handle around 100 trucks coming and going a day.’ PT uses roughly 50% of the pellets produced in Norway to power and heat its operations, 10% goes to household markets and the remaining 40% is used by municipal buildings, schools, hospitals and hotels. ‘We have long-term contracts in place with most of our clients, typically over 10 to 15 years,’ adds Knappskog. ‘We use sawdust from local sources in both our facilities to make our product. It is dried completely before

being pressed, with no extra additives added. We are geared to handle wood residues too but the process is a little longer due to the higher water content of the raw material.’ Pemco Investment does have another concern named Arbaflame, which is looking at the next generation of pellet production, but the main future aim for Knappskog and PT is angled slightly differently. ‘Arbaflame is concentrating on next generation, or black, pellets which could be co-fired in coal power plants without major modification to in-house technology,’ he explains. ‘But we feel a move towards PT-branded heating plants, as well as continuing our pellet operations, is the best way It’s warm inside: 12GW of heat is produced at this plant

Bioenergy Insight

we could grow as an entity.’ Knappskog reveals the Norwegian government has determined that oil should be phased out of heating processes by 2020 and Swedish taxes on oil is slowly starting to go up too, so pellets will remain an attractive alternative moving forward. ‘We feel we have more to offer and the opportunity to be known as more than just a pellet provider is real,’ he continues. ‘We see potential in converting large industrial production plants that use fossil fuels into pellet handling facilities.’ It will be a big challenge to action this train of thought in Norway than Sweden or Denmark however. ‘The reason being that pellets are not as popular an energy resource here than in the other countries,’ Knappskog elaborates. ‘Norway is abundant in oil and hydropower activity currently but, as we’ve mentioned, any shift away from oil will open up doors.’ But, for now, PT is concentrating on solidifying its presence in the pellet market and recently opened up a new facility at Kjeller Airport late last year. ‘We won the contract with Kjeller’s owner, the Norwegian Defence Estates Agency, over a larger district heating supplier,’ expands Knappskog. ‘Two 1.9MW capacity ovens have replaced a former oil heating system to give the airport a renewable energy rate of over 95%. It will supply approximately 14GWh of heat annually; 10 to the airport and the rest split between a Norwegian Defence Research establishment and a small army installation close by.’ l

May/June 2013 • 35

Bioenergy regional focus In a region dense with forestry it’s surprising to learn that raw material scarcity is still one factor impacting the pellet market in certain parts of Scandinavia

Compare and contrast

by Amy McLellan

hink Scandinavia and you might think bracing climate, brooding television detectives, extensive welfare provision or expensive beer. And to that list you might also want to add bioenergy, because this is a part of the world where pellet stoves and wood-fired boilers are an established part of the energy mix. Twenty years ago these small northerly nations, mere blips in terms of their contribution to global CO2 emissions, pioneered carbon taxes. Finland was first in 1990 and, while there is still work to be done on the emissions front, progress is being made; last year emissions fell 8%. This most northerly member of the Eurozone also boasts one of its most robust economies, despite the drag caused by the decline of Nokia and its pulp and paper industries. Indeed, Finland is the only Euro member to enjoy a stable AAA rating at Moody’s

Investors Service, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. Sweden introduced its carbon tax in 1991, with exemptions for industry, and today has the highest carbon tax in the world. The end result is not only Kyotobeating emissions reduction but also a booming economy, with bioenergy playing a key role. Likewise Denmark, another early adopter of the carbon tax. Although still reeling from a housing slump in 2008, Denmark can boast one of the strongest economies in Europe while also delivering strong progress on cutting emissions; in 2012 CO2 emissions fell 10.3%, largely helped by a 23.4% decline in the use of coal, with biomass plugging the gap. And increasingly that biomass is in the form of pellets, which are widely used in these northern climes for both domestic and district heating and for power generation. But despite the dense forest resource of the Scandinavian countries, the utilities and heat

providers are looking further afield for their pellet supplies, as local pellet producers find themselves squeezed by the high costs of raw materials and transportation while facing competition from pellet giants in the Baltic states or even across the Atlantic. Sweden Sweden is the undisputed heavyweight of pellets in Scandinavia, having stepped up a class following the carbon tax of 1991. This legislation has propelled the country to a ‘best in class’ renewable energy performance as last year more than half of its energy supply came from renewable energy sources (mainly bioenergy and hydro power) as the country hit its renewable energy target under the Renewable Energy Directive eight years ahead of time. Wood pellets play a key role in delivering these green gains and are used across the energy

Energy self sufficiency %

Renewable and waste energy as a % of gross energy consumption

Consumption of Biomass, including renewable and waste waste, as a % of this energy (PJ)

Denmark 120% 20%

164

81%

Finland 46% 25%

379

87%

Norway 624% 35%

495

12%

Sweden 64% 34%

729

62%

EU27 47% 10%

7207

60%

Country

Producers Production Consumption Export/Import

Nature of markets

Denmark 12

134,000 1,060,000 -926,000 Power/heating

Finland 19

373,000 149,200 223,800 Heating

Norway 8

35,100 39,800 -4,700 Heating

Sweden 94

1,405,000 1,850,000 -445,000 Power/heating

36 • May/June 2013

Source: ENPlus International Pellet Reports

Summary of Scandinavian pellet production and consumption

Source: Eurostat, IEA, Danish Energy Agency, 2010

Biomass role in renewable energy within Scandinavia

chain, from domestic homes to large combined heat and power (CHP) plants. In all, according to European biomass association AEBIOM, consumption has increased from around 686,000 tonnes in 2000 to 1.4 million tonnes in 2005 to almost 2.3 million tonnes in 2010. Residents have invested in pellet boilers to escape high oil prices and heavy taxes on fossil fuels meaning the use of wood pellets in private households has increased 20 times over a 13 year period, with 785,000 tonnes used privately in 2010 or just over one-third of all usage. The same drivers that have increased domestic usage are also at work at district and national level. Around 200 district heating plants and CHP plants in Sweden use wood pellets. The Swedish bioenergy association Svebio believes this is where there’s increasing growth as high oil prices and a phased increase in the carbon tax for industry due to double from the current level of €35 per CO2 tonne to €70 in 2015 — continue to improve the economics of switching to pellets. The country imports about 20% of its pellet needs mostly from Finland, the Baltic states and Russia to fill the gap left by the fragmented nature of the home-grown pellet industry. ‘We started early in the 80s and 90s but have not built many pellet factories in the last 10 years so many of our facilities are small — only a handful are more than 100,000 tonnes, plus they are fairly spread out,’ says Gustav Melin, CEO of Svebio. ‘It’s not a structure you would build today.’ Due to this historic legacy of small-scale plants, some

Bioenergy Insight

regional focus Bioenergy of which are standalone and have to buy in raw materials, the cost structure can make it difficult to compete with imports. ‘There’s a lot of other cheap pellets available on the market and our producers have to factor in the high price of raw materials in different regions, transportation costs and currency ratios,’ adds Melin. ‘If you do not have your own raw material, it can be quite tricky to be a pellet producer today.’ The history of large-scale pellet production in Sweden can largely be laid at the door of a Finnish company. Helsinki-based Fortum, a power and heat company known throughout Scandinavia and the Baltic area, was one of the pioneers in the use of wood pellets, both to deliver district heating to the city of Stockholm, but also as the owner of the country’s first

that a handful of larger pellet mills were established and we supported them with long term contracts, which helped lift Swedish pellet production to about 1 million tonnes a year,’ adds Ytterberg. Having played an instrumental role in the development of Sweden’s pellet production capacity, Fortum sold its shares in the pilot mill and became a pure buyer in the market; today it imports most of its pellet needs from the Baltic region. The company is debating whether to convert some of its mid- to peak load facilities, of between 10 to 100 MW, to wood pellets due to increased competition for bio oils. ‘But for larger scale greenfield CHP plants that provide baseload power, the favoured fuels will either be waste-to-energy or woodchips,’ believes Ytterberg.

a new pelleting plant at its pulp operations at Värö. The group, which already operates a 30,000 tpy pellet mill at Långasjö, is building the new plant to provide efficient green energy to the pulp mill’s new lime kiln as well as producing pellets for the external market. The new pellet mill, which is a €15 million project integrated in Södra’s sawmill in Värö, will produce 130 000 tpy, of which roughly 60% will be used internally. The raw material will come from the sawmill, where rising production will increase the volumes of sawdust and planer shavings and there is also the energy to dry the shavings. The project is due to start up in October. The group says the pellet mill is a good fit with its existing businesses. ‘It’s almost hard to find a better fit,’ says Gustav Tibblin from Södra’s business development team. ‘Value adding to the sawdust from the integrated sawmill, utilising existing excess heat from the pulpmill, replacing fossil fuels with renewable pellets and, in the process, achieving extra volume for external sales.’ Finland

Wood pellets were the natural choice for DONG Energy

industrial-scale pellet facility. The Hässelby CHP plant, built inthe 1950s, originally ran on oil but was converted to coal after the oil crisis of the late 1970s. The advent of Sweden’s carbon tax prompted another change, with the 300MW plant converted to wood pellets in 1993. ‘We have been consuming 300,000 tonnes of pellets a year since the early 90s and for many years that was the biggest pellet-fired plant in Europe,’ says Per Ytterberg, head of fuel supply management at Fortum Heat Scandinavia. At that point there was no commercial pellet production in Sweden so Fortum started an industrial scale mill at Härnsand to help meet its needs. ‘After

Bioenergy Insight

A case in point is the company’s €500 million new CHP plant in Värtan, Stockholm which is due online in 2016 with a production capacity of 280MW of heat and 130MW of electricity. The advanced new boiler will allow Fortum to use a full range of solid biofuels made from woodchips. Another new plant, the Brista CHP plant in northern Stockholm, will burn waste and is due online this year. Those that do have access to low-cost raw materials are making modest investments in new capacity. Södra, an economic association of forest owners in southern Sweden with interests ranging from timber to pulp and paper, is building

Finland’s experience of pellets has historically been as a producer and exporter rather than as a consumer. Finland, 73% of which is covered with forests according to the UN and the highest in Europe, derived 23% of its total energy consumption from woodbased fuels in 2011, almost 50% from waste liquors from the forest industry. These numbers suggest there is plenty of scope for increased use of woody biomass to meet the country’s energy needs. This potential has not, to date, been realised because the country has been able to export cheap Finnish pellets to markets in Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the UK. Finnish pellets were competitive on the export market because the pellets were made from the dry by-products of the sawn timber

refining industry which meant pellet producers did not have to invest in drying equipment and the pellets could be costeffectively transported to European neighbours via ship. Life got tougher for Finland’s pellet manufacturers in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis however. The subsequent recession saw the forestry industry contract by as much as 30%, cutting off the supply of low cost raw material and forcing a number of pellet plants to shut production. This inevitably pushed up pellet prices and narrowed the cost competitiveness of Finnish pellets on the export market. Finland pellet production capacity is believed to be around 700,000 tpy but actual production is thought to be much lower. The government is keen to ramp up domestic consumption of pellets. Its National Renewable Energy Action Plan calls for a tripling of domestic consumption to over 400,000 tpy by 2020. New investments are being made, via increased use of pellets in district heating. In December 2012 Finland’s largest pellet-fired heating plant was commissioned in Tampere. Local utility Tampereen Energiantuotanto, which has a goal of lifting the proportion of renewable energy in its electricity and district heat production to 38% by 2020, ordered the 33 MW boiler from Helsinki-based engineering group Metso to replace some of its existing oil-and gas-fired capacity. Another Finnish company, Jyväskylä-based Vapo, won a contract to supply over 20,000 tonnes of pellets during the heating season, representing Finland’s largest pellet supply contract to date. Vapo is active across Scandinavia by operating five plants in Finland, four in Sweden plus a facility in Denmark. In total this amounts to group pellet capacity of 600,000 tonnes, with 200,000 tonnes in Finland, making it the biggest pellet

May/June 2013 • 37

Bioenergy regional focus producer in the country. Most of its product is exported, mainly to Denmark and Sweden although Martti Savolainen, director of Vapo’s pellet business, says there is growing domestic demand as industry starts to switch from expensive fuel oil to cheaper and cleaner burning pellets. ‘There are quite a lot of new heating projects on their way in Finland so we do expect the market to grow in the coming years,’ says Savolainen. Leppäkosken Energia, for example, has begun construction of a 3MW heating plant while, in November 2012, Finnish energy group Helsingin Energia, which aims to replace at least 5% of its coal with wood pellets from 2014, started a trial pellet combustion project at its Hanasaari power plant. Vapo has supplied up to 500 tonnes of pellets from its Turenki and Vilppula pellet plants for co-firing with coal. Savolainen has no concerns about any pellet shortfall to meet rising domestic demand. ‘At the moment in Finland, there is still quite a lot of pellets going for export and existing capacity isn’t being fully used. If growth continues then, in a couple of years, there may be a situation where domestic capacity heads to domestic feedstock destinations rather than for export.’ Vapo has no concrete plans to invest in new pellet capacity in Finland but may restart one idled factory after two were shuttered 18 months ago, one because of a scarcity of raw material in that area and the other for economic reasons related to the export price. ‘The domestic market is profitable but the export business is not good at all,’ says Savolainen. ‘The price level is not high enough, particularly when you have to take logistics costs into account.’ Denmark Denmark started using pellets in the late 1980s in its district heating sector but consumption

38 • May/June 2013

has surged over the past decade as utilities, prompted by fiscal and regulatory measures, started co-firing. According to figures from the Danish Energy Agency, consumption has risen from around 110,000 tpy in 1993 to over 1.7 million tpy in 2010. That number is set to take a further leap in 2015 when another big power plant makes the switch. When local municipality AffaldVarme Aarhus wanted to receive green heat for its customers, it discussed converting the Studstrup power station in Aarhus from coal to a cleaner burning and more sustainable fuel. ‘Wood pellets makes the most sense in terms of the existing plant,’ explains senior business developer Michael Schytz of Dong Energy, Denmark’s largest producer of electricity and heat. ‘Woodchips would require more investments and thereby increase the cost of heat.’ The plant will use 600,000 to 800,000 tpy of pellets once in operation, with the majority shipped from North America and the rest supplied from the Baltics and mainland Europe. ‘The cost of the US pellets is in line with European pellets,’ adds Schytz. ‘Logistically there are advantages in receiving pellets in larger vessels, but there’s also the advantages of availability and documenting sustainability, which is paramount.’ Dong has two more power plants in its portfolio that currently run on pellets. The multi-fuel 810 MW Avedøre Power Station is a CHP plant that reaches fuel efficiencies of up to 94%. Avedøre 1 burns coal while the newer multifuel Avedøre 2 uses natural gas, oil, coal, straw and wood pellets. Its pellet consumption is around 700,000-800,000 tpy. The 95MW Herning plant can burn woodchips (70%) and pellets (30%), with natural gas as a reserve fuel. It burns 50,000-60,000 tonnes of pellets per year. Dong is also mulling the conversion of its 392MW Skærbæk

power station, although no decision has yet been made. Biomass in Denmark is mainly used during the winter season, when the CHP plants are producing both electricity and heat for the district heating systems because subsidies on biomass are linked to production of heat. Schytz expects wood pellets to play a key role in meeting Denmark’s emissions targets because they work well with the existing power assets. He does not expect to see any capacity shortages in the pellet market because the long-term supply contracts that underpin the trans-Atlantic trade in pellets ensure balance between supply and demand. ‘We are in a situation where financing is a scarce resource so to get permission from the board of directors to convert a plant, we need to make sure the fuel supply is tied in through long term contracts,’ says Schytz. ‘Equally, any new pellet factory would need a long-term offtake agreement before they get the financing to build a factory. And there’s no shortage of sustainable raw material because forest resources are actually growing in those areas as the landowners have an incentive to make sure the trees are growing.’ Certainly Denmark’s domestic pellet production is contracting rather than growing. Danish production has been declining since 2005 when it was close to 200,000 tpy; in 2010 it had fallen to 137,000 tpy as raw material shortages pushed producers out of business. To fill the shortfall imports have surged, increasing by 310% between 2003 and 2010, when almost 1.6 million tonnes were imported. The main suppliers are Baltic states, Poland, Sweden, Canada, Finland and Portugal. Norway Despite its vast wood resource, Norway makes little use of pellets. This, after all, is a

country with an abundance of fossil fuels and hydro power. Of last year’s record high electricity production of 148TWh, 97% was hydro with the balance being wind (1.6TWh) and natural gas (3.4TWh). Due to its hydro base, the country scores well on renewable energy: in 2011 it was 65% of the energy mix, just two shy of its 2020 target of 67%. Residential heating is mainly electricity in combination with heat pumps or wood stoves, which adds up to annual pellet consumption of around 40,000 tonnes per year. Oslo, however, is keen to increase the use of biomass for heating and has set a target of an increase of 14Twh in the use of bioenergy by 2020, a doubling of current consumption. There is no industrial demand for pellets because there are no coal-fired power plants. There are nine pellet plants in Norway, all fairly small. There was a short-lived experiment with a largescale plant, the 450,000 tpy Biowood Norway plant at Averøya, which came online in June 2010. It was the biggest plant in Norway but it stopped production just before Christmas 2012. The plant, owned by Oslo-listed utility Hafslund, had been targeting pellet buyers in Europe but was stung by high costs and low pellet prices. ‘It was the cost of the raw material,’ says a spokesman. ‘It was too expensive to buy from Canada or Africa, transport and then convert it into pellets. It wasn’t a good opportunity for us.’ Norwegian companies still see opportunities in the pellet market, but as financiers rather than producers. Norwegian investment company Byggleverandørene, for example, recently backed the €1.1 million Biowood Nordic in Lithuania, with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes per year. The plan is to ship the pellets to other markets in Scandinavia. l

Bioenergy Insight

profile Bioenergy An abundance of potential feedstock and change of attitude toward renewable energy has made China the destination of choice for PlanEnergi

Danish power in the Far East

by James Barrett

he objective of a joint venture biogas project between Danish energy advisory firm PlanEnergi and Chinese environmental protection and new energy company Shandong Shifang is to eventually establish a common technical platform in the Far East. ‘The prime motivation behind this venture is to eventually develop a concept for an environmental and socio-economical sustainable solution to handling and production of biological waste and turning it into renewable energy,’ says project manager Lars Bøgeskov Hyttel. A facility, which turns biomass into electricity, is currently being built in the region of Qing Dao and Hyttel reveals a bountiful, yet currently underused, line of waste in China will provide the feedstock source. ‘This specific project will primarily use used cooking oil and other waste from restaurants, which will be treated and turned into biogas,’ Hyttel says. ‘That will be used for generating power which will be sent to the national grid, thus contributing to the increase of renewable energy and helping towards the lowering of carbon dioxide levels.’ The plant will be able to handle 200 tonnes of waste feedstock a day once operational, capable of producing approximately 15,000m3 biogas/day (about

Bioenergy Insight

Collaboration: PlanEnergi and Shangdong Shifang colleagues early in the construction phase

65% CH4) = 127,000 GJ/year of power. Construction is expected to be completed this summer. Overcoming obstacles The project has not been without its challenges however and Hyttel explains that the drawn-out process of getting an environmental impact assessment actually meant the project was moved from its original location. ‘We were due to base the facility in the Jinan region but the authorities did not act fast enough and the assessment process got bogged down,’ he adds. ‘The process differs in China when compared to, for instance, the EU. The Chinese government have to appoint a knowledgeable person from a relevant institute and this creates a long chain of command for our project to work across. ‘Some other challenges included the full training of Shandong Shifang staff in the

technical use of equipment and all required processes,’ Hyttel continues. ‘Getting the plant layout and dimensions for the optimum biological process was also not easy, plus we’ve spent a lot of time planning the best way to collect our required feedstock.’ PlanEnergi helped local authorities realise the business worth used cooking oil has and pitched in technical advice to allow a system in Qing Dao to come online. ‘Restaurants now have separating systems and the waste we are interested in goes into a storage tank that can be collected by truck,’ he explains while claiming that, in the past, anyone with a simple container and transportation could collect basic raw materials. But overcoming these challenges has been satisfying as Hyttel confirms receiving all necessary approvals from the authorities means the final results will be derived

from an ‘established and mature relationship which makes it possible to prepare the project towards the authority’s requirements’. Once the plant is completed, the next objective for PlanEnergi is to hopefully replicate this sustainable biogas concept based on kitchen and food waste that can be implemented in other Chinese regions. ‘The sustainable basis for the future continuation of this partnership with Shandong Shifang will be based on the know-how accumulated during this entire project,’ Hyttel says. ‘We believe our collective knowledge will be beneficial in relation to the design and implementation of similar new biogas plant projects.’ Future plans Another project seed has been sowed recently and will focus on the two companies converting landfill waste into power. The first demonstration plant will be based in Zhengzhou and will have a complete landfill gas collection system. ‘We aim to establish a demonstration of the technological innovation regarding increasingly available technology for landfill gas collection,’ adds Hyttel. ‘We want to achieve efficiency through bilateral cooperation, while strengthening energy use by increasing our investment in such projects.’ l

May/June 2013 • 39

Bioenergy maceration

The pre-mixing tank at ComBiGas, where a long shaft Landia chopper pump is in operation

A Landia mixer also helps ComBiGas with the 15% straw/85% manure (and abattoir waste) feedstock

Landia’s GasMix system ensures better circulation and consistent temperatures

Denmark’s hot topic

n April Bioenergy Insight took the opportunity to visit Danish biogas plant specialist ComBigaS’ thermophillic biogas facility. The demonstration plant runs at 52°C as opposed to the usual 37°C. This kills the bacteria in the slurry, making the process safer for the surrounding environment. The fully automated plant uses 27,000 tonnes of biomass a year and produces 2.2 million m3 of biogas a year, equating to 14.4MW. ComBiGas is a collaborative effort between tank supplier Assentoft Silo, software provider Holtec Automatic, steel cutter RMV, Schanflex, pump supplier Landia, and slurry tank builder and independent

40 • May/June 2013

consultancy PlanAction Aps. The plant uses biomass from five neighbouring plants from up to 5km away. The success of an anaerobic digestion facility is down to the mix of digestate and the temperature, explains Kent Skaanning, the company’s CEO. ‘Just a half degree variation is enough to impact biogas production.’ ComBiGas aims to use around 15% straw in its substrate. To ensure the correct mix and temperature, the company uses a selection of pumps and mixers supplied by Landia. The biomass storage tanks use submersible mixers with a triple shaft sealing system for protection against the surrounding liquid. Then, at the start of the

process, the reception premixing tank houses a powerful mixer with a cutter system that produces a homogenous sludge. The chopper pump differentiates itself from others in the market as the cutter system is separate from the pump casing and impeller. This means blockages are reduced and the pump is more efficient. In the digester Landia’s patent-pending GasMix system employs a 3D mixing pattern along with an additional chopper pump. Ejector nozzles enter the tank at different intervals providing a horizontal mixing pattern. Additionally the sludge is aspirated, providing a vertical mix. To decrease the energy required at the plant the

mixing system is not run continuously. ‘We aim to use the pump for 15 minutes in every hour,’ Skaanning explains. The GasMix also circulates the sludge, meaning it passes through the chopper pump several times, increasing the amount of biogas that can be produced. The side entry pumps can be maintained from outside the tank, decreasing the amount of downtime required. This plant has been operating successfully for the past seven months. ComBiGas has already installed a similar facility in Germany last year and is building anther in Ireland. The company estimates the payback for this concept to be around four to six years. l

Bioenergy Insight

regulations Bioenergy A small but important change to the Renewable Heat Incentive is needed to avoid unnecessary tariff degression

This degression will not stand

UPDATE – As this issue was going to press, DECC made its first degression announcement: contrary to the expectations in the below article, the RHI tariff for medium biomass installations will be degressed by 5% from 1 July. See www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/rhi-mechanism-for-budget-management-estimated-commitments

ragedy and comedy are often close relations, and while war is certainly an example of the former, it is perhaps no surprise therefore that George Bush Sr’s most memorable quote ‘This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait’ was immortalised by the cult comedy film The Big Lebowski, with Jeff Bridges’ hippie bum character turning it into: ‘This aggression will not stand, man’. It is close enough phonetically to appropriate it for the title of this article. Certainly the renewables sector in the UK knows how closely related tragedy, excitement and even farce can be, mostly as a result of the policy change of the day. On the whole, however, few would dispute that things have been going in the right direction. This also applies to the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which, although still not introduced for the domestic sector and largely ineffective

as it stands for some eligible technologies (such as heat pumps), is becoming a success story for commercial biomass heat. The deployment figures for April have recently been released, showing modest but steady uptake of around 30MW per month, reaching a total of over 450MW since the start of the scheme at the end of 2011. The same figures will also form the basis for the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) first assessment as to possible degression of tariffs under the new automatic degression system announced earlier this year. Automatic degression After the introduction of degression as a mechanism to reduce subsidy tariffs in the Feed-In Tariffs, neither the introduction of degression as such to the RHI, nor the government’s decision to do so in the form of automatic uptake-based degression has

Deployment (numbers of installations) Small biomass Medium biomass

Actual data from DECC monthly RHI statistics Nov-‐12 Dec-‐12 Jan-‐13 786 893 1,016 107 123 209 237 274 28 37

Total accredited + applications pending Monthly growth Total accredited + applications pending Monthly growth

Installation assumptions Small biomass Medium biomass

Average capacity (DECC statistics, kW) 106 554

Comparison estimated RHI spend against degression triggers Small biomass Medium biomass All tariffs (assumed as total of small + medium biomass plus 12%)

Average peak load hours (assumed) 1,400 1,700

April trigger point Estimated 12-‐month spend £17,998,589 £14,359,913 £36,277,059

Figure 1: 1 Estimated RHI spend against the first two quarterly degression triggers Figure

Bioenergy Insight

been a surprise. In principle, the prospect of degression does not feel like a significant concern — Ofgem’s total cumulative spend on the RHI so far is about £7.6 million (€8.8 million), whereas the budget for 2013-14 is £251 million. Unfortunately, digging through the detail suggests that it is not quite as clearcut — especially for the small and medium biomass segments that have thus far carried almost 90% of RHI deployment. The digging exercise is not helped by the fact that the automatic degression mechanism is complicated. To summarise: each quarter, DECC will consider whether any degression triggers are hit, by comparing the budget with expected RHI spend over the following 12 months on the total of accredited installations plus installations for which applications have been submitted. The first such quarterly exercise uses RHI deployment data as of the end of April Feb-‐13 1,191 175 302 28

Mar-‐13 1,323 132 316 14

Resulting average heat load (kWh) 148,384 941,071

Trigger amount £22,200,000 £20,100,000 £48,600,000

2013; DECC will announce whether any degression has been triggered at the beginning of June, which would then become effective in July. If the criteria for degression are met, initial degression is 5%; if degression triggers continue to be met in subsequent quarters, further degression between 10 and 20% may apply. The first ‘line of defence’ against degression is that in any case no degression will apply while the RHI is spending less than 50% of the total budget. Given the deployment pattern so far, and this year’s £251 million budget, that seems like a pretty good cushion, but the actual trigger numbers now published by DECC tell a different story: the total RHI budget trigger for April 2013 is set at £97.2 million, with the 50% rule therefore applying at £48.6 million.1 To some extent the difference is understandable; each budget trigger is supposed to relate to the expected RHI spend over the following Apr-‐13 1,478 155 332 16

Tier 1 tariff (£) 0.086 0.053

Projection using growth rate past 6 months May-‐13 Jun-‐13 Jul-‐13 1,677 1,903 2,160 199 226 257 364 400 439 32 36 39 Tier 2 tariff (£) 0.022 0.022

July trigger point Estimated 12-‐month spend £26,303,906 £19,001,396 £50,791,692

Resulting subsidy spend per installation £12,178 £43,253

Trigger amount £25,100,000 £23,200,000 £60,100,000

May/June 2013 • 41

Bioenergy regulations year, but only on installations accredited and applications submitted at the time of the degression assessment. In other words, DECC needs to reserve some budget for spend on installations that are yet to come forward during the following 12 months. DECC is not very clear on its forecast for such new installations, but a simple calculation based on the published trigger figures suggests this will be around £50 million during 2013-14. So DECC’s budget for the current RHI, at least for the purpose of automatic degression calculations, is about £150 million during 2013-14 (£97.2 million plus about £50 million). Not £251 million. Where did the other £100 million go? The RHI budget triggers were set using the original 2010 RHI uptake forecast, which included the domestic RHI as well as tariffs that are not in place yet, such as those for air source heat pumps. So effectively DECC seems to have set aside £100 million for tariffs that do not exist yet and, according to the latest statements, will not be in force until early 2014. Whether that makes sense is another question, but for starters it means that the first line of defence — the 50% rule — is not set at half of £251 million but at £48.6 million at the first trigger point, rising to around £96 million by the end of 2013-14. Whether that is a problem would depend on DECC’s calculation of total expected RHI spend, which will be addressed further below. First, another layer of the degression methodology needs to be considered: each RHI tariff segment (for instance small biomass) has received its own trigger amount within the total budget; if the 50% rule has been exceeded, those tariffs that are also exceeding their own budget will be degressed. On the face of it, there is again some good news in how DECC

42 • May/June 2013

has decided to set these tariffspecific triggers: they are set at 150% of the forecast uptake under each tariff segment. So far, deployment of any significance has only taken place in the small and medium biomass segments. Market indications suggest that large biomass and heat pumps could start contributing more, but that will likely only happen if and when DECC increases the tariffs for these segments next year (DECC is reviewing these tariffs and has hinted that they may increase). For the time being, the question of whether tariffspecific budgets will be breached in practice therefore only arises for small and medium biomass. The April 2013 degression triggers for small and medium biomass are £22.2 and £20.1 million, respectively. As explained above, expected spend over the next 12 months (on installations accredited and applied-for as at 30 April) will be compared against these budgets. At the time of writing, DECC has not yet announced its calculation of such expected spend; it should be available by the time this article is published, so the calculations presented here should be checked against the official figures. In order to turn numbers of installations (accredited and applied-for) into a 12-month RHI spend forecast, the main variables are assumed average capacity and heat load per installation. See figure 1 — a calculation using likely assumptions suggests that this results in about £18 and £14.4 million for small and medium biomass, respectively. This is around 20-30% below the triggers, but not nearly as comfortably far below the budget as one might have expected. As explained, this does not matter as long as total RHI spend remains below the 50% trigger. In order to make a prediction about this, expected 12-month spend would have

to be calculated for all RHI segments. DECC’s calculation will no doubt do this properly using capacity and heat load data for each tariff segment; this article uses a shortcut by simply extrapolating expected small and medium biomass spend based on the fact that thus far these segments constituted 89% of total RHI spend. This would suggest that total expected spend on all RHI installations (accredited and applied-for) as at 30 April would be £36.3 million against the 50% trigger of £48.6 million. So that is still 25% below the first line of defence, but again not as far off as the initial comparison between actual deployment and the £251 million budget would have suggested. Figure 1 also shows a sample calculation for the next trigger point (which will use July data and become effective in September). It suggests that if the average monthon-month growth rate of the past six months continues, we will probably still stay below the 50% trigger point. But for small and medium biomass it is closer than it should be. If DECC uses different installation assumptions to calculate expected spend, or deployment rates accelerate more substantially than shown in the sample calculations, we may well be faced with degression in these tariffs before the financial year is out, even though, for DECC, there would be no risk of even approaching the £251 million limit. The problem is that DECC has set the degression trigger points based on a modelling forecast of deployment made in 2010 when the RHI was designed. That forecast expected biomass to contribute about half of total uptake; in reality, as we know, it is (across small, medium and large biomass) contributing 99%. The forecast, however, never claimed to be accurate. As DECC’s original RHI Impact Assessment stated:

‘This [forecast of uptake by technology] is based on the RHI model projections and does not represent a technologyspecific ambition. As modelling assumptions are uncertain in reality it is likely that the final mix will be different from this illustration’.2 This forecast was never meant to be used to drive policy, and is unsuitable as the basis for calculating degression triggers. The solution is clear When the Feed-In Tariffs introduced automatic degression in response to unexpectedly high levels of PV deployment, triggers were set on the basis of actual deployment figures rather than the uptake forecast that was published at the initial introduction of the FITs. All we need the RHI to do is adopt the same approach. The latest RHI policy document itself mentions this solution, as well as the possibility to address it right now as part of the current tariffs review: ‘Alongside the review of tariffs […] we may need to review the total trigger and the tariff triggers to adjust for changes to projected uptake’.3 So the solution is simple. Reviewing triggers to account for actual uptake patterns is a sensible change which is not only important to the market, but also for DECC to avoid the embarrassment of premature degression (and resulting effects on investor confidence), when the RHI as a whole is still significantly under-spending and under-deploying. l For more information:

Erich Scherer is assistant director of renewable energy finance at advisory firm BDO erich.scherer@bdo.co.uk

References:

1 www.gov.uk/government/ consultations/renewable-heatincentive-providing-certainty-andimproving-performance: “Final Impact Assessment for Budget Management in the non-domestic RHI”, page 29. 2 ”Renewable Heat Incentive Impact Assessment”, March 2011, page 17 3 “Government response to Providing Certainty, improving performance July 2012 consultation”, February 2013, page 34.

Bioenergy Insight

biomass Bioenergy Biomass is finding a niche as more and more power plants look for alternatives to coal

Hammering coal by Nicholas Zeman A $170 million (€132 million) retrofit at the Atikokan Generating Station in Ontario is transforming a 28-year old coal plant to burn 100% biomass, and this project represents a major trend in North American power engineering and construction efforts. ‘The Ontario Power Authority mandated that this facility be free of coal by 13 December 2014,’ says Atikokan station manager Brent Boyko. ‘The biomass fuel source will cut emissions but retain the plant’s ability to generate 205MW of electrical power.’ Biomass is finding its niche as companies all over North America look to pellet residues and other coal alternatives as pervasive policies and regulations are making it increasingly difficult for coal-fired plants to continue operating under their existing business models. Continent overview The Sierra Club, the largest environmental advocacy group in the US, says 142 US coal-fired facilities have closed during its campaign against the fossil fuel, representing 105GW of electrical capacity. When American Electric Power recently announced it will shut three of its coal plants, Sierra Club says its Beyond Coal campaign will then be more than halfway to its goal of seeing 30% of the US coal fleet dissolved by 2020. ‘The sudden gap in energy

Bioenergy Insight

production has to be filled by something and if coal can’t provide steam, electricity and heat in its historic quantities, biopower has the opportunity to cut in,’ says Robert White of Robert White Industries, which builds biomass and fuel preparation systems out of Minnesota for the conversion of residues and scrap wood into animal bedding, landscape mulch and boiler fuel. White’s opinion is one many leaders in the biomass industry share like American Renewables, which is building one of the country’s largest biomass power plants in Florida. ‘The developed world has been too dependent on the ‘fuel du jour’ and subsequently the victim of price and supply volatility,’ says American Renewables’ director of project development Josh Levine. ‘Coal helped build the developed world but it was at the expense of a more balanced energy portfolio. Biomass energy offers needed diversification of municipal, state and even regional power needs.’ Biomass companies in New York are benefitting from the actions of powerful allies and public sentiment against fossil fuel pollution, plus the continuation of status quo energy policy. ‘Coal is under a lot of pressure and that is creating an opportunity to reinvent some of these facilities,’ says Tom Beck of ReEnergy Holdings. ‘New York State definitely wants to utilise

biomass, there is a lot of focus on the forestry industry here which environmentalists and regulators want to see supported.’ Michael Bloomberg, the man behind the financial publishing powerhouse and mayor of New York City, also hammered the US coal industry at the National Energy Innovation summit in February. He stated: ‘Coal is a dead man walking’ and renewed his support for a transition away from coal dependency to a more sustainable energy future. He has also funded the Beyond Coal campaign to the tune of $50 million. The ‘coal’ picture Coal producing company Peabody Energy defends a clean coal future and points to coal’s unmatched growth, technology advancements, emission reductions and role in powering the best economies while keeping electricity rates low and lifting hundreds of millions of people out of energy poverty around the world. ‘We support all forms of technology as a way to reduce emissions,’ Megan Gallagher, spokesman for Peabody, says when asked if the company supported co-firing biomass in boilers as a means to cut emissions at coal plants. In response to Sierra Club’s position Peabody maintains that coal is ‘indispensable’ within the current energy landscape, its ‘track record of reliability and affordability’ sits

alongside the progress made to reduce ‘key emissions’ in the US and points to the role it has played in giving fuel to ‘the world’s 3.6 billion people whom lack access to proper energy’. But it is also hard to refute the fact that emissions from coal-fired power plants still contribute to significant, avoidable public health costs and crises across all regions, especially those that lack a sophisticated regulatory structure. Reducing those emissions to a safe level will require costly new controls that undermine Peabody’s argument for the affordability of coal compared to other energy resources. Torrefaction option Hiroshi Morihara, CEO of Oregon-based biomass firm HM3 Energy, says if coal power plants spend huge amounts of time and money converting to natural gas or adding scrubbers then they will be pursuing more costly and intense options when compared to using torrefied wood. ‘Torrefied wood is clearly a next step in cleaning up our environment,’ Morihara adds. ‘It is clean burning but its biggest obstacle is that it can be bulky. We are looking at providing pulverised product, just like they pulverise coal before burning it.’ Perhaps coal will indirectly support the growth of the biomass power industry, so it becomes a complicated situation when the sector biomass is trying to

May/June 2013 • 43

Bioenergy biomass take market share from is also a customer. ‘If coal plants are forced to reduce current emissions and find alternative fuels, this indeed presents a business opportunity for biomass,’ adds Scott Tranchemontagne, spokesperson of torrefied wood pellet producer Thermogen. ‘We have purchased the rights to exclusively produce, market, and sell our product throughout North America.’ Thermogen provides torrefied wood pellets to coal plants as an alternative fuel source to aid with emissions reduction. ‘We targeted coal burning plants overseas intitally where emissions regulations are more stringent,’ Tranchemontagne adds. ‘If the market for our proprietary product develops in the US, we will increase our capacity to meet demand.’ ‘Torrefied wood was originally developed by the French for use in the steel industry,’ reveals John Paoluccio, CEO of CNF Biofuels. ‘It would play a very active role today except for the availability of cheap fossil fuels, but that is changing.’ It would cost some coal plants in excess of $500 million to switch to natural gas or install scrubbers and other controls to reduce emissions - or they could use torrefied wood. ‘One coal-fired power plant in Oregon requested a quote for 2,000 tonnes of torrefied biomass, but we are not quite ready to fill an order like that. The plant said that ultimately it will need 2 million tonnes of torrefied wood to replace its coal usage,’ Paoluccio elaborates. ‘And that is only one plant’s needs.’ Morihara agrees that the industry is not quite ready to replace coal at the industrial level but, in the meantime, coal users have at least bought some biomass for test runs in small quantities.

44 • May/June 2013

‘I don’t think the coal industry has been buying a lot of biomass because the industry is very fragmented right now,’ he adds. ‘One exception in the wood pellet market however is in the south east where companies are shipping product to the lucrative EU market.’ Retrofit challenges While some companies want to supply torrefied wood to coal plants, others want to convert idled or closed coal-fired facilities to burn a more diverse stream of biomass products. But there are many challenges within the conversion process. For instance, coal plants have different fuel delivery systems, often because of size. Biomass plants are usually between 20MW and 40MW, while coal plants can be 10 times that so most retrofits and cofiring is happening with small coal companies that are trying to bring facilities into compliance. It is happening but major adoption by the entire US coal industry is an entirely different consideration. ‘Size is important and our Black River facility is a 60MW facility that can use forestry residues,’ Beck says. ‘For larger, closed facilities in other parts of the country, biomass companies need to look closely at the logistics and sustainability of supply in the surrounding area when considering investment.’ Black River was ideally suited for a conversion to biomass because it has three circulating fluidised bed boilers that are well-suited for different fuels. Therefore, conversion was fairly simple. ‘We have added new scales for truck deliveries as the coal came in by rail. We have also installed new trippers and reclaimers, and had to change the size of the conveyor belts to accommodate woodchips,’ Beck adds.

‘We added a cooling tower which is reducing the amount of energy we are using by offering a 90% reduction in overall water usage.’ Most of the work over at Atikokan involved the construction of a new material handling and storage system as, although coal can be left outside, wood pellets cannot. The need to protect the new feedstock from the elements meant a need for massive silos. ‘They can hold 5,000 tonnes each,’ explains Boyko. ‘They’re 60ft in diameter and 200ft tall, they look like missile silos.’ FWS Group in Winnipeg is performing the task via a seven day continuous pour: ‘This is when the molds are moved up as the concrete is poured,’ Boyko explains. ‘This is a 24 hour a day job that requires 60 workers per shift, 300 truckloads of concrete and 200,000kg of rebar. However, at the moment, work has been delayed because we are in the middle of the snowstorm.’ Taking ownership of retired or abandoned coal facilities for biopower purposes is a difficult scenario requiring cooperation and innovation. ReEnergy is providing bark wood chippers to many of its suppliers and engaging in long-term contracts so vendors can pay off the chipper cost over time. Construction and engineering firms certainly see the business growth opportunities retrofitting coal facilities can offer and are working hard to provide the expertise and services necessary to help biomassbased projects succeed. Industrial partners with expertise in other sectors can be indispensable. Cianbro Construction, based in Maine, provides construction services as they are active within many biomass projects and coal retrofits. ‘The challenge with a retrofit is to take an existing facility offline and have it

back up and running within a limited timeframe,’ says Cianbro president Alan Vigue. ‘Installing the equipment at ReEnergy’s Black River plant went really well. The biggest question was how do we get the new equipment into the plant effectively? We were able to modulise, bring it in and assemble in the plant rather than bringing it all in one piece.’ The Black River retrofit cost approximately $34 million, but the economic benefits of the conversion included 178 construction jobs and 145 jobs created on the fuel supply side. ‘What the US needs ultimately is renewable energy,’ Paoluccio says. ‘For 800,000 years the concentrations of greenhouse gases was around 250 parts per million. But with fossil fuels and deforestation that has grown to 400 parts per million. ‘Solar and wind look attractive options but they do not have the benefits of the biomass industry because they don’t help dispose of waste materials and decaying plant matter. When you burn a tonne of biomass you prevent that material from decomposing and causing pollution too. Nature cannot keep up with cleaning the air of fossil fuel emissions and decomposing biomass so, when you burn it, you are helping nature dispose of this material.’ So the pressures facing coal do represent an opportunity for biomass but market share will not come on a silver platter. ‘We know the benefits of biomass and see pressure on the coal industry every day and that they are substituting some their volumes with wood pellets,’ Beck concludes. ‘We know how important biomass is to rural economies and that this is a business that they want to develop, but they need to remember that it is not always easy.’ l

Bioenergy Insight

boilers Bioenergy University of Iowa is working hard to obtain renewable energy goals by the end of this decade. Here we see an upgrade to a biomass boiler operation

Retrofitting for the future

orking through any retrofit project can be more interesting than new construction, but also more challenging, as managers and developers know. When a construction management team is assembled to repurpose an existing site it usually means space restrictions, unusual piping, creative wiring and many customised solutions worked out in the field. A new biomass boiler installation at the University of Iowa (UI), commissioned last year, was no exception. As part of the Oakdale

Technology

Renewable Energy Plant (OREP) infrastructure overhaul, the wood-fired boiler is one of many steps in a complex green energy initiative launched by the university as it aims to have 40% of its energy needs met by renewable by 2020. (See sidebar) Biomass decisions start with fuel Global Energy Solutions, representing boiler provider Hurst Boilers, was approached by the UoIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s associate director of utilities and energy management, Ferman Milster, prior to the Iowa City flood of 2008 to brainstorm a potential

biomass boiler solution for the Oakdale research park facility. The plan was to install and operate a biomass boiler, replacing one of four gas boilers, and fire it with local fuels such as woodchips and oat hulls. An existing coal bunker would provide storage space for the feedstocks. The overall goal was to eventually operate the UI research park campus on 100% renewable energy, with fossil fuels in place as back-up. Working together to keep the renewable energy project current, UI has been listed in The Princeton Reviewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Guide to Green Colleges for three consecutive years. However,

Advantage

in July 2010, the decision was made to approve fabrication of the new biomass system. The UI facilities management team began the collaborative process of laying out the puzzle pieces and attempting to determine how and when everything would fit together. Once the equipment was on-site, weekly meetings were held to assess progress, discuss necessary adjustments and hand out responsibilities. Added complexity Tied into the biomass boiler system is a small gasifier provided by Ag Biopower. The

Status

Two 1,400kW reciprocating Can be powered from natural gas or low-Btu gas (e.g. internal combustion engine landfill gas). Exceptionally high efficiency, when compared generators, with heat recovery. to separate generation of heat and electric power.

Operational on natural gas. Supplies hot water, versus steam, for HVAC thermal loads in new buildings.

Landfill gas project

Provides renewable energy to operate the reciprocating internal combustion engines, providing campus electric power and thermal energy from renewable energy.

Negotiating agreements for gas supply, transportation, cleaning and compression. Pipeline between City of Iowa landfill and OREP required.

Central hot water distribution system

More efficient, compared to steam, for distributing thermal energy to HVAC loads.

Operational to the Environmental Management Facility and Information Technology Facility.

Central chilled water distribution system

Enables use of a large, efficient central plant for cooling, versus individual building chillers.

Operational to the Environmental Management Facility and Information Technology Facility.

Central chilled water plant

Able to produce chilled water for building HVAC loads in a more efficient central plant, versus individual building chillers. Reduces amount of building space and equipment for HVAC.

Operating.

Biomass boiler

Replaces one natural gas boiler with a solid fuel (e.g. woodchips, oat hulls) biomass boiler.

Construction and commissioning completed.

Research gasifier

Installs a small gasifier for College of Engineering to research and determine combustion characteristics of various renewable alternate fuels (e.g. expired seeds, corn stover, and paper sludge).

Construction and commissioning completed. Fuel produced in the gasifier will be burned in the biomass boiler, through a special burner.

New electric substation

Provides a larger capacity and more reliable connection to the grid.

Substation installed and operational.

New buried electric distribution system

Underground electric service much more reliable, compared to overhead electric lines.

System installed and serving new loads, existing overhead lines will be phased out in future years.

Bioenergy Insight

May/June 2013 â&#x20AC;˘ 45

Bioenergy boilers

Burner

- Integral burner unit for biomass gas - Natural gas-fired with 25 HP axial flow blower - Variable frequency drive

Fuel feed

- Two 4-section walking floor units with vertical spike rollers; horizontal screw conveyor for transport to the bucket elevator

Control system

- Dashboard driven intuitive control and monitoring for boiler and peripheral equipment

Air pollution

- Primary: Hurst

Control

- Secondary: Tri-Mer ultra-temp filtration - High temperature ceramic filters impregnated with NOx oxidation catalyst.

gasifier is a system component used by the UI College of Engineering for ongoing combustion research and study of alternate renewable fuels

such as expired seeds, corn stover and paper sludge. Agricultural products are introduced into the gasifier to produce syngas which is

injected into the burner. The gasifier is essential to the OREP as UI seeks to both explore new fuel technologies and to serve as a model for other university communities. Components of the system Bruce Coffee, chief engineer at Hurst Boilers, offers a breakdown on the new boiler’s components: ‘There is no substitute for experience: ‘When it comes to biomass projects, experience is the single most important factor for a successful retrofit.’ He describes the UI project as ‘requiring some creative solutions including modifications to work around space constraints and fixed barriers’. Components such as the boiler legs, breeching, piping and the fly ash collector chute were all pieces that needed to be modified and placed to fit.

BDI BioGas

The solution for industrial and municipal waste

Heaps of Energy. Our plants can turn your waste into hard cash! Your waste and by-products are worth a lot of money: with a turnkey BDI BioGas facility, you may save your waste problem while generating precious energy at the same time. Get in touch to find out what we can do for you. 46 • May/June 2013

Training is critical Even experienced boiler technicians in any field will occasionally make the assumption that operating a new biomass boiler does not require any specialised training. UI set up a training classroom for this project filled with managers, boiler operators, engineers and other technicians ready to learn about the new technology. Beyond the operation of the boiler, there are many moving parts in a biomass system requiring periodic maintenance and adjustment, particularly if a new fuel is being introduced. Coffee explains that ‘Hurst can combust hundreds of different fuels but adjustments are usually required to accommodate changes or mixtures’. l For more information:

This article was supplied by Hurst Boilers and was originally written by Global Energy Solutions www.hurstboiler.com

waste

from

value

- 600 BoHP 20,700 PSIG biomasswaste fuel boiler/gasifier - 450 PSI design pressure; 20,700 PPH output steam - Dual screw metering bin, reciprocating grate type stoker, substoichiometric combustion air system - Automatic ash collection system

Boiler

Visit us at the UK AD & Biogas 2013 Booth B47 BDI - BioEnergy International AG Parkring 18 8074 Grambach/Graz, Austria Phone +43 (0)316 4009 100 Fax +43 (0)316 4009 110 bdi@bdi-bioenergy.com www.bdi-bioenergy.com

Bioenergy Insight

boilers Bioenergy A Germany-based paper mill needed a biomass system that seemingly did not exist — so how did it get to where it wanted to go?

Hybrid theory

inland-based paper, packaging and biomaterials brand Stora Enso’s Maxau (SEM) mill, located on the Rhein river in southwest Germany, produces paper mainly from recovered raw material. Its two machines, with a design capacity of 540,000 tonnes per annum (t/a), and the groundwood mill are the highest energy consumers in Maxau’s process. ‘Energy prices in Germany are the third highest in Europe. Without self-generated power, making paper here would not make economic sense,’ explains mill director Joachim Grünewald. Back in 2007 the SEM team saw clouds forming on their energy horizon. According to project manager Jürgen Glowatzki the business was working with ‘a 95 bar steam network with three old turbines, two gas boilers, a gas turbine with heat recovery and a bark boiler’. ‘The emissions of the gas turbine and bark boiler

were not going to meet new regulations slated for 2012, so we needed a solution. Plus, we were 97% dependent on natural gas,’ he adds. A recommendation was to build a multi-fuel boiler big enough to cover normal steam demand and run the gas boiler parallel during winter months. As the turbines were old, it was also recommended to install a new backpressure turbine with 41MW extraction to feed the low-pressure system. Multi-fuel logic The decision to go with a multifuel system was considered an important one by SEM. ‘Our sister mill in Belgium runs a boiler that uses 100% refuse-derived fuels (RDF), basically sorted household waste,’ Glowatzki explains. ‘This is a cheap fuel source and helps reduce the load on landfills, but it would face opposition from the local community because of fears over possible air pollution. Still, we felt that

some percentage of our fuel could come from RDF too.’ Other readily available fuels that could be considered were purchased biomass, mill bark, paper-derived fuels, wood from construction sites and coal and natural gas. Being able to select and blend any of these fuel sources would give the mill a flexibility it never had before. ‘The business reason for the investment was to realise significant savings on the energy side,’ Grünewald adds. ‘If we can’t run the power plant efficiently, we have to shut it down.’ A challenging order After board approval of the €120 million project, the SEM team had technical discussions with three potential suppliers. ‘Our desire was for a turnkey delivery,’ Glowatzki says. ‘Only one of those suppliers, Andritz, could accommodate our needs.’ SEM signed a contract in late 2007 for delivery of a SEM is powered by a boiler that burns both clean and dirty fuels

Bioenergy Insight

PowerFluid boiler, internal fuel handling system, flue gas treatment plant (dry absorption within a fabric filter), ash handling system, feed water system and auxiliaries with Andritz. Unique technical solution Given the parameters of 55kg/s of live steam at 520°C and 95 bar with high chlorine content in the RDF, SEM and Andritz knew the project was going to be a challenge. The technical solution Glowatzki refers to as ‘unique’ is a hybrid PowerFluid boiler. Unlike a stationary fluidised bed boiler, the bed material in a circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boiler flows with the flue gas through the furnace. The bed material is separated by a cyclone and returned to the lower furnace. CFB is one of the best technologies for reaching complete combustion of various low-grade fuel combinations and minimising emissions. There are several types of CFB and Andritz uses two designs: PowerFluid CC for clean conventional fuels like coal and biomass or PowerFluid RC for dirty residue fuels. Due to the RC’s configuration with an integral bed material heat exchanger, tail-end pass and separate economiser, it is the more expensive of the two. But Maxau enquired about a third alternative: could Andritz provide a boiler that could burn both clean and dirty fuels at a lower investment cost? The result of this challenge was the PowerFluid HC design, which incorporates components from the CC and the RC. ‘The fact that it was a hybrid design never tried before, and at such a large size (200

May/June 2013 • 47

Bioenergy boilers t/h), might be perceived as a risk,’ Glowatzki admits, ‘but I was convinced that we could all work together and complete the project.’ Throttling back on gas ‘Our starting point before the project saw us using 97% natural gas and 3% bark,’ Glowatzki explains. ‘We could not continue this way with gas prices continually rising.’ Maxau set three design points for the boiler: one at 100% coal, one at 100% biomass and a third at what it thought would be the most likely scenario of 34% biomass, 42% coal, 10% RDF and 14% sludge. ‘Right now we can buy plenty of biomass, so we are running the boiler at about 70% biomass and the rest is made up of RDF and sludge,’ he continues. ‘Since we don’t have to purchase much coal or natural gas, we are

saving big money, around €3 million a month currently.’ ‘This is a long-term investment,’ adds Grünewald. ‘We are generating power at a lower cost than planned but we know that fuel availability and pricing will swing. It is difficult to predict the future but at least the multi-fuel boiler gives us flexibility and options.’ Converting challenges to opportunities The PowerFluid boiler started up in March 2010 and Glowatzki says SEM was able to load the boiler faster than it anticipated utilising the steam. However, there was a slight disruption during the project. ‘Management decided to shut down PM 7 in the middle of engineering so we would have up to 70 t/h of extra steam in the system,’ recalls Glowatzki. ‘We converted this problem into an opportunity

by rebuilding two old turbines with condensing tails and used the extra steam to make electricity.’ With all this, SEM covers about 40% of its electricity demand. “After we complete modifications to the turbines, this will increase to 50%,’ he adds. ‘Every megawatt of self-generated power works out about 40% cheaper than purchased power.’ Performance-to-date ‘Our chosen feedstocks are not typically easy to burn – a mixture of coal, biomass, RFD, sludge from our water treatment plant and deinking,’ Glowatzki says. ‘The boiler is so flexible, we have four feed lines and can proportion them based on fuel availability. The PowerFluid boiler handles this perfectly with emissions well within targets.’ Grünewald agrees that SEM

is happy with the completed project but adds: ‘Our operators are still optimising the boiler as the spruce bark biomass we get from our own process can be wet and stringy. It has the potential to give us problems, although the boiler seems to tolerate its 50% moisture content at the moment. The same could be said about our sludge which we burn at 50% dryness content.’ The ash produced via its process is transported to nearby companies that manufacture bricks, so Grünewald says SEM also has to keep an eye on ‘our RDF fuel quality and keeping it at the right level, so as not to pollute the ash to the point where the brick companies won’t take it’. ‘This is the only hybrid PowerFluid in the world to date, but I would think this design has a lot of potential within the pulp and paper industry,’ laments Glowatzki. l

Schmack Biogas GmbH · Tel. +49 (0)9431 751-127 · info@ schmack - biogas.com

Anaerobic digestion – everything from a single source

The Viessmann Group biogas competence brands are among the leading suppliers of biogas technologies with the experience that comes from building over 310 plants. We offer dry and wet anaerobic digestion solutions ranging from 50 kWel to 20 MWgas and provide professional support of all biogas related issues: ■ Plant design, construction and commissioning ■ Key biogas plant components ■ Gas-upgrading technology (Carbotech) for bio-methane

production ■ Energy from waste via dry digestion (BIOFerm) or IVC

You can find us at our ADBA stand number C3, July 3 – 4, NEC Birmingham, UK

(In-Vessel-Composting) ■ Technical services and biological support

More information at www.schmack-biogas.com

UK AZ Bioenergy Insight_RZ.indd 1

48 • May/June 2013

22.05.13 09:42

Bioenergy Insight

boilers Bioenergy Bioenergy Insight delves into a biomass cogeneration facility which is approaching commissioning phase in the US

Achieving renewable compliance

ippon Paper Industries USA (NPI) is only a few months away from commissioning its new 20MW biomass fuel cogeneration facility. Construction of the new facility began in November 2011 and is located in Port Angeles, Washington, adjacent to an existing paper mill also owned and operated by NPI. The $85 million (€66 million) facility required completely new systems, equipment and facilities. The major assets included a fuel management area, steam generating combustion and environmental systems and a steam turbine electrical generator. Before obtaining construction permits, significant time and money was expended to secure electrical generating agreements and ensure compliance with environmental requirements. In doing so, NPI was able to obtain pre-certification with the California Energy Commission for qualification into the Renewables Portfolio Standard programme. The biomass feedstock used will be refuse forest waste material that would not otherwise be used for conventional purposes. That includes slash, thinning, tree tops and limbs, along with mill generated bark and sawdust. The inherent moisture of the fuel is expected to range from 45-55% H2O. As the Pacific Northwest is known for high rain fall, a silo is also being installed by Atlas to provide storage equivalent of three days, or nearly 1,100 tonnes, of

Bioenergy Insight

Going green: the building on the right is the NPI boiler house

biomass. Storing feedstock from weather elements provides a more consistent and uniform fuel for, not only handling purposes, but also combustion characteristics. Annually, the system is expected to consume 170,000 tonnes of biomass, relating to an annual electrical generation of 168,000MW/h. Internal breakdown The combustion system is being designed, supplied and installed by FSE Energy. The boiler capacity is 225,000lbs of steam/ hr at superheated conditions of 945 psig and 482°C. The boiler’s furnace design allows for additional residence time for staged combustion to enhance reduction of the products of combustion, particularly carbon monoxide and particulate matter. It is also equipped with a condensing economiser, tubular air heater and mechanical dust collector. The tubular air heater allows for supplying a minimum 265°C pre-heated combustion air to the both the primary and secondary air system. The lower combustion system incorporates an aircooled, vibrating grate system

manufactured by Detroit Stoker. The vibrating grate system is a modular design for which this project required two modules for a total active combustion area of 462.2ft. In addition to the grate system, a staged secondary air system, specifically designed for this furnace, was provided. Biomass is distributed into the furnace with air swept distributors to maintain a consistent fuel and ash bed to mitigate fluctuations in boiler performance related to changes in fuel quality. Following the combustion controls, the fuel is metered to the distributors via four metering bins with a two screw live bottom in each bin, which each contains about 15 -20 minutes worth of fuel. Hitting all targets NPI is a subsidiary of Japanbased Nippon Paper Group which resides in a country that has as an established environmental stewardship programme which has not only been fully integrated into the existing paper mill, but also this project. As a result, compliance of

state and federal rules for air emissions was key in pursuing this project. Subsequently, the major pollutants of concern were reviewed and evaluated based on published compliance values. Of greatest concern were carbon monoxide, acid gases (HCl), sulfur dioxide (SO2), NOx and particulate matter. Monoxide, HCl and SO2 all relate to either inherent constituents of the fuel or combustion technology and it was determined that no additional flue gas conditioning was required. However, reduction in NOx was required and a post-combustion ammonia-based injection system, commonly referred to as selective non-catalytic reduction, has been installed. Evaluation of particulate matter emissions revealed that a four cell electrostatic precipitator would ensure compliance. To generate electricity a General Electric extraction/ condensing turbine was installed coupled with a General Electric 25 KVA generator. Final construction is expected to be completed during this summer, with final commissioning of the unit hoped to be achieved by October. ‘The cogeneration of steam and electricity from this project will take our business to a new and more sustainable level while allowing us to continue to improve our paper making business,’ says Port Angeles paper mill manager Harold Norlund. l For more information:

This article was supplied by Robert Morrow, senior technical manager at Detroit Stoker +1 734 243 4305, www.detroitstoker.com

May/June 2013 • 49

Bioenergy biogas The nation’s largest natural gas fuelling chain is investing heavily in renewables, and wants to provide biogas producers access to an untapped market

Shifting focus

by Nicholas Zeman

lean Energy Fuels (CEF), the US’ largest natural gas vehicle fuelling company, is bullish on biomethane: ‘We believe we can offer the cleanest alternative fuel available today,’ says president of CEF renewable division Harrison Clay. ‘Anyone with a natural gas vehicle will have the option of using a product that has 90% carbon reduction savings compared to petrol and diesel fuels.’ As the builder of America’s Natural Gas Highway — the first phase of which includes approximately 150 LNG fuelling stations with more than 70 built in 33 states already — CEF is poised to change the focus of biogas production from electrical generation to transportation fuelling. But using biomethane to fuel vehicles has not been a mainstream move for biopower companies, largely because of logistical and regulatory issues. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which administers the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), says there are only five biogas producers registered to generate Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), which are a currency oil companies use to show compliance with federal law. These companies generated over 2.8 million RINs in 2012 at a value of approximately $2 million (€1.5 million). One reason for the lack of participation, even though RFS benefits represent about

50 • May/June 2013

$10 per MMBTU, is because the process for generating RINs on biogas production is more complex than ethanol or biodiesel. According to the American Biogas Council (ABC) this is because of limitations on RIN generation as well as registration, recordkeeping, reporting and documentation. ABC says there are currently about 2,000 operational biogas systems, but it does not collect data on which ones are

Torresani has been studying biogas for fuelling vehicles since the early 1980s and has helped develop a system even small-scale producers can use to produce biomethane for natural gas vehicles, and thus benefit from any RFS rewards. ‘This sector was always geared toward producing electricity, but more and more projects want to realise a higher value for the fuel and offset the disadvantages of any economies of scale,’

‘Getting more vehicles on the road is important but so is the routing of biogas into their fuel tanks’ producing biomethane for transportation fuel. ‘Most of them are not because, until recently, there have been attractive incentives to support biogaselectricity projects, so many developers and site owners have been favouring that sector,’ reveals Patrick Serfass, ABC president. ‘Much of that focus is shifting now though as some of these incentives expire.’ Vehicle fuel One of the industry insiders hoping to shift the focus of biogas production toward transportation fuelling is Mark Torresani, principal engineer for Cornerstone Environmental Group (CEG) in Arizona. He is also director of BioCNG, a CEG subsidiary.

he says. ‘We have reached a stage where we can clean the gas enough for natural gas vehicles to use. ‘Biomethane is a variation from natural gas, which contains very small quantities of volatile organic compounds and hydrogen sulphides, so it has to be processed more thoroughly,’ Torresani continues. ‘The technology has passed the demonstration stage, but is still in its infancy in terms of marketing here in the US.’ In some of the earliest stage technology, there was a significant difference regarding the source of biogas production from landfill, food and water waste, for example. New processes are now accelerating decomposition and scientific progress is being made

every day. ‘Now there is not a tremendous difference between the streams that are used, but it is easiest to clean up biogas via an anaerobic digester,’ says Torresani. Producing the biomethane equivalent of 100 gallons of petrol from 20ft3 per minute of biogas has marginal payback but, at 50 to 200ft3, it can be costcompetitive with petrol and diesel (depending on biogas quality and quantity). Torresani says CEG’s system costs about $450,000, and consists of a gas conditioning skid installed and permitted along with $150,000 to $200,000 for a complimentary CNG fuelling station. The system produces approximately 250 GGE per day which can generate RINs and add millions to the bottom line of a biogas producer. Biogas transport fuel qualifies for an advanced biofuel RIN which currently trades near $0.80. ‘The RIN programme enables producers of biomethane to compete with the economics of natural gas, no question,’ Clay adds. ‘We have two facilities at CEF that produce biomethane and the one in Texas was the first to generate RINs by putting biogas on the grid via the Common Carrier pipeline. This is a model for large-scale vehicle fuelling from biogas as it is essential to put that gas into a pipeline and move it to fuelling stations.’ This means CEF offers compliance with RFS and California’s Low Carbon

Bioenergy Insight

biogas Bioenergy Fuel Standard and so access for biogas producers to a lucrative market, according to Clay. He is also ‘very encouraged’ by the RFS, saying it is an excellent long-term incentive for alternative low carbon fuel. ‘Without it we would really struggle to make sense of the economics,’ he elaborates. ‘We are already cost-competitive with petrol and diesel but we need a way to monetise the low carbon attributes of this fuel.’ Adaptation Biogas’ potential benefits under the RFS have also been missed by investors, but the financial blogosphere is just now beginning to spotlight CEF’s upside with several analysts and publications putting the company on their list of stocks to buy. CEF was trading at just under $15 per share at time of writing. ‘Investors are just starting to understand but, apart from some central hurdles, we have been successful in raising capital,’ Clay says. ‘Their fears have concerned instability and there have been other regulatory risks that have seen them hesitate.’ He adds a lot of investors could not get comfortable as they tried to anticipate the integral structure of the RFS or California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard and any changes that may be implemented. One significant problem with the RFS, in relation to biogas, is current projects which use food or yard waste as feedstock are not included on the list of approved pathways for RIN generation under its advanced biofuels section. ‘We’re working with the EPA to correct what we believe is a simple oversight and hope that, with a positive result, an issue notice of proposed rulemaking would allow projects using food or yard waste to generate

Bioenergy Insight

Biogas can be used to fuel natural gas vehicles

RINs,’ Serfass says. ‘Many companies are developing projects that would qualify under a food or yard waste pathway, but are currently either in a holding pattern or needing to modify their project. The EPA has been receptive and has listened to our concerns so we are hopeful that some action will be taken soon.’ Logistics and market potential CEF is not entirely satisfied with the number of natural gas vehicles on the road as potential customers, but it likes the progress being made in this regard and the continued commitment to production from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). ‘We want to see more eighteen wheelers running on natural gas as soon as possible of course, but half of the vehicles bought by the garbage sector last year could run on it,’ says Clay. ‘Design and engineering

company Cummins Westport has taken its smaller natural gas engine and scaled it up to an 11.9 litre version. These will be coming onto the market as will, we believe, more heavy duty engines so OEMs are making more of an investment in natural gas.’ Getting more vehicles on the road is important but so is the routing of biogas into their fuel tanks. Torresani says there are two different models for fueling vehicles from a biomethane site. ‘If you are producing less than 2,000 GGE than you need a fuelling station near the site because pipeline connections can become expensive and could kill off a project. Larger projects, on the other hand, need a pipeline connection because routing the number of vehicles to the fuelling station to make a profit could be a problem.’ There is also the option of what CEG dubs a ‘pipeline on wheels’: a tube trailer that can load biogas and transport it to various locations as a

mobile fuelling station. CEG claims the US west coast is one location that represents high biogas demand and where logistics is less of a problem. ‘California has been using natural gas for some time because of its stringent air quality standard. It has a huge natural gas fuelling infrastructure which just adds to a large market,’ Torresani says. CEF alone represents a large market and aims to have 150 fuelling stations operational by the end of the year. Ultimately, the rise in popularity of natural gas vehicles, and their favour with local and state fleets as a way to cut emissions, has combined with the recognition of RFS benefits for biogas to change the way bioenergy is used. Diversification is seen as a key to long-term success — by using the benefits inherent in the RFS to compete with traditional liquid fuels, biogas can be poised for rapid growth. ‘There are not that many projects registered under the RFS now but there certainly are a number lining up,’ Torresani says. ‘We’re waiting on the final determination on food waste digesters, but we have heard that the EPA is favourable to allowing biogas produced from food waste digesters to qualify for RINs if it is being used to fuel vehicles.’ ‘The RFS has been wrongly pigeonholed as an ethanol programme but really it supports a lot more than that and biogas applications are just starting to bear fruit,’ Clay explains. ‘It is putting lots of people to work without a taxpayer subsidy and we can compete with diesel and petrol now. It is also asking the most profitable businesses to invest in low carbon fuel production. A lot of people do not understand that this is not a programme that takes non-competitive fuel products and hands them money.’ l

May/June 2013 • 51

Bioenergy biomass boilers Fouling, corrosion and agglomeration issues related to biomass combustion can be mitigated using additives

New additives address biomass boiler operational issues

hile approximately 11% of the world’s total energy is provided by biomass combustion1, operational problems in biomass boilers can arise from ash-forming elements in fuels. These include silicon (Si), calcium (Ca) and alkali metals, of which potassium (K) is the most prevalent in biomass. Alkali metals are released during combustion as vapour phase alkali chlorides, hydroxides and sulphates. These cause fouling and corrosion, necessitating periodic tube cleaning or even replacement. Additionally, alkali compounds also react with silica and form low melting

silicates which enhance slagging and the formation of sticky, agglomerated ash. This ash is problematic for bottom ash handling due to the creation of large clinkers which require additional work time for removal. Feedstock Biomass feedstocks are sourced primarily from wood yet a variety of agrowaste can also be used for combustion. Residual materials and byproducts including bark, sawmill residuals such as sawdust and wood shavings, and energy crops grown specifically to create biomass feedstocks such as willow and switchgrass, can all be viable materials. Pelletised wood

Typical tube fouling after six weeks in operation

Source: Imerys

Increasing tendency to form deposits utilising selected biomass feedstocks

52 • May/June 2013

and agricultural residues are easy to handle making them a popular option, but they also contain the ash-forming elements that contribute to deposits and corrosion. These non-wood feedstocks can pose increased challenges related to deposits. And the more ‘exotic’ fuel options show increasing tendencies to contribute to deposits such as slag, fouling, agglomerations and clinkers. One option for avoiding these increased depositrelated issues could be to simply avoid materials containing significant amounts of alkali including short rotation crops such a straw or fast growing forest residues such as leaves and

twigs. This would, however, limit biomass flexibility and lessen the opportunity to utilise feedstocks that are economical by virtue of their proximity to the heat/ power generating facility. A more preferable countermeasure for dealing with these deposit-related issues is mitigation through dosage of additives. Case study Norbord is a global manufacturer of woodbased panels used in the construction, furniture and DIY sectors, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. At its UK-based medium density fiberboard (MDF) plant in

Bioenergy Insight

biomass boilers Bioenergy

Top (left) and bottom (right) of thermal oil heat exchanger following the 54 day trial period

Cowie, Scotland Norbord was experiencing fouling issues in a 15MWth travelling grate boiler used to heat thermal oil consumed in the ~280˚C MDF mat hot pressing process prior to final trimming and packaging of finished MDF sheets. Fuel for the boiler, a mixture of wet wood fibres and dry wood fibre, is fed directly into the grate via dual feed screw conveyors. The fuel analysis indicated high alkali metal and chlorine content which was believed to be contributing to heat exchanger tube fouling and corrosion, ash accumulation, large bottom ash clinkers and high solids levels in the fly ash. The boiler required shutdown every four to six weeks to address thermal oil heat exchanger tube fouling. Also, large and coarse bottom ash clinkers caused plugging of the grate and, at times, blocked the bottom ash conveyor. Plant operators commonly had to open the boiler in difficult conditions during operation to break down the larger clinkers into

Bioenergy Insight

more manageable pieces. In addition, the high level of suspended and dissolved solids in the boiler flue gas required a wet electrostatic precipitator (WESP) for removal. The volume of high solids in the fly ash contributed to unplanned outages and high maintenance costs for the WESP sludge pumps. In October last year, a 54-day trial was conducted at the Cowie plant for the purpose of evaluating the effects of dosing Aurora, an additive manufactured by solution provider Imerys, headquartered in France, into the boiler with the fuel. Aurora is a proprietary fuel additive which prevents the formation of slag, fouling and corrosion by reacting with the alkalis in the fuel. Once delivered into the boiler, Aurora is heat processed from a hydrous to a dehydrated form which in turn reacts with the vapour phase alkalis. The alkalis are preferentially captured by the heat-processed Aurora, controlling the deposit mechanism by forming

compounds with melting points above the operating temperature of the boiler. This process prevents the formation of sticky alkalisilicate layers which bind deposits together. The resulting agglomerates are thus smaller and friable, allowing easy removal with the boiler ash. During the trial period, Aurora was added onto the main fuel feed conveyors using an injection skid. Boiler availability, efficiency, heat output, fuel injection set point (feeding screw frequency) and WESP behaviour were monitored during the trial period and compared to a 76 day reference period just prior to the commencement of the trial. Findings Several improvements were observed, notably: • There were no boiler shutdowns due to fouling, slagging or bottom ash agglomeration during the 54 day trial period. Boiler tubes remained clean

and backpass fouling was dramatically decreased. • Boiler efficiency improved; the study compared the average heat output of the boiler and feeding conveyor screw frequency before and during the trial and found the average heat output of the boiler increased by 11% and the feeding conveyor screw frequency decreased by 10%. • A reduction of suspended and dissolved solids in the WESP was observed. Aurora, by reacting with volatile alkali compounds released in the boiler, forms stable phases that become trapped in the bottom ash thus accounting for the reduction of solids. • Finally, there was no blockage of the stoker grate or bottom ash conveyor. Examination of the bottom ash clinkers showed they were smaller and more friable. In addition to reducing maintenance costs for the bottom ash conveyor, this positively impacts health and safety as operators can avoid frequent opening of the boiler to break down large clinkers. Norbord today also utilises Aurora to control fouling in biomass boilers at two of its oriented strand board plants in North America. Andrew Taylor, process and technology manager for Norbord Europe, says: ‘We continue to utilise Aurora to realise these benefits and evaluate added efficiency improvements.’ l References:

1 Overand, R., Direct Combustion of Biomass, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, USA Encyclopedia of Like Support Systems http://www.eolss.net/ Eolss-sampleAllChapter.aspx

For more information:

This article was written by Olivier Haerlingen, technical sales manager Europe, Power and Energy (olivier.haerlingen@imerys. com), and David Osby, global product manager, for Aurora, Imerys (dave.osby@imerys.com)

May/June 2013 • 53

Bioenergy biomass storage How the closure of UK power stations affected one business…for the better

The grass can be greener

y the year 2020 the UK is legally bound to be generating 15% of its total energy from renewables. That means that in less than seven years 30% of all electricity must be derived from renewable sources. In an effort to meet this target, coal-fired power stations are being shut down. Imminent closure is the future of one such power station: a 60 year old coal-fired plant emitting high levels of CO2 in Scotland. This facility had been supplying electricity to a paper mill in Markinch, owned by Tullis Russell, a major paper-making company in the UK, for a number of years. Following a detailed review, Tullis Russell determined it could replace this lost power with renewable energy generated from a new biomass plant and signed a contract with Kirk Environmental and Saxlund International to bring the project to fruition. Kirk is a provider of storage silo solutions and Saxlund has experience with material handling, unloading and conveying equipment. The plant cost £200 million (€237 million) to build and supplies Tullis Russell with 17MW of electricity. An additional 25MW will be exported to the national grid and also generates steam that the company requires for drying paper. This has slashed the paper mill’s emissions by 250,000 tonnes each year and has helped safeguard a total 540 jobs. The project The plant will be fuelled by approximately 90% recovered wood waste and 10% virgin wood sourced from sustainably

54 • May/June 2013

project was completed in six months while maintaining strength and design life requirements expected from a concrete structure. Prior to construction, Kirk began with a ground investigation report analysis and ground preparation recommendations. It then progressed through the design and construction of tank bases, walls and various roof types. Unloading systems, conveyors, explosion panels, sumps, centre columns, mixer connections, heating pipes, manways and specialist concrete coatings can be incorporated into the tank design to meet individual project requirements. Due to its wider significance for economic and climate policy, the biomass project attracted the attention of the Scottish government, Each tank can store 5,074m3

managed forests, consuming over 400,000 tonnes of biomass per year. In order to store this biomass Kirk built three poured in situ concrete silos at the site. Each silo has a storage capacity of 5,074m3, measures 19.5m, in diameter by 18m in height and features a selfsupporting galvanised mild steel roof. The galvanised mild steel roofs were Three concrete silos built by Kirk specifically designed for this project using explosion placement of explosion panels simulation technology. within the roof construction. This enabled the design to The poured in situ concrete be tailored to the specific tank solution is an alternative conditions the project required to traditional design and and allowed for the correct construction techniques; the

which provided a €9 million grant towards the project. With a supply of over 120 tonnes of industrial steam per hour, the plant is the largest of its type in Scotland. l

Bioenergy Insight

pellets Bioenergy Spain’s renewable energy sector is suffering since the country’s government cancelled all aid in a bid to cut its public deficit

Success in tough times

pain has a public deficit of over $37 billion (€28.5 billion). In order to cut this to zero within eight years, the government suspended subsidies for all new power plants using renewable energy at the beginning of 2012. This cancellation of political aid means new renewable energy projects are taking much longer to reach completion, with a few ceasing construction altogether. However, Spanish pellet production grew during last year; existing plants began expanding and new, more efficient plants came under development. One Spanish project which was unaffected by the lack of subsidies was a pellet production and CHP plant in Huerta del Rey, Burgos. Ribpellet developed the facility and engineering company Prodesa supplied much of the equipment, including the de-barker, drum chipper, wet hammer mill, walking floors, belt dryer, intermediate storage silos, dry hammer mill, pelletising line, pellet mills, bagging and pelletising machine and pellet silos, in addition to all the conveyors connecting the equipment. Talking about the biomass sector in Spain Prodesa’s sales engineer Luis Alonso says: ‘The market is growing. The demand during this year has increased and most of the plants are selling 100% of their pellets and don’t have to produce under request. Last year more than 250,000 tonnes were sold under the A1 ENplus license and the data for this year will be higher. The challenge this year will be achieving capacity.’ Ribpellet broke ground on the facility towards the beginning of last year and it was fully commissioned by October. Today the plant is working at full capacity, producing around

Bioenergy Insight

8 tonnes per hour, or 55,000 tonnes per year, 5.35MW of heat and 1.32MW of power. Prodesa’s ability to design the whole plant, ‘from logs to pellets’, made it a suitable technology supplier in Ribpellet’s eyes. ‘A pellet plant is more than just different machines installed together,’ Alonso explains. ‘It is critical to design the whole plant according to the production requirements in order to achieve the final production.’ He adds: ‘Additionally, we manufacture the dryer system which is the heart of the plant. It is important to properly control the drying process as this determines the quality of the pellets. We manufacture in Spain under Swiss Combi license.’ The equipment supplied by Prodesa makes up six categories: 1. Wood yard Ribpellet’s plant receives a variety of materials for its pellets, including logs, woodchips and bark, and as a result Prodesa’s design features three different systems to handle these feedstocks. And, in order to achieve optimal performance during the drying and pelletising process: - Bark must be removed before pelletising, thus a de-barker has been installed - Material must be smaller than 15mm at the drying inlet. This requires several machines, the first being a drum chipper, to produce woodchips from whole logs. The de-barking process is important to reduce ash content; wood pellet specifications state that ash content must be below 3%. According to A1 ENplus certification, it must be below 0.7% for domestic applications and under 1% in industrial applications, in the most restrictive case.

The drum de-barker is fed by a horizontal conveyor which receives the logs from the feed decks. De-barked logs are discharged ontoa horizontal discharge conveyor which transports the logs to the drum chipper. Below the de-barker, a chain conveyor takes out the removed bark. The drum chipper is installed to produce woodchips from logs as the raw material must be reduced to the required size at the drying system. 2. Wet milling Moisture content is a large contributor to pellet quality. Prior to drying, the woodchips are screened. The suitablysized chips are separated from those which are too large, with the bigger ones sent to hammer mills for further size reduction into microchips.

3. Drying island The drying island is the ‘heart’ of the plant and key to achieving the required pellet quality. Three options are presented by Prodesa: ecoDry, an indirect high temperature dryer; drum dryer, a direct high temperature dryer; and a belt dryer, an indirect low temperature dryer. The drying process uses a hot gases flow which soaks up the moisture in raw material into the dryer. As Ribpellet installed a CHP ORC biomass cogeneration system, the selected dryer was a belt dryer, which uses the hot water from the ORC cooling system. While bark cannot be used to manufacture wood pellets, it can be burned in the biomass furnace, increasing the feasibility of the production facility. The 5.35MW of heat generated in the CHP unit is used in this drying process, while the

1.32MW of electricity are sold to the National Grid. 4. Dry product intermediate storage The drying process reduces moisture content to 8-10% and the woodchips are then transported to dry product storage by several chain conveyors. Ribpellet is able to store up to 2,850m3 of dry product. 5. Milling and pelletising In this penultimate stage the woodchips are dry and ready for the pellet press. Here, two processes occur: a) Dry milling: to reduce the particle size below 3mm b) Pelletising: the produce the final wood pellets. 6. Pellets storage Prodesa’s storage system is able to load trucks or railcars. Ribpellet installed a truck loading system with a capacity of up to 50 tonnes/hour. Looking to the future, Alonso says the European market must be ready for increased volumes of pellets coming from overseas: ‘The pellet market is growing across all of Europe and further afield. For industrial pellets, the plant size is bigger than for domestic. The European market will need over 2 million tonnes of industrial pellets to power the existing coal-fired power plants and most of this quantity will arrive by boat from other countries such as North America.’ From its US office in Atlanta, Prodesa is developing a number of long-term projects (over 250,000 tonnes/year capacity). ‘These new North American plants will help to supply the future European request for industrial pellets,’ Alonso concludes. l

May/June 2013 • 55

Bioenergy xxxx

Digester design

Anaerobic digesters can be designed and engineered to operate using a number of different process configurations. Which best suits your application will determine a batch or continuous process, temperature and the complexity of the operation.

Chippers/ shearing/splitting

There are a number of different designs of chipper/shearer/splitter suitable for producing woodchips for energy applications. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each?

Pelle Pe 201 llet qu tp alit 23 had .2 m y is re e i b ss s l l e se ion and e es the n man tonn ntial. B es ufa y suit US. t But ctur of EN he e abl nd ed e w p are than w hen a acro lus pe of the llet ood re p ss E s ym u e anu chips llets m rope and fac o r tur ed? how e

Briq

CHP scale n geio Lar uct studies the d o ase ing at pr of c ok

f on ers lo es o lecti A se produc challeng er. w P d CH d po s an from vantage heat an d e ad n bi com

uett

syst

Region

Cost-e ems ffect enviro nment ive, high fue a brique lly friendly l value and :c ttes riv al woo ould bioma ss d pelle ts?

erica

South Am

Fee

Mil is sis oly ss pyrolyses r y a P s

al focu

ing

ling

/log

iom and ga of b e l ucts r, bio-oi olysis ar d d o r r a e p y h s e p c u f io e Th es o o an b de b inclu many typ stocks c urpose d d p How hat fee d what ve? an ha e, w ther process roducts p e d in th the en

to ck

gin

g/p

ulp

ing

ste

Bonus distribution:

International Bioenergy Fair and Conference, Finland Wissenforum - Munich The Renewables Event, NEC Birmingham, UK 4th Annual Lignofuels, London, UK 6th Energy from waste Conference, London, UK Biofuels International expo & conference, Antwerp Pellet Fuels Institute, US July 2013 Expobioenergia, Spain

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss your chance to feature in the July/ August issue of Bioenergy Insight magazine Deadline for editorial and artwork: 26th July For advertising information and prices in North America contact Matt Weidner, +1 215 962 0872, mtw@weidcom.com For the rest of the globe contact Anisha Patel, +44 (0) 203 551 5752, anisha@bioenergy-news.com For editorial suggestions contact margaret@bioenergy-news.com, +44 (0)208 687 4126 56 â&#x20AC;˘ May/June 2013 Bioenergy Insight

air emissions Bioenergy A US gasification plant chose to use a wet syngas-cleaning system as opposed to a solely dry technology

Cleaning up

n Colorado, US a joint venture between Rentech and Clear Fuels opened a 20 tonne per day demonstration plant at the Rentech Energy Technology Center (RETC) earlier this year, fitted with a biomass gasifier able to convert a number of biomass feedstocks into biofuels and other renewable energy products such as clean syngas, hydrogen, steam and power. The JV received a $23 million (€17.9 million) grant from the US Department of Energy to build the facility and integrate it with Rentech’s existing product demonstration unit, which consists of Rentech’s FischerTropsch process and UOP’s upgrading technology. The two companies will produce synthetic renewable, certified drop-in jet and diesel fuels. During this specific gasification process, adherent tars are formed from condensed organics. These must be removed, as well as ash formed from the gasification, prior to conversion to liquid fuel. Depending on the waste being gasified, contaminants that should be removed from the syngas could include: acid gasses (HCl, H2S) and ammonia, particulates such as ash, salts, heavy metals and tars, and water content. Bespoke system

With the Rentech-Clear Fuels project, it was determined that a completely dry system would not have been as effective in cleaning the syngas for its potential use as a clean, liquid fuel. A wet system, after dry ash collection, removed condensable tars from the syngas resulting in a

Bioenergy Insight

Dual cyclones

more useable end-product. Anticipated problems with the adherent properties of the condensed tars necessitated designing components that tended not to easily foul, minimising maintenance requirements and syngas production downtime. Early applications of black liquor recovery from steam reformation could be carried out using venturi scrubbers with cyclonic separation/ coolers. Recent biomass gasification applications have however presented more of a challenge for gas clean-up due to the properties of the waste and the desire to make a cost-effective end product. The gas cleaning equipment for this plant was supplied by Bionomic Industries, a manufacturer of syngas purification technologies, and became the third such

system supplied by the company. The equipment scope of supply included custom designed cyclones, a venturi scrubber and cooler as well as an ash pit area particulate control scrubber. Process breakdown Used to clean the reformer generated syngas, the gas purification process first begins with removal of the majority of ash and carbon particulate with dual stage high performance cyclone collectors. This material is collected in a dry form with the temperature high enough to minimise condensed tar formation. In order to minimise ash particle loading to the wet scrubber system, Bionomic decided to use two cyclone separators operating in series. These cyclones

removed a high percentage of the particles greater than 10 microns in diameter. For final clean-up and water content reduction, the gas enters a specially designed, non-fouling variable throat venturi scrubber with a combination liquid entrainment separator and direct contact syngas absorber and gas sub cooler. This final stage cleans the syngas by eliminating the remaining particulate, acid gases, heavy hydrocarbons and sticky tars to achieve an overall 99.5% contaminant free purified gas. The fully engineered system was provided as a complete skid-mounted, packaged unit containing all necessary equipment including liquid loop heat exchanger recirculation pumps, interconnecting piping/valve networks, instrumentation and controls. A separate jet ejector venturi scrubber was also supplied in the equipment scope package, with all required system components to remove the air entrained dust being emitted from the dry cyclone discharge ash bins. Dust created by ash dumping is collected through a hood and removed from the air stream by an eductor venturi scrubber. This type of scrubber incorporates a high pressure spray nozzle to create small droplets, and a vacuum which draws in the air containing dust from the collection hood into the venturi throat. The venturi throat section is where intimate mixing of the dust and recycled water occurs. The dust particles become trapped in the liquid droplets, which are then collected and separated from the gas in a water separator. A portion of

May/June 2013 • 57

Bioenergy air emissions

Jet eductor venturi scrubber (dust control)

the recycled water is sent to waste, maintaining an acceptable concentration of solids in the water without

fouling the spray nozzle. The cleaned air is then sent out to the atmosphere. As the syngas exits the dual cyclones, it enters a vertical annular venturi scrubber where liquid is introduced to cool the gas and condense a portion of the volatile tars. The scrubbing liquid is injected at the top of the venturi, eliminating the need for throat nozzles. This will prevent the creation of a wet-dry line, where dust and/ or tar build-up can occur.

When the syngas enters the extended venturi throat section, the contaminants and liquid are mixed and the liquid becomes atomised. The remaining ash particles and condensed tars become trapped in the small liquid droplets, which are then collected and separated from the gas in the downstream cyclonic separator section. The cleaned syngas then enters the cooler section where cooled liquid is introduced through a series of spray nozzles atop the packed bed section. This packed bed contains high surface area packing for intimate contact on the cooling liquid with the countercurrent flow of syngas. The cooling liquid absorbs heat from the syngas, both reducing its temperature and adiabatic saturation point. The heated water is passed through an indirect heat

exchanger to remove the heat from the recycled liquid for reuse through the cooling section. The cooled gas, and any entrained droplets, then proceed through a mesh pad droplet eliminator before the cleaned and cooled syngas exits the gas cleaning system for use or further processing. With the increased interest in biomass gasification, it is important to have knowledge and creativity of design to anticipate and minimise the problems associated with the gasification of various waste materials. Some applications may require additional pollution controls such as wet electrostatic precipitators should there be a requirement for heavy metal controls, for example. l For more information:

This article was written by David Meier, account manager for Bionomic Industries, www.bionomicind.com

Discounts still available!

www.platts.com/europeanbiofuels

Contact simon_kears@platts.com for details

June 10 – 11, 2013 | Hilton Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2nd Annual

Biofuels Conference Addressing supply shifts, policy pressures and the commercial future of Biofuels

Sponsored by:

Presenters this year include: Arthur Reijnhart

Rob Vierhout

General Manager Alternative Energy & Fuels Development Strategy

Secretary General

ePure

BP and Shell discuss the commercial realities of scaling up biofuels production for ‘Big Oil’ companies

Olly Macé

Jonathan Kingsman

The University of Illinois’ Farmdoc team, ePure and the International Council on Clean Transportation outline the complexities of policy objectives in the drive towards second-generation fuels and their effect on global trade flows

Shell

Supported by:

VP Strategy & External Affairs

BP Biofuels

Nicholas D. Paulson Assistant Professor

University of Illinois – Farmdoc Team

“

A highly interesting opportunity to keep in touch with key evolutions and challenges in biofuel markets.

“

President, Strategie Grains

58 • May/June 2013

Attendees at Platts Biofuels Conference 2013 will benefit from:

Principal Media Partners:

Global Director Agriculture

Platts

Andrew Soare Senior Analyst

Lux Research

Lux Research, Stratégie Grains and Algasol offer insight into the revenue prospects of alternative fuel developers in 2013 and beyond

Media Partners: international

THE ENERGY INDUSTRY T I M E S www.teitimes.com

www.platts.com/europeanbiofuels

+44 (0)20 7176 6300

conf_registrations@platts.com

+44 (0)20 7176 8512

Bioenergy Insight

anaerobic digestion Bioenergy Food waste is helping to generate renewable energy and save money for taxpayers

Food waste digestion becomes reality in Somerset

iridor Waste Management is a recycling, renewable energy and waste management company responsible for the treatment contract for the sourcesegregated food waste collected for Somerset council. Its latest project — an anaerobic digestion plant — is due to come on line in the next few months, converting the food waste collected in Somerset to renewable energy. The facility cost around £10 million (€11.6 million) to build and will have the capacity to process up to 30,000 tonnes of food waste per year, 20,000 tonnes of which will be provided by the Somerset Waste Partnership, which includes all six of Somerset’s councils. The remaining 10,000 tonnes of capacity will be used to process waste from restaurants, catering firms, pubs, shops and other local businesses. This local authority food waste will generate 1.6MWe of renewable energy using anaerobic digestion technology

installed by Monsal, a provider of AD and biowaste energy solutions. The renewable energy will be sent to Somerset’s local grid and used to power over 3,000 homes. In addition, the new PAS 110 digestate product from the plant will be integrated into Viridor’s existing composting operation for distribution to the local community and businesses. Describing the new Walpole plant as an ‘important development’, Somerset Waste Board chairman Derek Yeomans adds: ‘The plant creates a sustainable, constant, environmentallyfriendly source of power. AD will generate savings, limit climate damaging pollution, and efficiently deal with all our food waste within the county.’ The Walpole advanced digestion facility demonstrates that using the base infrastructure of landfill sites, to support the latest technology innovations in AD, provides a much needed alternative to land filling of food waste. l

The Walpole AD system Kerbside food waste collections Reception — inspection, removal of large contaminates Shredding and pulping — removal of plastics, packaging and grit (landfilled or sent for further treatment) Hydrolysis buffer tank — initial treatment of slurry to break down complex organic matter prior to pasteurisation Pasteurisation — 3 tanks, filling, holding and emptying in order for the site to comply with the Animal By-products Regulations Anaerobic digestion of slurry by microbes to separate biogas and digestate Post digestion buffer tank receives anaerobically digested slurry which is held in suspension until further treatment De-watering of digestate to separate the solids, (concentrate) from the liquids (centrate) Maturation of digestate (which is nitrogen rich) before it is used as bio-fertiliser

Side processes include: Odour is extracted from the reception, de-watering buildings and hydrolysis tank Biogas collected from the anaerobic digester is stored and then used in the combined heat and power gas engines. This produces electricity for export to the national grid and also power for use in the plant (to heat the pasteurisation process)

Monsal is installing the AD technology at Viridor’s plant

Bioenergy Insight

Contaminated liquors (centrate) are treated in the sequencing batch reactor. This includes the centrate from digestate dewatering and any other contaminated waters from the process i.e. washing down. The treated water is either sent to a recycled water buffer tank to be used in the process or discharged via the site’s consented discharge point

May/June 2013 • 59

Bioenergy anaerobic digestion Can the biofuels market be both profitable and sustainable?

Ramada Plaza, Antwerp, Belgium 11-12 September 2013

2013

6th Biofuels International Conference Associate partners

Media partners include: international

Bioenergy Insight Register Online at www.biofuels-news.com/conference

60 â&#x20AC;˘ May/June 2013

Hear from over 30 high level speakers including: Daniel J. Oh Renewable Energy Group®, Inc.

Caroline Midgley, PhD LMC International

Arthur Reijnhart Alternative Energy and Fuels Development Strategy, Shell

Ludo Diels

Lars Gaustad Transport Fuel Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA

James Challinor Downstream Oil Research, Wood Mackenzie

Sari Mannonen UPM

xxxxxx Bioenergy Other Key Speakers include: Ruud van Stralen - Port of Amsterdam

Sustainable Chemistry, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO)

Latif Aksu Agilent Technologies

Hendrik Lemahieu - Belgian Bio-Ethanol Association Alejandro Mora - Abengoa Bioenergy Corporation Pietro Caloprisco - Transport & Environment

Christian Koolloos Bioethanol DSM Bio-based Products & Services

Martin Grass - Sustainability Certification, Intertek Raffaella Serra - Beta Renewables

Ilmari Lastikka, M.Sc. Neste Oil

Daan Peters Ecofys

Dr. Gunter Festel Butalco

Pasi Rousu - Chempolis Ian O’Gara - Accenture

Dr. Christoph Weber, LL.M. JatroFuels

Bernd Kuepker DG Energy, European Commission

Hendrik-Jan van Engelen Port of Ghent

Ortwin Costenoble NEN Energy Resources

Christophe Cogny Tallage

Marie-Hélène Labrie Enerkem

Henrik Maimann Dong Energy

Chris Charles International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Global Subsidies Initiative and Trade programmes

Chris van Niekerk - NIBC Lidwig Goris - Capricorn Ventures Georgio Rosso Cicogna - Central European Initiative Brigitte Bohlinger - JatroSolutions

“We have attended the Biofuels International conference as an exhibitor now for the last few years and it has always been a success. With good quality delegates coming from far and wide we have made great contacts and acquired new business as a result. We will be back next time for sure.” Jürgen Bernath, ASG-Analytik-service GmbH

Event sponsors

Event supporters

There are only a limited number of sponsorship packages available, for details contact: Shemin Juma +44 (0) 203 551 5751 shemin@biofuels-news.com Bioenergy Insight

Bioenergy torrefaction While torrefied biomass is not yet being produced at quantities great enough to co-fire Europe’s coal boilers, the start-up of two torrefaction plants could prove industry game-changers

The coal copycat

he co-firing of traditional wood pellets in coal-fired power plants has been demonstrated and findings show that boiler efficiencies remain practically unaffected. Without major modifications however, the maximum share of wood in the fuel blend can only reach 5-15% as both the chemical and physical properties of wood pellets differ too drastically from coal. To this end the coal-like properties of torrefied biomass are important. Jaap Kiel, biomass programme development manager at the research institute ECN in the Netherlands, says: ‘EU directives are pushing for reducing carbon emissions and increasing renewable energy shares up to 20%. Co-firing biomass with coal in power stations is an attractive short-term option.’ Torrefaction — the ‘roasting’ of biomass in an oxygen-free environment — is conducted at relatively low temperatures (250-300°C). During the process the hemicellulose in the biomass is decomposed, creating by-products such as water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and various organic acids. Depending on the process, up to 30% of the mass is converted, but little energy is lost, which causes the overall energy density to rise. ‘When you drive moisture and hemicellulose out of wood biomass without burning it, you create a fuel that is approaching the characteristics of coal,’ Brian Greenwood, technical director for biorefining at Andritz, explains. ‘Power producers love

62 • May/June 2013

Torrefied chips

Andritz moving-bed torrefaction reactor

it because they avoid making costly modifications to their boilers and feed systems, and they can co-fire with higher proportions of biomass.’ While a proven concept, the production of torrefied biomass has not yet reached the scale required to cofire Europe’s coal-burning boilers. ‘The ability to both torrefy and pelletise

biomass at commercial scale without expensive binders is challenging,’ Greenwood continues. ‘The labs can produce kilos of pellets — not the tonnes needed for industrial use.’ With this in mind, Andritz has started up two pilot plants in Europe, one of which started up in the third quarter of last year and could

be producing large-scale volumes (700,000 tonnes a year) within a few years. Located near Sdr. Stenderup in Denmark, Andritz’s new biomass torrefaction pilot plant is designed to prove the technology concept for large-scale production but also pelletise the torrefied fuel. And recognising that demand does not solely lie with large, centralised production, the company is also demonstrating a complementary technology for smaller, decentralised plants at another pilot plant in Frohnleiten, Austria. This facility opened at the end of 2011. The Sdr. Stenderup pilot plant combines the technologies of three Andritz business areas: rotary dryer from one, torrefaction from another and pelletising machinery from a third. It incorporates biomass receiving, drying, torrefaction and pelletising in an integrated system. The torrefied process blends ECN

Bioenergy Insight

torrefaction Bioenergy and Andritz technologies and has been patented. The facility works by first drying fresh wood chips in a drum drying unit to reach the desired moisture content for the reactor. Inside the reactor are trays (beds) stacked vertically. Dried woodchips enter the reactor at the top, ‘roast’ in the hot gases passing through the biomass and perforated trays which rotate to ensure even distribution, then drop to the tray below for another stage of torrefaction. The torrefied material is discharged at the bottom of the reactor vessel. From the reactor, the torrefied material passes through a cooling screw to a storage silo. For the densification process, the material passes through a hammer mill for crushing to uniform size before entering the pellet press, resulting in energy-dense torrefied pellets which can be stored and shipped to customers. The Denmark demo plant is partially funded by the Danish Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP), but the majority of capital funding comes from Andritz. The Danish Technology Institute, Danish energy company Dong and UK energy company Drax are also part of the EUDP team. ECN is acting as a consultant to Andritz on the design of the torrefaction technology and is assisting in optimising the pilot plant. Andritz signed a cooperation agreement with ECN is 2011 to license some of its technology for co-current drying and countercurrent torrefaction of biomass. ‘If our technologies can be proven at this scale, it will open the door for “black” pellets (dark-roasted torrefied wood) to replace the conventional “white” pellets (standard wood pellets) of today,’ Greenwood says. As ECN’s Kiel explains, the differences between white wood pellets and coal set

Bioenergy Insight

demanding requirements for power plants: ‘For conventional wood pellets, outside storage is not practical. Separate, dedicated storage and milling facilities are required and a high percentage co-firing will lead to a substantial derating of the power plant.’ He therefore sees great potential in black pellets. ‘With white pellets, cofiring requires substantial investments and leads to

lower plant capacity. With black pellets, 50-100% cofiring levels can be reached without major investments, while largely maintaining plant capacity,’ he adds. But torrefaction is not just a matter of black pellets vs white pellets. Greenwood says his team experiment with degrees of torrefaction in between so that an energy producer can choose the right product for their particular boiler or other end

use. He concludes: ‘During the first four months of 2013 we have been making good progress with pelleting of well torrefied product. Hundreds of tonnes of black pellets have been produced without using binders. The pellets have water resistance, high durability (<97%), HHV >21MJ/kg and good bulk density (>650kg/m3).’ l For more information:

www.andritz.com/other-industriesand-products/se-torrefaction.htm

INTERNATIONAL VDI CONFERENCE 2013

BIOMASS TO ENERGY Feedstock potentials & technical solutions Renown speakers will present their results on the following topics: • European legislation, economic and political framework aspects • Relevant feedstocks, potentials and sustainability • Established and emerging markets • Future technologies: Torrefaction and hydrothermal carbonization • Bioenergy – Exclusive insights from six European plant operators • Gasification of biomass – Technology, processes and operational experience

OFFICIAL PARTNERS

Date and venue:

Chairman:

September 3-4, 2013 Munich, Germany

Dr. Jan Grundmann, Generalbevollmächtigter, Vattenfall Europe New Energy GmbH, Geschäftsführer, Energy Crops GmbH

An event organized by VDI Wissensforum GmbH www.vdi-international.com/biomass

May/June 2013 • 63

Bioenergy preview Julian Maiklem reveals the two current AD models dominating the UK sector while divulging another way forward

Digesting the possibilities

s Maiklem sat in a layby on a miserable May morning in the UK, not far from a Hampshire farmhouse whose occupants he was about to attempt to persuade of the advantages of local scale waste-based anaerobic digestion (AD), he could not help but think of the opening of Jane Austen’s popular novel Pride and Prejudice — “It is a truth universally acknowledged...” ‘An AD plant is like a large artificial stomach which we feed with material of a biological origin and then burn the resultant gas to create energy. The leftover solid material then has potential to help us feed and fertilise soils. There is nothing new about AD; rotting manures were used to heat bathwater in the days of the Assyrian empire and, in the closing years of the 19th century, Exeter in south west England had its street lights lit by sewage gas. The perfect AD plant fulfils three criteria: it is a useful route for waste disposal, it produces very low carbon energy and helps to produce sustainable food for both people and animals. It could effectively help us to repair the broken human food chain and recreate the cycle. So the obvious place to base AD plants would be on, or near, farms where food waste can be delivered, energy produced and organic matter returned to the soil in which food is grown. However, in the early years of the 21st century, we find that the industry has largely polarised into two models of AD.

64 • May/June 2013

Large or small? The standardised model favoured by large waste management companies and local authorities is one of large centralised plants processing food waste delivered from far away. While it is true that these benefit from certain economies of scale, and the size and long-term contracts offer security to both those sectors, there are a number of problems which mean most of the perceived AD benefits are lost. AD does not result in significant reductions in volume so it is essential to have a market for all of the outputs (particularly the digestate), there are transmission losses with power outputs, necessarily high costs (and emissions) from transport and the organic cycle is rarely reinstated. In addition around 80% of revenues are lost from local economies to pay distant shareholders. Smaller local-scale digesters on the other hand can carry both environmental and fiscal benefits. The digestate becomes an asset rather than a liability, unnecessary transport is reduced, there is often a good local market for all the outputs and up to 80% of the revenue can remain in the local economy. There are biosecurity issues in importing animal by-products (ABP) onto farms however. It can be difficult to obtain contracts to import waste in relatively small quantities, regulation and bureaucracy are necessarily onerous and finance is hard to come by when an ABP compliant front-end can double the capital cost of a plant compared to a

non-food waste plant. In addition, opponents of farm-based AD development often cite ‘industrialisation of the countryside’ as one of their most serious objections after noise, odour and traffic concerns. As a result most food waste plants are large and centralised, and most farmbased plants are smaller but process only energy crops and a little on-farm waste such as manure. Seeking answers My colleagues and I thought if we’d separate the smelly unhygienic nimby waste part of the AD process from the environmentally friendly green energy and fertiliser production part via the creation of waste-to-fuel production plants on ring-fenced hub sites and AD units on small rural farm-based pod sites. If pods are installed first then all can benefit from the safety and regularity of a grow for gas model and acquire critical mass and cash flow quickly and relatively easily. It is necessary to work in conjunction with both the Environmental Agency (EA) and the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) to future proof the plant and ensure that it will be ABP compliant as a pod unit. This is much less onerous than compliance levels required for a self-contained ABP unit however. It is also possible to retrofit existing non-ABP plants for this purpose though usually prohibitively expensive to retrofit crop based plant for self-contained ABP compliance. Once sufficient market or capacity presence is

in place and food waste availability identified, the hub site can be established, usually at an existing waste management site or transfer station. In our model, each hub provides for six to eight pod units and comprises reception, depackaging, blending, maceration and finally pasteurisation and homogenisation. The resulting porridge-like fuel still counts as ABP waste under AHVLA guidelines and must be treated, handled and transported accordingly. However, provided the material is moved in leak proof containers, as any ABP should be, it can be efficiently transported to the pods as and when required. As soon as waste-based feedstock becomes available, some or all of the land used to grow for gas can be made available again for growing food and organic matter can be diverted from landfill or incineration and returned to the earth. It is essential to work closely with AHVLA and EA to ensure that due process is followed and approval obtained but, contrary to popular belief, it is by no means impossible to benefit from economies of scale at a truly local level. So, as I said to the farmer while sitting at the kitchen table in his beautiful Hampshire farmhouse: ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a farmer in possession of a good muck heap must be in want of an AD plant?’ l For more information:

Julian Maiklem is a partner in recycling business Green and Pleasant and will be presenting a talk on Hub and Pod scenarios at the UK ADBA conference in July

Bioenergy Insight

preview Bioenergy The role of anaerobic digestion in sustainable farming is a fascinating topic with many strands and facets to be considered

Attention to detail

‘I

feel there are four key areas to be explored when it comes to evaluating the role of AD within the context of the “sustainable intensification” of agriculture,’ Jeremy Woods, a lecturer on bioenergy at Imperial College London, explains. ‘These include stagnating crop yields, decreasing biodiversity, a reduction in carbon stocks and nutrient losses and associated soil erosion that have serious consequences for water quality and availability. For example, while we may be on the verge of a mass species extinction event, over 50% of Europe’s waterways are considered to be in serious decline. Much of the blame can be laid at the door of the conventional agriculture we are so dependent on for our survival.’ The expected increased demand for biomass for food, bioenergy (including biofuels), biochemicals and biomaterials/ fibres presents a considerable challenge for agriculture, which at the same time needs to develop more sustainable land use and resource management practices if truly sustainable agriculture is to emerge. Woods feels that all current debates on indirect

land use change (ILUC) are ‘important but distracting from larger issues and need to be put into context’. ‘It would be far more valuable to discuss integrated landscape management solutions rather than to keep hearing an increasingly polarised view of land use from the energy, biomaterials, food sectors and the NGOs,’ he adds. ‘I was part of a research team that put together a paper on the subject, using the UK as a case study, particularly focusing on the capture and redistribution of reactive nitrogen.’ Nitrogen is an essential component of plant growth and tools that enable a recirculation of ‘lost’ nutrients could play an important role in a transition to sustainable, highly productive agricultural systems with anaerobic digestion playing a key role in making such ‘nutrient looping’ a viable option for farmers to consider. Woods and his team have several solutions to this problem, but one that, he reveals, centres around so-called ‘buffer strips’. ‘In simple terms, imagine if a farmer had a field of wheat which rolled down towards a river. Typically nitrates in this scenario will leach out of the

Woods believes buffer strips could be a way of moving biomass production forward

field and travel through and over the soil, ending up in the river nitrifying the water and polluting it,’ he explains. ‘A buffer strip of planted non-cereal crops in between the two would help capture the excess nutrients and potentially provide biodiversity corridors. Integrating energy crops over significant fractions of the agricultural landscape could facilitate increased recirculation of captured nitrogen and also provide biomass as a feedstock for energy or novel bio-products.’ Perennial crops such as willow and miscanthus have been earmarked as a potential buffer strip inhabitants as they can intercept relatively high levels of nutrients and so can

be cultivated in plantations specifically placed to capture nutrient-rich runoff water from intensively cultivated cropland. Woods is buoyed by the number of new anaerobic digestion projects coming online over the last 12 months, reported at around 110 at time of writing, but feels the next big step comes in ‘connecting the dots’. ‘It would be nice to see a championing of the overall industry rather than of its individual building blocks,’ he muses. ‘Bioenergy, at all levels, has generally been viewed as a positive thing historically but as soon as policies are put into place to stimulate the sector, people get nervous. ‘Issues will arise from competing feedstock uses, surrounding produce like sawdust for example, or how to get generated power to the grid in ways that reward small-scale producers and the provision of enhanced ecosystem services. The devil really is in the detail with this one,’ he chuckles. l

For more information:

Dr Jeremy Woods will be presenting ‘The role of AD in sustainable farming’ in more detail at the UK AD and Biogas 2013 conference on 3 July in Birmingham

Miscanthus is one answer to nitrate collection

Bioenergy Insight

May/June 2013 • 65

Bioenergy ADBA previews UK AD & Biogas conference and expo will take place on 3-4 July in Birmingham. For the first time Bioenergy Insight reveals who’s exhibiting what

An Insight into ADBA Aqua Enviro is exhibiting at ADBA this year. Matthew Smyth, the company’s operations director, tells Bioenergy Insight what Aqua Enviro has been up to in the AD sector over the past year. ‘It’s been an excellent 12 months and we believe we are well positioned to help clients at all stages of their projects, from feasibility and pilot testing, through to commissioning and optimisation. ‘We’re providing process commissioning engineers and mobile laboratory support services on two advanced digestion facilities, capable of processing between them over 160,000 dry tonnes of sewage sludge every year. We’re looking now to transpose this commissioning model from the wastewater to the waste digestion sector. ‘We’ve also been busy in the lab carrying out start-up trials for an MBT AD facility at a range of organic loading rates to minimise start up time, evaluating the potential for aerobic methods to act as a surrogate for the Residual Biogas Potential Test, assessing biogas production from algal feedstock

iogas Analytix is one of the first laboratories in the UK to concentrate solely on the biogas market and today works to bring biogas plants to their maximum efficiency and prevent potential losses in gas outputs with sophisticated analysis. The company is able to measure a number of processes regarding biogas production in order to maximise gas yield. This includes dry substances, micronutrients, nitrogen load and gas yield. Using ion chromatography, Biogas Analytix is able to precisely determine acids and offers immediate help via

66 • May/June 2013

Aqua Enviro has been busy in the lab

to boost revenue, along with our regular services of VFA speciation and BMP testing. Lab projects on industrial sites are now moving forward to pilot scale, tender evaluation and process selection. ‘Through two WRAP funded contracts we have helped several plants move

remote access if gas output at a plant sinks unexpectedly, or threatens to collapse. This includes facts and figures so the feeding of microorganisms can be corrected. The company has years of experience in Germany and internationally, and says it is now focusing its services on the UK. Visit Biogas Analytix at stand E13 BioWatt offers a range of AD composting solutions and focuses on the design and building of organic treatment facilities. It provides bespoke engineering and finance solutions for the processing

towards or gain PAS110 accreditation and the “Improving Operations at AD Plants” actively helped operators tackle specific issues limiting throughput and revenue, in particular foaming incidents and uprating mixers.’ Visit Aqua Enviro at stand A51

of organic materials into useable organic soil products, fuels, heat and power. The company says it is known in the industry for designing novel processes to deal with unusual organic waste problems such as nappy wastes, oil soaked soils, invasive weeds and sewage screenings. Visit BioWatt at stand A52 Borger, a manufacturer of rotary lobe pumps, has developed a new skid-mounted pump unit that eliminates the need for rotary mixing and feed units at the front-end of small-scale biogas plants. The PL200 rotary lobe pump and macerator with auger-feed

comes complete with its own control panel and is suitable for small- to medium-sized anaerobic digestion plants. The technology requires minimal maintenance, ensuring minimum downtime for AD, wastewater or sludge applications. Borger has also launched the new Rotorrake, which has been designed for size reduction of coarse solids in AD plants. It features a reversible knife rotation against fixed counter knives which create a course macerating effect for chopping and grinding tough solids such as manure and crop feedstock. Rotorrake can achieve throughputs of up to 800m3/m

Bioenergy Insight

ADBA previews Bioenergy The company has extensive experience in power generation, gas production, cooling systems, steam generation systems, pipework/plant maintenance and weld repairs. Its sister company JPW (NDT) carries out ultrasonic weld testing, magnetic particle testing, dye penetrant testing and wall thickness/corrosion testing as part of its Condition Monitoring Programme. Visit DOJ PipeWelding Services at stand P65

BioWatt builds organic treatment facilities

and its centrifugal force helps with the collection of any stones or debris that drop into its stone trap. Borger’s previous projects includes pump and macerator installations for the Carrigbyrne Farmhouse Cheese Company, and a macerator and rotary lobe pumps at a 5 tonne

software for plant management. It says its laboratory, located in Italy’s Porto Mantovano, focuses solely on biogas analysis. Visit BTS Biogas Italia at stand D71 DOJ PipeWelding Services is a pipework welding company

Gastechnik Himmel designs and produces components and complete systems in the field of environmental engineering. It focuses on biogas and landfill gas plants, and special gas plants. Gastechik has founded a

The Sepuran module is able to upgrade biogas to biomethane of almost any requested purity. The separation of gas by tubular membranes is a power-only operated process and requires no chemicals, water, heat or other acids, making it environmentally efficient. The compact construction of this technology makes it particularly suitable to upgrade biogas plants with existing cogeneration units, or to replace old cogeneration units without adequate energy recovery. Visit Gastechnik Himmel at stand D73 Galglass, a design and build company for concrete and coated steel tanks, is the only UK manufacturer of fusion

GAH aims to deliver profitable turnkey plants eventually

Borger’s Rotorrake effectively macerates tough solids

100% daughter company, GAH Gasaufbereitung Himmel at its site in Korneuburg, Austria. With Evonik as its partner and Evonik’s newly developed Sepuran Green Membrane Modules, GAH has gained a technological advantage that benefits its customers in the long-term.

capacity pasteurisation plant on Ireland’s Aran Island. Visit Borger at stand F73

which carries out stainless steel and pipework installations to Class 1 standards.

BTS Biogas Italia designs, installs and builds biogas power plants. The company has built more than 150 plants across Europe and more than 60 are currently being designed or in the construction stage. It has three subsidiaries in the north of Italy, with more than 130MW of electrical power installed in the nation. BTS Biogas also offers biological assistance and consulting, and develops

BTS Biogas has over 130MW of capacity installed across Italy

Bioenergy Insight

bonded epoxy coated steel tanks. Its steel tank coating technology is named Efusion. Efusion is an alternative to traditional glass coated steel technology. Its benefits include impact resistance, more flexible coatings to deal with operational loads and reduction in carbon footprint.

May/June 2013 • 67

Bioenergy ADBA previews

Efusion-coated tanks from Galglass

These developments have led to the product being selected within Water Company specifications and to achieve this, Efusion must pass engineering reviews on product quality, manufacturing processes, and testing regimes. Visit Galglass at stand F21 Following the success of its Waste Food De-packaging system at TEG Environmental’s Glenfarg site in Scotland, Haarslev UK has announced a second order for a project in Dagenham, near London. The project comprises a 15m3 reception hopper with a screw feed system to the Waste Food De-packer and a slurry pumping system complete with PLC control system. Designed for the depackaging, separation and particle size reduction of packaged food waste, Haarslev’s Waste Food DePacker can process up to 20 tonnes of raw packaged material per hour, outputting organic food slurry to the digester, as well as a reject stream of plastic contaminants. The technology is suitable for sites where material preinspection is not possible due to its ability to handle a wide range of large contaminants without damage to the internal components. Haarslev UK offers bespoke feed systems ranging from in-floor hoppers and conveying systems to smaller aboveground hoppers, incorporating full design, supply and

68 • May/June 2013

installation. The company has installed six depacking units in the UK alone. Visit Haarslev UK at stand F81 At ADBA 2013 Haigh Engineering, a manufacturer of UK-built maceration, screening and separation systems, will be demonstrating its AD Macerator. The macerator works to achieve optimum particle size in wastewater and sludge treatment plants and is also suitable for industries including food manufacturing, industrial waste, chemical applications and waste recycling. Also on show this year will be Haigh’s combined separator/dewatering/ compacting station branded the Liesep, which separates packaging from food during

The Liesep separater from Haigh

pre-treatment; the digester stage can also separate solids and liquids within digestate. Visit Haigh Engineering at stand B27 HRS Heat Exchangers offers a range of heat exchangers and associated products including corrugated tube, shell and tube, scraped surface and plate heat exchangers, together with hygienic piston pumps, aseptic fillers and CIP packages. Its heat transfer solutions are suitable for a number of markets and processing applications, including

Haarslev will install its Waste Food De-Packer at a plant in Dagenham

food and drink, chemical, pharmaceutical, water and waste treatment and general manufacturing. HRS has recently designed and installed the first UK-based three-tank batch pasteuriser system at a site owned by a UK waste management company. The company has also designed and installed a Scraped Surface evaporator system at the SSE Barkip site near Glasgow in Scotland. The company’s clients include a number of UK water authorities and contractors such as Severn Trent Water, Imtech Process, Southern Water and Biffa Waste. Visit HRS Heat Exchangers at stand D69 Huegli Tech is a family business that first introduced electronic governing to Europe’s diesel engine manufacturers. Today it is a supplier to diesel engine makers throughout Europe and Asia, with a focus on higherlevel controls for both gensets and off-road applications, hydraulic starting systems and systems for gas engines and dual-fuel conversions. The company says more than 1,000 of its active ring-gap gas mixers are in service in German biogas CHP systems, along with other ancillary and control units. The latest mixer

Bioenergy Insight

ADBA previews Bioenergy

HRS Barkip Evaporation plant

design features a retractable torpedo to optimise mixing at both cranking speeds and at full load, in addition to the isolation of moving parts from the harmful contaminants inherent in biogas. Huegli’s own-brand controller HT-DSC-4602 includes the facility to directly control the mixer, as well as an extensive PLC functionality, suitable for the control and supervision of CHP applications. The addition of its HT-Display adds a colour screen with complete system overview and the ability to monitor the system remotely from a tablet or smartphone. Visit Huegli Tech at stand E33 Hydrotech Engineering is an Italian engineering and manufacturing company providing turnkey solutions. The company’s technology focuses on the use of semipermeable membranes which manage highly polluted

Kirk has an extensive product portfolio

Hydrotech provides turnkey solutions to the biogas industry

industrial wastewaters such as the treatment of digestate and landfill leachate. This helps achieve positive results in terms of efficiency and O&M cost savings. It claims to achieve two targets with this process:

a reduction in nitrogen content and to discharge a purified water stream. Visit Hydrotech Engineering at stand E16 Kirk Environmental, part Kirk Group, has over 35

years’ experience in the water, wastewater and bioenergy sectors. The company’s product portfolio includes: • Glass-fused-to-steel tanks • In situ concrete tanks, offering an alternative to traditional design and construction techniques • The Biodome double membrane gas holder storage solution • Trico-Bond epoxy coated steel tanks, with the combination of the steel surface preparation and the pre-coating steel treatment • A range of in-house produced steel fabrication for use in building, civil engineering, wastewater, sewage and biogas projects. Visit Kirk Environmental at stand C01 Founder ADBA member Landia designs and builds pumps and mixers for the

Huegli’s active ring-gap gas mixers are in over 1,000 German biogas CHP plants

Bioenergy Insight

May/June 2013 • 69

Bioenergy ADBA previews dewater or thicken sludges at process rates of 1-150m3/ hr. The company’s Decaoil units are suitable for oily sludges and oil/water/ solid separation duties. Visit MSE Hiller at stand C45 Monsal says it has seen an increase in enquiries for new digestion projects this year. In 2012 the company finalised its large food waste project for Wessex Water (GENeco), a 40,000-tonne facility based at Avonmouth, UK, two months ahead of schedule. It is also building a 30,000 tonne facility for Viridor in Somerset, UK, which is due to come online later this year. The Monsal AD technology can handle a variety of food waste contacts, particularly packaged waste. The plants can also incorporate wastewater treatment to treat liquors or expand the aerobic capacity of food processing facilities.

Landia’s GasMix installation

AD/biogas industry. Landia says its GasMix system provides improved biogas yields while offering ease of maintenance as it gives access from outside the digester. The GasMix creates a high velocity and vacuum which helps achieve a 3D mixing pattern that eliminates the formation of unwanted surface scum. It combines jet mixing and gas mixing under pressure which, unlike other gas mix systems, works in a similar way to venture aeration. There is no equipment in the digester; instead it is mounted externally at a level that makes for simple maintenance and helps avoid health and safety issues. Visit Landia at stand B01 MSE Hiller supplies sludge dewatering equipment to wastewater treatment applications within the AD biogas industry. Sludges may be dewatered to a stackable solid using the company’s Decapress

70 • May/June 2013

Monsal says its hydrolysis technology increases biogas yields over conventional digestion and has now been adopted by waste companies such as Viridor as best practice for food waste AD. Visit Monsal at stand D01 Odour Services International (OSI) is an independent service provider operating in the field of odour control for both the water industry and industrial applications. The company manufactures solutions for various air pollution problems, including odour reduction, VOC abatement, solvent recovery and acid gas removal. OSI is able to provide an ‘in house’ manufacturing service for uPVC/GRP ducting and process tanks as well as a dedicated steel fabrication facility in support of the odour control systems. Taking on board the special requirements for these industries, OSI says it offers tanks, process vessels and ducting systems in mild steel, stainless steel and a full range of thermoplastics for virtually every application. In addition to bespoke fabrication, OSI carries out a range of plant and pipework for water treatment, effluent control and general process control systems and dosing systems. It also offers a full refurbishment service for plants that can be re-used or have had their main function

MSE Hiller manufactures equipment for the AD indsutry

centrifuge or Smicon MAS screw filters. It also supplies depackaging and pasteurisation equipment. MSE Hiller will be exhibiting a range of products at this year’s ADBA show, from centrifuges to ceramic membrane systems, screw compacting units and polymer make-up units. Its centrifuges are used to clarify effluents and

Biogas yields can be improved thanks to Monsal

Bioenergy Insight

ADBA previews Bioenergy additive solutions, Omex offers a range of products designed to overcome problems that can occur within the septicity treatment industry, such as odour problems, filamentous bulking and pH issues. Additionally, Omex supplies a range of high performance laboratory-based analytical services and can provide customers with a nutrient profiling service. This is the basis for advice on how to assess the correct nutrient dosage in biological treatment systems such as anaerobic processes. Visit Omex Environmental at stand E85 PIPE2000 is the UK partner for flexible preinsulated pipes manufactured by Brugg Pipesystems in Switzerland and Germany. The pipes feature bonded insulation, long coil lengths, plus jointing and sealing systems. Calpex is a PE-Xa preinsulated pipe system with bonded PUR insulation and can be selected as an underground heat transfer

Omex’s additives prevent AD plant deficiencies

changed to suit a new process. Visit Odour Services International at stand P51 Anaerobic digesters treat wastewater and organic solid wastes such as municipal, food, agriculture crop, animal waste and a variety of other wastes like sewage sludge, converting the organic portion to biogas. In order for anaerobic plants to operate effectively, they require a wide range of nutrients for the microorganisms to grow and function properly. Omex Environmental assesses plants’ requirements by analysing influent and effluent. It then produces a TEA micronutrient solution, tailor-made to treat the plants individual requirements, in a form which is fully bio-available in anaerobic conditions. Benefits include increased biogas production, increased methane content

Bioenergy Insight

Calpex pipes from PIPE2000

and higher loading rates. Deficiencies often occur and can affect plant stability, performance and biogas production. Omex has created a range of Nutromex TEA, trace element additives and solutions in order to prevent these deficiencies. As well as its trace element

pipeline between a biogas plant and local buildings. Over 20,000 kilometres of the Calpex low-temperature system have been sold worldwide. This new casing design means the pipe is now up to 24% more flexible and bending radii have been reduced by up to 30%. This also brings

additional benefits with regard to material logistics: the core diameter of the coils can be reduced because of the tighter winding radii. Coil lengths can be increased by a maximum of 33% and still take up the same space on a truck. Total cost also benefits because longer coils offer the possibility of fewer underground joints and quicker installation times. Also new is the Calpex 140/202 pipe. Available from stock in coils up to 80m long, the pipe has the capacity to deliver 68,760kg/h at 198 pa/m and 80°C. This means a number of complete district and local heating schemes can now be designed around Calpex flexible pipes. As with all Calpex pipes, heat loss remains low at 18.5 W/m (70°C mean water temperature). In order to meet increasing demand for Calpex, Brugg Pipesystems has installed a further production line at its factory in Switzerland. Visit PIPE2000 at stand E23 Polymer specialist Rehau is exhibiting its range of pipework solutions for AD plants and associated district schemes at this year’s ADBA exhibition, focusing on its two core ranges — Rauvitherm and Rauthermex. Rehau’s polymer solutions offer an alternative to steel pipework for district heating, providing a high degree of flexibility which simplifies and speeds up installation. Both ranges use Rehau’s Everloc compression sleeve jointing system suitable for heating and plumbing applications for a permanent leak free joint. This jointing system will be on display at the show, showing cross sections of the pipe to demonstrate how it is constructed with polyethylene pipeline (PE-Xa) pipe surrounded with PEX insulation and enclosed within a longitudinally watertight LLD-PE outer jacket. Alongside Rauvitherm and Rauthermex, the company is also demonstrating

May/June 2013 • 71

Bioenergy ADBA previews

Rehau is exhibiting its Everloc jointing system

its chemically resistant Raubio cross-linked PEXa which can be used inside digesters and gas condensate collecting shaft. Visit Rehau at stand E51 Reliant Installations was founded in 1974 and is a UK supplier of tanks and silos. It supplies and installs a variety of Permastore tanks, in particular AD biogas, digesters, digestate and treatment tanks as well as agricultural and municipal slurry stores. In addition to Permastore glass fused-to-steel tanks and silos, Reliant provides: • Stainless steel tanks • Tank bases and all associated ground works from a greenfield site • Tank inspection, repair and maintenance • Digester cladding

AD biogas tanks from Reliant Installations

72 • May/June 2013

and insulation • A wide variety of tank covers and roofs • Building supply and installation • Equipment installation • In house engineering workshop for the fabrication of ladders, gantries, walkways and other ancillary equipment. Most recently the company completed the UK’s largest steel digestate tank for Biogen and is currently working with Marches Biogas on two 500kW AD biogas plants in Shropshire. Visit Reliant Installations at stand D25 The Schmack Group comprises a number of brands, all dedicated to the sector of biogas technologies. These are: Schmack Biogas, a provider of wet anaerobic

digestion biogas systems; Schmack Carbotech, a biogas upgrading pioneer; and BIOFerm, which specialises in dry anaerobic digestion. Together with its parent company Viessmann, Schmack has a variety of technologies for the utilisation of generated biogas such as CHPs, district heating networks and biogas boilers. The company offers wet and dry anaerobic digestion solutions ranging from 50kW of electricity to 20MW gas, and provides support of biogas related issues: • Plant design, construction and commissioning • Key biogas plant components • Gas-upgrading technology (Carbotech) for biomethane production

Each AD unit is housed in a transportable container, allowing for easy delivery and installation. With a processing capacity of up to 2.5 tonnes of organic waste each day, the company’s FlexiBuster is especially suitable for use by food manufacturing plants, micro-breweries and bakeries as well as larger catering establishments, shopping centres and leisure parks. Its sister product, the MuckBuster, has been designed to process food and organic wastes arising from agriculture, farms and equestrian centres. The biogas produced by the AD unit is transported to the national grid, while the PAS110-compliant digestates can be sold as organic fertilisers or mulch. Seab

Schmack built the AD plant for Severn Trent Water

• Energy from waste via dry digestion (BIOFerm) or in-vessel composting • Technical services and biological support. Schmack says it was the first company in Germany to feed biomethane into the natural gas grid and also built the UK’s largest energy crop AD plant for Severn Trent Water, which produces 2MW of electricity. Visit Schmack Biogas and Carbotech at stand C03 Seab Energy will be showcasing its smallscale and micro anaerobic digestion systems at the ADBA exhibition this year.

says the income derived from these revenue streams will offset the cost of the unit including its installation and scheduled maintenance. Additionally, for the waste producer, all costs previously associated with the storage, collection and disposal of the waste are eliminated. Seab’s most recent project was the installation of the MuckBuster at the Lancaster Brewery in Lancashire, UK. The implementation will enable the brewery to improve its environmental credentials and reduce its operating costs. This will be achieved by a substantial reduction in its

Bioenergy Insight

ADBA previews Bioenergy products for gas cleaning, gas transport and efficiencyenhancing solutions for based electrical generation, for cooling (absorption chillers) and steam as complete systems in conjunction with a CHP plant. Recently, Seva received an order to supply CHP units to one of England’s largest biogas plants. This 5MW system will be in operation in 2014. Visit Seva Energy at stand C41 Shenton Group, based in the UK, is a CHP application engineering company that

Seab’s MuckBuster at the Lancaster Brewery

demand on energy supplied through the national grid by converting its waste into electricity using Seab Energy’s micro AD system. Visit Seab Energy at stand E07 Seva Energie works in the conception, production and installation of solutions for the decentralised generation of electricity and heat via combined heat and power (CHP). The company can manufacture more than 300 CHP units per year at its headquarters. Seva has more than 30 years of experience and, having supplied a number of countries with CHP units, is now entering the UK market. The company says it has installed around 1,500 CHP facilities, ranging in size from 50kW to 4MW and they run on either natural gas or a variety of other gases. In addition, vegetable oil CHP and emergency generators can be found in the scope of supply of Seva. In addition Seva offers

Compact footprint 30kW CHP from Shenton

deals with standby power, uninterruptable power supplies and combined heat and power (CHP) systems. The company has a selection of biogas units, ranging from 30kWe to 200kWe and offered in four different canopy styles: micro series, open frame, indoor canopy and containerised. Shenton has supplied and installed fully integrated bespoke CHP power plants in a number of environments across a range of industry sectors, including hospitals, hotels, student accommodation blocks and leisure complexes. Its bespoke maintenance and support package programme Infinium24 offers reliability and performance of CHP units via remote monitoring technology running 24 hours a day on each unit. The critical data is logged and sent via internet. Shenton says the programme enables predictable budgeting helping plant operators become cost-efficient. Visit Shenton Group at stand G05 Torishima (Europe) Projects delivers standard steam and hot water solutions, in addition to knowledge of advanced AD systems which generate a third more biogas and reduce digestate, resulting in lower costs and management demands. The company is experienced in the waste, water and renewables, food and beverage, process and healthcare sectors and has completed a number of projects, from design

Seva manufactures CHP plants from 50kW to 4MW

Bioenergy Insight

May/June 2013 • 73

Bioenergy ADBA previews

Torishima has partnered with boiler supplier ICI

and concept through to optimisation. Its portfolio of work ranges from farm-scale projects to large AD schemes. In the past six months Torishima has acquired a number of partners to strengthen its position in the marketplace. The tie-in with boiler manufacturer ICI Caldaie UK is one such example. ICI produces up to 12,000 commercial and industrial units per year for the global market, with duties up to 25,000kg/hr and 20bar operating pressure. ICI’s boiler range includes design features that increase efficiency, while also reducing energy usage and the emission of harmful NOx and CO2 gases into the atmosphere. Visit Torishima (Europe) Projects at stand P109

The Slatch micro-hydro schemes in Scotland

74 • May/June 2013

Established in 1997, Tradelink Solutions is an energy service company that advises clients on the UK renewable energy and power generation sectors. Its clients include developers, farmers and landowners with their own projects. Tradelink is experienced in helping micro generators get the best commercial deals for their electricity, with particular knowledge on AD sites and micro-hydro schemes such as Slatach in Scotland. The company specialises in power purchase agreements, ensuring regulatory compliance, trading ROCs and LECs. It is also a FIT licensee. Additionally, Tradelink offer bespoke brokerage and consultancy services on the electricity market.

Uniflare’s treatment plants comply with relevant regulations

Visit Tradelink Solutions at stand F47 Uniflare designs, manufactures, installs and maintains landfill gas, anaerobic digester biogas control and treatment plants, with installations in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Australia. The company’s in-house design team has over 50 years of experience in designing landfill, biogas and other waste gas control, treatment and utilisation equipment. Uniflare says it offers cost-effective, legislationcompliant technology while at the same time complying with ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and relevant CE directives and local standards. It can also modify existing plants and upgrade them to meet new legislation requirements and standards, such as ATEX, DSEAR and SIL. Additionally, Uniflare has long-term maintenance

contracts with many of the UK and Ireland’s major landfill operators. Visit Uniflare at stand E41 Energy from waste shredding company Untha UK will be exhibiting its customised RS40 waste shredder at the ADBA tradeshow in July. Engineered to process organic waste, this slowrunning four shaft machine pre-shreds and re-shreds material in one single pass. Its tooth and cutting gap geometrics ensure the right fermentation substrate for anaerobic digestion, and a sealing system protects the gearbox and components from the ingress of this potentially corrosive material. Wear plates are fitted as standard which means only simple components have to be replaced over time, rather than the entire machine, and a special protective paint also prevents machinery attrition. Design features enable

Bioenergy Insight

ADBA previews Bioenergy waste plants, Untha says it is also well placed to provide waste shredding consultancy and machine servicing expertise for UKbased AD plant operators. Visit Untha UK at stand F51

Untha’s RS40 shredder

the RS40 to achieve a throughput of 10-12 tonnes/ hour depending on waste bulk density and moisture content. It also offers enhanced uptime and productivity. Additionally, the shredder operates at

80 DBA, making it the only noise compliant shredder of its kind in the marketplace, according to Untha. And having supplied this technology into at least 50% of the UK’s food

UTS Biogas, a member of the Anaergia group of companies, is a provider of sustainable biogas plants across a range of UK industries. Its German parent company, UTS Biogastechnik, has been developing biogas technology since 1992. UTS provides full turnkey project development for 50-4,000kW facilities capable of processing a range of substrates including agricultural wastes and crops, slaughterhouse wastes, food processing and municipal food wastes. At the core of a UTS

AD system are a number of pieces of proprietary equipment manufactured by the company. These include Service-Boxes for easy and safe mixer maintenance, electric and hydraulic mixers, pumps and separators. UTS says that, in addition to more than 220 turnkey projects across Europe, its components have been installed in more than 1,600 biogas plants. The company developed its second municipal and commercial food waste plant for its waste sector partner TEG Environmental, a 1.5MW facility in Dagenham that will become operational later this year. In addition, UTS is finalising a 2.5MW energy crop and vegetable waste facility in Cambridgeshire for Shropshire Energy. Visit UTS Biogas at stand B11 l

THE UK’S BIGGEST FREE TO ATTEND ANAEROBIC DIGESTION & BIOGAS TRADE SHOW

MEET THE AD & BIOGAS INDUSTRY AT THE NEC, BIRMINGHAM 3-4 JULY, 2013 WHAT’S ON OFFER? • Over 3,000 visitors • Two day exhibition showcasing over 240 exhibitors • One-to-one advice clinics • Free two day high profile conference • Free seminars & workshops • A biomethane transport feature area • Site visits • The latest kit live on the show floor • The second UK AD & Biogas Industry Awards

Bioenergy Insight

May/June 2013 • 75

Bioenergy events & advert index Bioenergy events Event

Venue Date Fri ThuMontreal, Canada

Tue on Industrial Biotechnology Wed 10thMon Annual World Congress East Coast 3 1Waste Conversion Congress 2

Boston, US 5

Sat 16 - 19 June 2013 Sun 6

17 - 18 June 2013 7

Biochemicals & Bioplastics

Frankfurt, Germany

19 - 20 June 2013

UK AD & Biogas 2013

Birmingham NEC, UK

3 - 4 July 2013

Pellet Fuels Institute Annual Conference

North Carolina

28 - 30 July 2013

International VDI Conference Biomass to Energy

Munich, Germany

3 - 4 September 2013

Bioenergia exhibition & conference

Jyväskylän, Finland

4 - 6 September 2013

The Renewables Event

Birmingham, UK

10 - 11 September 2013

Biofuels International Conference 2013

Ramada Plaza, Antwerp, Belgium 11 Sept 2013 - 12 Sept 2013

Lignofuels 2013

London, UK

SMi’s 6th Annual Conference: Energy from Waste

TBC

25 Sept 2013 - 26 Sept 2013

Algae Biomass Summit

Orlando, Florida, US

30 Sept 2013 - 3 Oct 2013

EBEC

Stoneleigh Park, UK

9 - 10 October 2013

Valladolid, Spain

22 - 24 October 2013

Expobioenergia 2013

23 World Bio Markets USA

26 California San Francisco,

29 - 30 October28 2013

EABA Expo & Conference

Florence, Italy

11 - 13 November 2013

Bioenergy Commodity Trading

Brussels, Belgium

20 - 21 November 2013

World Biofuels Markets 2014

Amsterdam, the Netherlands

4 - 6 March 2014

Bioenergy Insight (ISSN 2046-2476) is publised six times a year by Horseshoe Media Limited, Marshall House, 124 Middleton Road, Morden, Surrey, SM4 6RW, United Kingdom.

Advert index Hurst Boiler and Welding Company, Inc. Inside Front Cover Port of Amsterdam

Factory Sales Engineering

Landia 7 Systems Mix

Detroit Stoker Company

Jenz GmbH

Rembe GmbH Safety and Control

Andritz Energy & Environment GmbH

Kirk Environmental

76 • May/June 2013

AET Biomass

Bruks Group

BTS Italia

Imerys 27 Xergi 31 BDI BioEnergy International AG

Schmack Biogas GmbH (Viessmann Group)

Williams Patent Crusher & Pulverizer Co. Outside Back Cover

The 2013 annual subscription price is $240. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by Agent named Air Business, C/O Worldnet Shipping USA Inc., 155-11 146th Street, Jamaica, New York, NY11434. Periodicals postage pending at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Bioenergy Insight, C/O Air Business Ltd / 155-11 146th Street, Jamaica, New York, NY11434 Subscription records are maintained at Horseshoe Media Limited, Marshall House, 124 Middleton Road, Morden, Surrey, SM4 6RW, United Kingdom.Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent. USPS number: 000-756

Bioenergy Insight

ADBA previews Bioenergy

Bioenergy Insight – can you afford to miss out? The number one source of information on biomass, biopower, bioheat, biopellets and biogas!

Subscribe now to receive your copy! For just £130/€160/$210 a year subscribing to Bioenergy Insight will keep you in the know. Contact Lisa Lee, marketing@horseshoemedia.com or telephone +44 (0) 20 8687 4160 For information on how we can help maximise your exposure contact Anisha Patel, anisha@bioenergy-news.com or telephone +44 (0) 20 3551 5752 Bioenergy Insight

www.bioenergy-news.com

May/June 2013 • xx

Your Single-Source System Provider Biomass Handling Equipment Complete Engineered Systems

We offer complete systems for grinding and/or drying a wide variety of biomass materials including wood chips, algae, switchgrass, & kenaf.

Primary Hogs Secondary Hammer Mills Apron Pan Feeders Mass Loading Feeders Disc Screens Screw Conveyors Pneumatic Conveying Silos

2701 North Broadway, St. Louis, Missouri 63102 USA Phone: (314) 621-3348 Fax: (314) 436-2639 Email: sales@williamscrusher.com