[Gasification] AgriPower

Sat Jun 30 20:40:46 EDT 2007

Have any of you had any experience with the 300 kW fluidized bed system
described in the attached article?

Jane Turnbull
Peninsula Energy Partners

Portable power from trash

By Martin LaMonica
http://news.com.com/Portable+power+from+trash/2100-11392_3-6192538.html

Story last modified Fri Jun 22 07:31:35 PDT 2007

Solar energy isn't the only renewable resource: there's also garbage.  A
company called AgriPower will begin production next year of a movable
power generator fueled by a wide range of waste products, from walnut
shells to discarded tires.

Although solar and wind energy are the best-known renewable energies,
generating power from biomass is getting a closer look, as societies try
to diversify their fuel sources.

AgriPower's combined heat and power system was originally envisioned for
developing countries that could burn agricultural wastes to make
electricity and heat.

The multi-piece unit includes a large feed hopper that holds 5 tons of
material, and a high-temperature incinerator that vaporizes biomass as it
comes in. The resulting heat can be used to turn a turbine to make 300
kilowatts of electricity. The heat can also be used to power other
processes like heating.

As the company gets closer to manufacturing--with first commercial
products anticipated next April--it is finding a much wider set of
potential applications, said CEO Barry Berman.

The company is seeing interest from landfill operators who, short on space
for burying trash, would rather incinerate their waste to produce power
and sell it to utilities.

The company is also talking to supermarket chains in the U.K. and France
that have to pay more than $150 per ton in "tipping fees" to get rid of
organic trash such as discarded produce, cardboard and paper.

"If you are producing any waste stream and you are paying someone to bring
it to a landfill, you gotta be nuts," said Berman.

For industrial processes that use diesel engines, AgriPower's system pays
for itself within a year, he said. A wood mill, for example, could
incinerate sawdust and other waste to make power to run its machines,
rather than run off diesel power.

Remote applications
There are already large-scale combined heat and power systems that use
biomass as fuel to make on-site electricity. Incinerating municipal waste
to make power is also done in almost 90 locations in the United States,
according to the Solid Waste Association of North America.

Municipal waste is increasingly segregated, which means on-site power
production using a specific material is now a more viable option, said
Berman. Another company, Ze-Gen, is testing a process called gasification
with construction and demolition debris as fuel.

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that its generator has been tested with a range of materials, including
corn husks, corn cobs and sugar cane residue, called bagasse, as well as
tires and non-recyclable plastics. Because it generates heat, the unit can
dry material like chicken waste before incinerating it, he said.

The polluting emissions from the unit, which is 75 percent efficient, has
been tested in several U.S. states and European countries. It met
emissions requirements in Switzerland and California, which are stringent
measures, said AgriPower vice president Anthony Kahn.

The incinerator uses a construction called a bubbling fluidized
bed--essentially a layer of sand heated to high temperatures--and
vaporizes waste within seconds of entering the furnace.

Although the output of the initial unit is a fraction of an industrial
power plant's capacity, AgriPower's 80,000-pound generator can easily be
transported and usually installed within two days. That mobility is
important to using biomass for power production, said Berman.

"It can be brought to remote areas and be brought to where the fuel is
located," he said. "A rather significant problem in biomass is gathering
it and bringing it to a furnace to burn it."