[Gasification] 2 MWe Gasifier at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Tue Jun 26 07:38:20 CDT 2012

Tom -

My comments to the different gasifiers are written below each.

But before any thing will be commercial it must be competitive - with out enormous green premiums. 
The very few markets on the north pole and pacific islands etc will never drive the development alone.  

Thomas

-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org [mailto:gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] På vegne af Tom Miles
Sendt: 26. juni 2012 01:11
Til: 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'; mark at ludlow.com
Emne: Re: [Gasification] 2 MWe Gasifier at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Thomas

Who are the likely small scale gasifier suppliers that will conquer these challenges?

A
Ankur Scientific, India http://www.ankurscientific.com/  
Too bad workman ship - hot parts made from refractory steel - large char loss and too much tar in the gas for larger ones - only for developing countries.  

B.
Babcock Volund, Denmark http://www.volund.dk/ 
	3 gasifiers up to 2 MWe
Too expensive and complex - the real price level seems to be 0,4-0,6 us$/kWh  

Biogen, Dominican Republic http://www.biogendr.com/app/en/frontpage.aspx  
	300-500 kWe modules, Italy
Dont know
C
CarboConsult, South Africa http://www.carboconsult.com/  
	250 kWe, Melanie, Gauteng, South Africa
Dont know

Carbona/Andritz, Finland
http://www.andritz.com/pp-gasification-andritz-carbona 
	3 MWe plant in Skive, Denmark
Fluidised bed gasifier are too complex and produce a dirty gas - needs pellets 

CleanStGas, Austria http://www.cleanstgas.com/  
	125-250 kWe/235-480 kWth
Dont know 

Community Power Corporation www.gocpc.com 
	50-75 kWe modules. 
Dont know 
E
EKZ, Switzerland www.ekz.ch 
	Turnkey wood gasifier installations
Dont know 
G
Gasek, Finland www.gasek.fi 
	50 kWe/100 kWth
Too small to be competitive 
I
IISc, India  and Licensees
http://cgpl.iisc.ernet.in/site/Technologies/BiomassGasification/tabid/68/Def
ault.aspx 

M

MEVA Innovation AB, Sweden (fine wood fuels) http://www.mevainnovation.se/  
	1-10 MWe; 1.2 MWe in construction Horlax, Pitea

Mothermik, Germany http://www.mothermik.com/engl/prod-1holzver-e.html   
	10 plants.250 kWe 
Too big char loss and too high maintenance cost

N
Nexterra Ltd., Vancouver, Canada http://www.nexterra.ca/  
	2 MWe in construction. University of British Columbia

R
Repotec, Austria http://www.repotec.at/index.php/homepage.html  
	Dual fluidized bed for CHP
Too complex and expensive 

S
Satake, Japan (IISc, India technology)
http://www.satake-group.com/news/2008/080214.html  
	Up to 900 kWe modules  

Stirling DK, Denmark http://www.stirling.dk/  
	15-140 kWe, Updraft gasifier with stirling engine. 
Far too expensive and to small to be reliably investment cost 10000 €/Kw

T
TK Eenergi, Denmark http://www.tke.dk 
	3 stage gasifier
Too complex and too difficult to upscale - most ly due to bed stability issues
U
Urbas Energietechnik, Austria http://www.rsbiomass.com/urbas_gas.html  
	150 kWe/310 kWth fixed bed downdraft

W
Weiss, Denmark, two stage gasification www.weiss-as.dk 
	1-2 MWe 
Wrong desing - can not be safety approved due to hot metalic parts - Hot grid not stable - Impossible to get reliably informations about 

X
Xylowatt, Belgium http://www.xylowatt.com/  
	350 kWe modules
Nice design - probably the best gasifier 

XyloPower AG, Switzerland www.xylopower.com 

Dont know 

Which companies have 3 operating, commercial, gasifiers?

Who else?

Tom Miles

-----Original Message-----
From: gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Koch
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2012 2:15 PM
To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification; mark at ludlow.com
Subject: Re: [Gasification] 2 MWe Gasifier at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Tom

I am sure this price level is achieveable - BUT BUT BUT - there is a major challege that must be overcommed. 

You need some where you can have 5-10 similar gasifiers operating for 10 of thousans of hours each with in reachable distance from their "parent (s)"
and this alone needs 50 - 100 mio $ on top of the market price for the electricity - and it is possible to maintain a stable and bright and not religious brain capacity for a decade or two.

On top of that you need to start with a good idea and that is where most principles fail.
And what does that mean? 
Not too complex - with a potential to handle the challenges that will come in an ECONOMICALLY COMPETITIVE way!!!

Examples - Vølund - Nexterra - CFBs-Repotec and this type of gasifiers will alvays have the challenge og tar/perticle gas handling issues - personally I believe it is too complex to handle in a competitive way. 
FCC - may be large scale - but catalyst and gasifier is a challenge
2-3 stage - Viking - double feuer - TKE - and the likes have high temperature challenges and reduction challenges and bed stability issues - variation in gaspermeability etc Stirling show a large drop in efficiency if upscaled above 50-75 kW thus the biomass handling systems becomes very small and sensitive.
Entrained flow are very big and needs extensive pretreatment of the fuel. 

Many things will work for some time if nursed properly by the enthusiastic developers.

Thomas

-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] På vegne af Tom Miles
Sendt: 25. juni 2012 22:51
Til: 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'; mark at ludlow.com
Emne: Re: [Gasification] 2 MWe Gasifier at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Thomas,

You seem to be the bearer of good news. 

Can you deliver a (3 stage) gasifier(s) to deliver 2 MWe to a grid in Alaska? What would you expect the capital and operating costs to be? 

We have a few small communities with electrical loads of 1-2 MWe. Power is currently supplied from diesel generators for USD $0.44-$0.65/kWh. Good clean wood chips are available at $40-50% MC and $USD 85-100/dry ton. #2 heating oil costs about $4.40 or about $32/MMBtu (HHV). Most communities just want to produce power. Heat distribution does not exist but they could probably sell heat in a small loop for about $20/MMBtu. Is there a future for gasification in these communities?

Thanks

Tom Miles 

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