[Gasification] APL gasifiers at sawmill in Alaska

Tom Miles tmiles at trmiles.com
Tue Sep 23 09:39:02 CDT 2014


Rex,

One supplier that has several gasifiers in the 150-200 kWe range now operate
and service the gasifiers themselves to make sure that they keep running.
The customers still save money. If the gasifier-genset is not running then
they don't make any money so there is an incentive to keep things operating.
There are many service companies that run diesel gensets in the same way.  

If we can get gasifiers to run with the same reliability as wood fired
boilers then there should be circumstances where it may be feasible to run a
small scale renewable energy service company (heat, power, biochar) using
boilers and gasifiers to suit the need. We see solar and industry systems
installed in homes that way here. In those cases it is really a government
subsidy that drives the business.

There are gasifiers that are running plants under shaft power rather than
generating electricity. I know of rice mills that have, or are, running this
way at about 100 kWe. Belt drives are usually not safe but they do work. Our
steam powered sawmills were run that way in my grandfather's time and in my
father's early days.  

Tom
     

-----Original Message-----
From: Rex Zietsman [mailto:rex at whitfieldfarm.co.za] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 2:59 AM
To: 'Tom Miles'; 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'
Subject: RE: [Gasification] APL gasifiers at sawmill in Alaska

Tom,

Your experience is not dissimilar to mine in Mozambique. The success of off
grid power is in the desire to keep the machine working. If there is no
desire, the machine stops working at the first hurdle. Furthermore, the
value of power in these communities is frequently not understood until they
have experienced it. Only when you take it away do people appreciate what it
can do to aid living a better/easier life. 

Rex Zietsman

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Miles [mailto:tmiles at trmiles.com]
Sent: 23 September 2014 02:29 AM
To: 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'
Subject: Re: [Gasification] APL gasifiers at sawmill in Alaska

David,

Funding. This was a demonstration project. We split off a small load at the
mill to demonstrate it and then it was to be moved to another site with the
chips to be supplied from the mill. The funding ended so the project ended.
There were many other "non-technical" factors that halted the use. We will
get them back in operation but there are many organizations involved and
these things take time. There are many factors that make it difficult to
substitute biomass for diesel power even when it costs $0.65/kWh so cost is
not everything. 

Last Spring a native corporation official told us last Spring that even
though it was not economic for them to heat with wood in their remote
villages at the current price of oil they would stay with wood because it
benefitted the whole community. We need to look beyond fuel price when it is
relevant. 

Tom 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Gasification [mailto:gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On
Behalf Of David Coote
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 3:27 PM
To: gasification at lists.bioenergylists.org
Subject: [Gasification] APL gasifiers at sawmill in Alaska

On 23/09/2014 4:00 AM, gasification-request at lists.bioenergylists.org wrote:

Hi Tom,

Do you have any reports or similar available from the testing you mention
below on the APL systems?

And even if the sawmill was using a lot more power than (20 + 10) kWe I
would have thought that if the mill is out in the boonies somewhere it would
be paying a lot/kWh for electricity. So even 30kWe would be useful.
Especially since they have biomass available onsite. Was there another issue
such as getting the chip characteristics correct?

Thanks

David


> Message: 4
> Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 17:20:58 -0700
> From: "Tom Miles"<tmiles at trmiles.com>
> To: "'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'"
> 	<gasification at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Subject: Re: [Gasification] :  Borealis / Spanner RE2 CHP 
> Message-ID:<002101cfd5fb$164d8380$42e88a80$@trmiles.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Thomas,
>
>
> [snip]
>
> We need to distinguish between small gasifiers intended for 
> intermittent
use or daily power only and gasifiers like the Spanner that are  intended
for continuous generation. We bought 10 kWe and 20 kWe All Power Labs Power
Pallets in 2011 and after testing them at a university we installed them at
a sawmill in Alaska in 2012. (The mill hasn?t used them because they were
too small for the mill loads and we haven?t gotten them relocated to a
village where they could be useful for small laods.) APL has probably built
a couple of hundred 20 kWe power pallets since then. The APL power pallet
makes a nice clean gas at a low capital cost. Like the small Ankurs and
their clones they are batch fed and are probably used a few hours per day.
>
>
>
> Tom
>
>
>
>
>    


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