[Gasification] Cost and Performance of Small Scale Gasifiers

[Harrie Knoef]

Dear Tom, as mentioned, there are plenty of small scale wood combustion plants around the world. There is a heat demand, no doubt. There is a market for small scale gasifiers to replace old  boilers or customers considering buying a boiler, but someone needs to introduce them, like happening in Germany. And I fully agree that a database system would be useful of operational plants. The IEA would be a good starting point.
H'm
BR/Harrie

From: Gasification [mailto:gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Tom Miles
Sent: vrijdag 26 september 2014 2:49
To: 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Cost and Performance of Small Scale Gasifiers

Harrie,

Many people could use small scale gasifiers if we can find something affordable and reliable. It is always difficult to evaluate the suitability of equipment without some reference to specific operating systems and the circumstances (fuel, finances, infrastructure) that they are used in. While databases or interactive case studies are useful to have they don't always tell you what you need. There were some very good technical and economic profiles that were prepared for various gasifiers in the 1980s. I think that something like a good questionnaire along with contact and follow up information could be useful. Each IEA Task 33 country could prepare something or circulate a questionnaire for commercial gasifiers in their countries. Preparation of the questionnaire or database information should be done carefully. I don't know who would be interested in funding such an effort but it would be useful to have.

Tom

From: Gasification [mailto:gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Harrie Knoef
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2014 1:09 PM
To: 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Cost and Performance of Small Scale Gasifiers

Dear Tom, do you have a special  reason to start this discussion? It would be very good and nice to get all this information, but how to collect all. I would like forward how we could organize a project to organize or realize a database of working installations, besides gasifier suppliers.


From: Gasification [mailto:gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Harrie Knoef
Sent: donderdag 18 september 2014 10:55
To: 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Cost and Performance of Small Scale Gasifiers

Dear Tom, this is an interesting question and difficult to answer.

Ankur is most likely the most successful supplier, they also penetrate on the EU market. They designed new technology for meeting the EU environmental legislation.

In the EU,  Spanner and Burkhardt are probably the most successful suppliers, both having installed over 100 units in the last couple of years. Although the information you are looking for is not available, one can conclude from these successes that they are competitive in the market and can be considered fully commercial, also providing guarantees. This success is partly due to the attractive feed-in tariffs. These tariffs will become less in the future, which might have a negative impact on the gasification market.

It would be interesting to visit the plant owners to get a better insight in the performance of the installations but this takes a lot of time.

Some of them are not active anymore, like Martezo and Pyroforce.
It s well known that the Harboore installation was very expensive and heavily supported by the Danish government. But why not when you develop a new technology?

Best regards,
Harrie Knoef

From: Gasification [mailto:gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Koch
Sent: woensdag 17 september 2014 23:16
To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Cost and Performance of Small Scale Gasifiers

Dear Tom

TK energi delivered a 50 KW biomass gasifier to a holiday hotel. It operated approx. 14000 hours in 5 years. The total cost of the electricity produced was in the order of 1,2-1,5 dollars pr. KWh which was approx. 20-30 times higher than the market price.

20 years ago a Martezo gasifier was inatalled in western Denmark. The real figures are not all that easy to get but the rumors told that the electrity price was in the order of 10 dollars pr. KWh. One of the reasons for the very high is that the gasifier only operated for less than 1000 hours before it was scrapped.

At conference concerning small scale biomass gasification a young economist presented a study about how much investment support was needed for the Vølund 2 MWel updraft gasifier (that as far as I am aware is the best working small scale gasifier in the world!) . The study concluded that the gasifier needed 146 % of CAPEX in investment support??  Yes the project had to start with money in the bank to cover the losses.

Best regards

Thomas Koch
tk at tke.dk<mailto:tk at tke.dk>
phone + 45 22611047



Fra: Gasification [mailto:gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] På vegne af Tom Miles
Sendt: 17. september 2014 22:58
Til: 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'
Emne: [Gasification] Cost and Performance of Small Scale Gasifiers

Has anyone done a recent analysis of the cost and performance of small scale (<100 kWe, <200 kWe) gasifiers? We have seen several gasifiers on the market in the last several years but it is not clear how long they actually operate during the year (hours/year), how much heat or power (kWh/yr) they produce, what their average load factor is (40% of nameplate?), or what it actually costs or own and operate them.

Do we have any data for Borealis/Spanner Re2, Superior Gasification, All Power Labs, Ankur Scientific, Victory Gasworks, CarboConsult, Biosynergi, Community Power Corporation, Thompson Spaven, Planet Green, BETEL (India), 3i Energy Systems, Husk Power, Arbor Electrogen, Volter?

What about the next scale of  >200kWe<2000kWe? Cogebio, Xylowatt, Biogen, Advanced Gasification Technologies,  Evergreen Energy, Guascor, Milena, Proton Power, PRMEnergy, Primenergy, Zeropoint Cleantech. Mothermik, Dall Energy, Babcock Volund, Biomass Engineering, BETEL (India), Diversified Renewable Technology, Synkraft,Xylogas, CleanSTGas, Gussing Renewable Energy,Weiss, Agnion, MEVA, Xylopower, Pyrofoce

How many of these systems can document 2,000, 4,000, or 8,000 hours total or per year? What is a typical capacity factor for these systems. Are any of them run in commercial conditions?

Thanks

Tom


T R Miles Technical Consultants Inc.
tmiles at trmiles.com<mailto:tmiles at trmiles.com>
www.trmiles.com<http://www.trmiles.com>
www.gasifiers.bioenergylists.org<http://www.gasifiers.bioenergylists.org>




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/gasification_lists.bioenergylists.org/attachments/20140926/179a0922/attachment.html>