[Gasification] Gasification for Power Generation in SubSaharan Africa

Tom Miles trmilesjr at gmail.com
Fri Oct 11 14:27:43 CDT 2019


Harrie,



I’m glad to hear that you are involved in Phase II of the BSEAA. I have
seen four of the reports.  I saw the solicitation for Phase II but haven’t
seen the work plan or who will be doing the work. It would be good to
ground-truth the conclusions from the Phase I report, especially for those
projects that were close to continuous operation. From what I understand a
couple of the projects failed as much because of business and project
management as technology issues. We see this in energy projects of all
kinds, not just in gasification.



The Baringa county project in Kenya was using an invasive species, Prosopis
(Mesquite), as a fuel. They were using Laimet chippers, which make a very
good fuel for downdraft gasifiers, but the wood was so hard that it was
wearing out blades. They were to start out at 2 MWe but the largest
gasifier system that I knew about from the supplier was 250 kWe. Were there
unanticipated scaleup issues? It is difficult to do technology development
in the bush. I also understand that there were issues with the delivery and
integration of equipment. These are not problems that are unique to
gasification, or Africa. What support is provided by the supplier?
Successful gasification projects in South Asia and Southeast Asia usually
have a third party technology supplier who makes sure the equipment is
installed and operated correctly. Or, the systems are so cheap that you can
afford to replace engines every two years.



Efficiency is not the key metric. Gasifiers have a similar heat rate to
small scale steam systems. What we need are systems that are simple,
reliable, and maintainable. In the BSEAA study I would have like to have
seen more in depth identification of steam or turbine systems that have
been operating reliably, if there are any. I have to think that there are
boiler and steam systems on tea plantations or other food processing
plants. If they are using the heat and generating power, what makes them
keep going? What lessons can be learned for gasification systems?



The study should also clearly identify the expected operating conditions of
the gasifiers. For example a gasifier that is made to be affordable (cheap)
may only be designed to operate a few hundred hours per year, not 24/7 and
7,500 hours per year. Some gasifiers have been delivered expecting to
operate 5-6 hours per day to replace the current use of diesel generators,
only to find that people ran them 24 hours per day because biomass fuels
can be cheap. Operating it beyond its expected annual duty is an invitation
to failure.



Supporting infrastructure. When we designed portable sawmills for use in
Latin America, Africa, and Asia we often checked to see if the company or
contractor that was buying the equipment had the right equipment and
personnel to support the operation and maintenance of the equipment. A good
diesel mechanic could usually learn or do what was needed. When we supply
gasifiers to these same areas do we check to see what support equipment and
personnel are on site to begin with and what their experience is? Our
customers were usually logging companies that had good mechanical
capabilities. Gasifiers often go into situations where operation and
maintenance of process equipment is new to the owner. I have also seen
gasifier projects fail when a donor organization fails to deliver the
support equipment needed for maintenance.



I am reminded of the World Bank Biomass Gasifier Monitoring Programme that
Hubert Stassens did from 1986-1990 (WORLD BANK TECHNICAL PAPER NUMBER 296,
1995).  You were probably involved in that. His engineers told us that many
of the gasifiers only operated when Hubert’s team arrived for inspection.
One in Mali had high reliability (55,000 hours) but had been heavily
subsidized by support from China. Today we see hundreds of gasifiers in
operation worldwide. Do we have any that can be suited to the fuels and
conditions in Southern Africa? The major demand is for operation during
frequent blackouts.



Many thanks



Tom

On Fri, Oct 11, 2019 at 1:54 AM Harrie Knoef <harrie at knoefconsultancy.com>
wrote:

> Hi Tom,
>
> The current status of gasification for power generation in Sub Saharan
> Africa is very actual. In 2017, LTS International and E4Tech (both UK)
> implemented Phase I of the Bioenergy for Sustainable Energy Access in
> Africa (BSEAA) study. BSEAA is investigating opportunities and challenges
> for the roll-out of bioenergy technology in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and
> supporting the development of innovative solutions. The study included six
> Case Study Reports related to biomass gasification, none of them operated
> successful. All of them are imported technologies from India, China, Canada
> and Dominican Republic.
>
> I am involved in the Phase II study of BSEAA. Main task is to investigate
> the barriers of implemented gasifiers *and* define enabling conditions
> for successful adoption and expansion of small scale biomass gasification
> technology in SSA countries.
>
> Hopefully I will be able to answer the question of Tom Miles during this
> project. Any suggestion or comments regarding the BSEAA study are welcome (
> harrie at knoefconsultancy.com).
>
> Thanks,
>
> Harrie Knoef
>
> *From:* pettman at soleco-technology.com
> *Sent:* Friday, October 11, 2019 12:11 AM
> *To:* Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
> <gasification at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [Gasification] Gasification for Power Generation in
> SubSaharan Africa
>
> We are selling gasification units that are patented downdraft units that
> handle about 160lb. to 180lb. per hour.
> They go out as singles, twins or as a Quad Pack.
> We can fit four units in a 40ft. ISO Container.
>
> These units produce a fine, dry prilled (size of grains of rice) BioChar
> which is sold on unprocessed at around US$1500 per ton  or  processed down
> to  20 microns and then sold for around US$2850 per ton.
> These units may be seen at University of Iowa.
> They have only three main moving parts and pyrolysis takes place at very
> high temperatures.
>
> In many cases we look at combining with a biodigester and make pellets
> from the digestate which can be used as fuel for gasifier or as fertilizer,
> we re-cycle the water as either "A" Grade agricultural water or we make it
> potable with a simple proceedure.
>
> Stay safe.
> Hugh.
>
> E. Hugh Pettman, Ph.D.
> *BioPhysics Research Pte. Ltd.*
> *BPR Soleco XYTECH Group*
> www.biophysics-research.net
> Telephone: +61 43 44 33 565
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [Gasification] Gasification for Power Generation in SubSaharan
> Africa
> From: Tom Miles <trmilesjr at gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, October 09, 2019 2:32 am
> To: gasification at lists.bioenergylists.org
>
> What is the current status of gasification for power generation in Sub
> Saharan Africa? Where systems are operating in the 40-150 kWe range,
> 150-500kWe, 500kWe-20 MWe? Are gasification systems participating in
> current programs like Power Africa? What fuels are  begin used? Are the
> gasification systems reliable?
>
> Thanks
>
> Tom
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-- 
T R Miles Technical Consultants, Inc
1470 SW Woodward Way
Portland, OR 97225
tmiles at trmiles.com
www.trmiles.com
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