New combustion equipment that will use “unconventional” biomass

LSolé, specialist in clean energy solutions for industrial use - steam, hot and cold water and hot gases -, promotes its new combustion system “Emerging Biomass Home” for 2017 to operate with biomass from so-called emerging markets, mainly from Latin America , Caribbean and Asia, as well as in Spain and the rest of Europe and whose use will be both in industries and in large heating networks and can be integrated with different types of boilers with thermal power between 2 and 20 MW. Using the maximum capacity of 20 MW thermal in a centralized heating network, known in English as district heating (DH), according to LSolé estimates, an HBE home would be able to meet the thermal energy needs - heating and hot water - of more than 3,400 housing.

LSolé acts as leader of the R&D&i project called “New Home for the Efficient Conversion of Non-Conventional Biomass (Emerging Markets)” and whose acronym is HBE for “Emerging Biomass Home” in which it also participates together with the Center for Research on Energy Resources and Consumption (CIRCE) that contributes its experience and research and innovative capacity.

Within its phases, the properties of these “non-conventional” fuels will be investigated, their possible effects, a specific feeding and home system and a demonstration plant will be developed. The total planned duration is three years from its beginning in October 2014 until its scheduled completion in December 2017.

Valorization
The valorization of these biofuels presents a potential for the development of local economies by having access to a renewable energy source. However, complex biomasses require the correct management of a series of technical challenges in their combustion as they often present a very variable moisture content, a very high fines content and/or an ash content and percentages of critical elements (K , Si, Cl, S, etc.) very high that can be managed.

The availability of biomass is first of all geographical since its supply depends on the logistics of transporting it by truck.

This circumstance marks a limit of approximately 100 kilometers of distance (although in Spain it is exported by ship to greater distances). Afterwards, the objective conditions of the biomass, such as humidity, are what determine its “opportunity” in cost (excess humidity implies drying with spaces, manipulations, etc.). On the other hand, both circumstances are challenges that become opportunities. Biomass, being a local fuel, does not depend on the fluctuations of fossil fuels, stressed by geopolitical or speculative issues. This fact allows customers to considerably increase savings year after year and the same is true for complex biofuels.

LSolé's current technology already allows for differential energy recovery of renewable biomass such as bagasse, rice husk, wood chips, African palm, and King grass in countries such as Honduras, where it has more than 20 plants operating with 200 thermal MW in industries such as textile and food for the generation of energy -process steam-. This differential LSolé furnace technology was developed from 2007 to 2009 in the CDTI project “High performance machinery for the combustion of complex biomasses”.