Visit at University of Seville

Renewtec AB visited the Chemical and Environmental Engineering department at University of Seville on the 18th of October to discuss gasification of waste and small scale biomethane production.

SDC12567From left to right: Dr. Jörgen Held, Renewtec AB, Dr. Manuel Campoy Naranjo, Dr. Susanna Nilsson, Dr. Pedro Haro and Dr. Ángel L. Villanueva Perales, the Bioenergy Group at the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Seville.

 

 

The Bioenergy Group operates their own lab and pilot scale facilities and has tested several different types of feedstocks in fluidised bed gasfication. Since Renewtec AB promotes bioSNG from MSW the experiences and results obtained at the University of Seville are of great interest.

Renewtec visits SOGAMA

The 8th of October Jörgen Held visited Sociedade Galega do Medio Ambiente (SOGAMA) which is in charge of the waste management in 297 out of the 315 municipalities in Galicia. All the waste is processed in the plant in Cerceda outside La Coruña, Spain.

SDC12500In the picture the general director of SOGAMA Isidro García Téllez is in discussion with Jörgen Held, CEO of Renewtec AB.

 

 

 

 

During 2012 20,700 tonnes of plastic waste and 810,375 tonnes of household waste were treated at the plant in Cerceda. After sorting and recovery of iron and alumnia approx. 25% of the waste went to a landfill and the rest was combusted in a circulating fluidised bed boiler. The heat is used to produce the steam needed to run the 50 MWel steam turbine.

The landfill is equipped with gas extraction and the landfill gas is used for efficient electricity production through gas engines.

Renewtec and BioMil in collaboration on small scale bioSNG production

BioMil and Renewtec will conduct 4 case studies regarding small scale production of biomethane through gasification and methanation of wood chips. Two plant sizes, with and with out district heating integration, will be investigated.

The project has attracted a strong interest and the following companies/organisations co-finance the project.

  • Region Skåne
  • Region Halland
  • AGA Gas AB
  • agnion Highterm Research GmbH
  • BioMil AB
  • DGC
  • E.ON Gasification Development AB
  • Gas & Värmeteknik AB
  • Kemiteknik, Lunds universitet
  • NSR AB
  • Purac Puregas AB
  • Renewable Energy Technology International AB

The project builds on a previous study conducted by Renewtec where technology and specific investment cost for small scale bioSNG production were treated.

Next step will be to investigate other feedstocks than wood chips. Especially different types of waste are of interest and we are open for discussions with stakeholders interested in joining such a project.

Please contact Jörgen Held, jorgen.held@renewtec.se, +46 (0)723-182582 for more information.

REGATEC 2014 in good progress

We are happy to announce that REGATEC 2014 is in good progress. Already at this early stage several high profile speakers from Asia, America and Europe have confirmed their participation.

The speaker list is available at www.regatec.org/speakers

REGATEC 2014 has a technical and industrial focus and is directed towards microbial and thermo-chemical conversion of biomass and waste to biomethane. Don’t forget to mark 22-23 May 2014 in your calendar.

 

Renewtec in a new assignment by Nawaro AG

Renewtec who in an earlier assignment by Nawaro AG investigated different possibilities for export of German upgraded biogas to Sweden has been engaged to bring together Swedish distributors of upgraded biogas and filling station operators with Nawaro AG.

Nawaro AG operates the gigantic biogas plant in Güstrow, south of Rostock. The plant produces 460 GWh/year of biogas that currently is injected into the German natural gas grid. 460 GWh/year is approx. equivalent to half of the total biogas consumption within the Swedish transportation sector.

Gasification of Shredder Light Fraction

Renewtec has made an inventory of techniques related to gasification of  Shredder Light Fraction (SLF) to a client who wants to remain confidential.

According to Swedish legislation shredder products containing more than 10% of organic carbon is not allowed to be deposited, it should be recovered (material or energy). End-of-Life products such as cars undergo a shredding process which result in shreeder light fraction containing plastic parts, textile, rubber etcetera.

SLF contains metalls, including heavy metals, but also substances that normally aren’t associated with gasification feedstock, such as bromine originating from flame retardants. SLF has normally a high content of ash and chlorine resulting in an increased risk for agglomeration, sintering, fouling, build up of depositions and corrosion.

REGATEC 2014 brings technology and industry together

International Conference on Renewable Energy Gas Technology, REGATEC 2014, takes place 22-23 May 2014 in Malmö, Sweden.

REGATEC has a technical and industrial focus and is directed towards thermo-chemical and microbial conversion of biomass and waste to biomethane.

In addition to plenary and parallel sessions with presentation, there will be a poster session and an exhibition. 250 participants and up to 40 exhibitors are expected.

REGATEC is organized by prof. Frank Scholwin, Institute for Biogas, Waste Management & Energy and dr. Jörgen Held, Renewable Energy Technology International AB.

Market possibilities for German CBG/LBG in Sweden

In Germany CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) costs approx. 1 euro/kg (which is about half of the cost in Sweden) and there are no instruments targeted for the use of biomethane in the transportation sector. However, there are instruments (feed-in tariffs) that promote the use of biogas for production of renewable electricity. Approx. 30 % of the energy content in the biogas becomes electricity when used for electricity production while 100 % of the biogas is utilized when it replaces fossil fuels in the transportation sector. The above indicates that there are market possibilities in Sweden for upgraded German biogas.

In a study ordered by Nawaro AG the costs and conditions for different types of biogas distribution were investigated by Renewtec and several distributors of biomethane and operators of filling stations as well as one trading company were contacted for further discussions.

Small scale bioSNG production – a new study by Renewtec

In a study financed by the Swedish Energy Agency and the industrial gasification group at the Swedish Gas Technology Centre (SGC) Renewtec has reviewed promising gasification techniques for small and medium scale (5-30 MWth) biomethane production.

Small plants are normally associated with a high specific investment cost but by changing to a gasification and gas cleaning technique adopted for smaller plants this problem may be circumvented.

Even if small plants often are associated with a somewhat lower conversion efficiency there are several advantages to build plants in the smaller scale. The economic risk is lower, it’s easier to secure the feedstock supply and to integrate excess process heat with the local heat demand.

On the gas cleaning side techniques related to catalytic tar reforming are under development which implies that the rather costly tar separation based on wet scrubbing techniques can be avoided. When it comes to carbon dioxide separation the thermo-chemical biomethane route based on gasifcation and methanation profits from the development within the anaerobic digestion sector.

The report can be downloaded through the following link Small and medium scale technologies for bio-SNG production

In the report the specific investment cost is investigated.

For a better world