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IGRC2014 set a new record

International Gas Union Research Conference (IGRC) takes place every third year. This year the conference was arranged in Copenhagen and a new participant record was set. In total 750 people from 45 countries participated which is a remarkable increase compared to IGRC2011 in Seoul where 500 people from 39 countries participated.

The Swedish participation is still very limited. In Seoul I was the only Swedish speaker, in fact I was the only Swedish delegate. In Copenhagen there were, despite the favourable location, at most a handful of Swedes.

A distinct change from IGRC2011 to IGRC2014 is that the interest in renewable energy has increased significantly. The session on “Biogas as part of the Renewable Future” as the undersigned had the privilege to lead was placed in the largest room and attracted the greatest interest.

Power-to-gas was mentioned on many occasions and it is clear that there is a great deal of international interest, not at least from Denmark, in this opportunity to produce large amounts of methane, mainly from wind power, which then can be stored in the gas grid.

SDC12919The Audi G-tron was displayed outside the entrance to IGRC2014. A few CNG cars from Volkswagen and a filling station from Gazprom Germania were also at display.

 

 

 

A great tribute to DGC who hosted this well-organized and successful event.

Jörgen Held

 

Technical writing about GoBiGas

Renewtec AB has just finished the engagement by the Paul Scherrer Institutet in Switzerland regarding the contribution, together with other research institutes, to a book on Synthetic Natural Gas for Wiley and Sons, New York. Renewtec AB has been responsible for the chapter related to GoBiGas I.

Gothenburg Biomass Gasification, GoBiGas, is the world´s first industrial scale bioSNG facility. In the first stage a 32 MWth plant has been erected in Gothenburg. The gasification technology is based on indirect gasification licensed by Repotec and supplied by Metso Power. The technology allows the production of a nitrogen free syngas suitable for methanation without the need for an Air Separation Unit (ASU). Much of the gasification development has taken place at the Technical University of Vienna under the direction of Prof. Hermann Hofbauer and the gasifier type is often referred to as the Hofbauer gasifier.

The methantion is based on the TREMP-technology provided by Haldor Topsoe. Haldor Topsoe has also been the supplier of the syngas cleaning.

More information can be found on the GoBiGas website.

NBC 2014 – a successful conference in the shadow of Bardarbunga

The fifth edition of Nordic Biogas Conference took place 27-29 August in Reykjavik on Iceland. An additional thrill was the vulcanic activity and the Bardarbunga eruption.

170 participants from 15 countries and 24 exhibitors including REGATEC took part of an exciting program opened by the minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson.

Renewtec gave a plenary speech on The methane platform.

 

New Renewtec report on “Small scale gasification” (in Swedish)

BioMil and Renewtec have together conducted the project “Small scale gasification” (in Swedish). Within the framework of the project the biomethane production cost based on gasification and methanation of woody biomass has been calculated for two plants with a capacity of 5.6 MWth and 33 MWth and with and without district heating integration.

The study shows a production cost in the range of 6.40-12.20 SEK/Nm3 biomethane (approx. 70-130 eurocent) depending on the investment support of the Swedish Energy Agency, choice of interest rate, fuel cost and if the excess heat can be utilized or not. Additional cost reduction is possible if the separated carbon dioxide can be used, e.g. as carbon dioxide enrichment in greenhouses.

The project has been financed by  Region Skåne, Region Halland, AB Gas & Värmeteknik, AGA Gas AB, BioMil AB, DGC, E.ON Gasification Development AB, Highterm Research AB, Lunds Universitet, NSR AB, O2 Bio AB, Purac Puregas AB och Renewtec AB.

Renewtec report 002:2014

 

REGATEC 2014 a success

With some last minute on-site registrations 160 registered participants from 25 countries took part in the 1st International Conference on Renewable Energy Gas Technology, REGATEC 2014.

27 speakers, including 4 plenary speeches, 24 poster presentations and 30 exhibitors make REGATEC 2014 to the largest gasification and biogas conference in Sweden during 2014.

The evaluation gave REGATEC 2014 a high mark (~excellent) but there is still room for improvements regarding the exhibition and the poster session that we will address at the next REGATEC taking place 7-8 May 2015 in Barcelona.

A big thanks to our gold sponsors, NAWARO Bioenergy Park Güstrow, China National Environmental Protection Corporation, Cortus Energy AB and MicrobEnergy GmbH, our silver sponsors, Gasum Oy, Kraftringen AB and Landwärme GmbH as well as all exhibitors, speakers, poster presenters and participants.

REGATEC 2014 conference proceedings
Send an e-mail to Dr. Jörgen Held with your contact details to obtain a free copy of the ISBN numbered conference proceedings in electronic format (18 MB).

By requesting a free copy you agree to be added to the REGATEC Newsletter distribution list.

Renewtec visits GoBiGas

On the 13th of May Renewtec AB visited GoBiGas I, the world’s first industrial scale bioSNG plant, in Gothenburg.

GoBiGas I has a capacity of 32 MWth and is expected to produce 20 MW bioSNG. The gasification technology, based on indirect gasification has been licensed by Repotec and delivered by Metso. Jacobs Process BV is responsible for the gas cleaning and methanation with Haldor Topsoe as technology provider.

Indirect gasification is based on two fluidised beds connected to each other through loop seals. In this case a bubbling fluidised bed (gasifier) and a circulating fluidised bed (combustion reactor). Hot bed material is circulated from the combustion reactor to the gasifier where the biofuel (initially pellets) is gasified with steam as oxidizing agent. The char, together with bed material, is circulated back to the combustion reactor where the char is combusted in order to generate sufficient process heat.

GoBiGas

On the picture Ingemar Gunnarsson (to the left) and Lars Andersson (to the right) from Gothenburg Energy are seen in the heart of the GoBiGas plant. Jörgen Held, Renewtec AB was given a full afternoon briefing on the technology and both minor and major issues was discussed with the competent and engaged GoBiGas staff.

 

The raw syngas from the gasifier is cooled in the syngas cooler and then filtered. In the next step the tars are separated through an RME scrubber. Unsaturated hydrocarbons, being a precursor to carbon deposition in the downstream catalytic processes, are saturated through hydrogenation. Sulphur is removed together with approx. 50% of the carbon dioxide content in an amine scrubber. A ZnO bed reduces the sulphur content to 0.1 ppm to protect the sulphur sensitive nickel based metahantion catalysts. After the methanation which takes place in four steps the gas is dried by zeolites and the bioSNG is delivered at a pressure of 5 bar.

Renewtec AB has been engaged by the Paul Scherrer Institutet in Switzerland to contribute, together with other research institutes, to a book on Synthetic Natural Gas for Wiley and Sons, New York. Renewtec AB is responsible for the chapter related to GoBiGas I.

Renewtec engaged by a Chinese delegation

Renewtec has been engaged by a Chinese delegation from Tianjin University and China National Environmental Protection Corporation (CNEPC) to arrange a study tour to waste and animal body incineration plants in Sweden.

The state-owned CNEPC is China’s biggest waste management company. In their facilities more than 31,000 tons of waste are converted to electricity and biogas every day.

The delegation includes the vice director, the chief technical officer and a program manager from CNEPC and the dean of School of Environmental Science & Engineering and a professor from Tianjin University.

CNEPC has also signed up for the gold sponsor package at REGATEC 2014.

REGATEC 2014 in good progress

1st International Conference on Renewable Energy Gas Technology, REGATEC 2014 takes place 22-23 May at Scandic Triangeln, Malmö, Sweden.

REGATEC 2014 is directed towards thermo-chemical and biological conversion of biomass and waste to biomethane. Gasification, syngas cleaning, methanation, anaerobic digestion and upgrading are in focus.

The speaker list includes leading biogas and gasification experts from China, India and Europe including representatives from the European Commission, IEA Bioenergy and the European Biogas Association.

Results and experiences from unique first-of-a-kind biomethane plants such as GoBiGas (world’s first bioSNG plant in industrial scale) and Bioenergy Park Güstrow (world’s largest biogas and upgrading facility using energy crops as feedstock) will be presented by prominent industrial representatives.

Leading universities, research institutes and companies take part in the poster session. Due to the large amount of high quality submission the poster session has been enlarged to accomodate 24 presentations.

Following companies/organisations exhibit at REGATEC 2014
Anaerobic Digestion & Biogas Association UK
Andritz Separation
AnoxKaldnes
BIOGASSYS
BioMil AB
Bioprocess Control AB
Cortus Energy AB
ebs energy & bio solutions AB
ERT Refrigeration Technology GmbH
FARMATIC Anlagenbau GmbH
Greenlane Biogas
Indutec i Veddinge AB
Kemira Kemi AB
NAWARO Bioenergy Park ”Güstrow” GmbH
NBC 2014
Paques bv
Purac Puregas AB
Siemens
Stirling Cryogenics BV
UIT GmbH
Venice 2014
Viessmann
VTT

Following companies have signed up as sponsors of REGATEC 2014
Cortus Energy AB (Gold Sponsor)
MicrobEnergy GmbH (Gold Sponsor)
NAWARO Bioenergy Park ”Güstrow” GmbH (Gold Sponsor)
Gasum Oy (Silver Sponsor)
Kraftringen (Silver Sponsor)
Landvärme GmbH (Silver Sponsor)

250+ participants are expected, making REGATEC 2014 to the largest gasification and biogas conference in Sweden. The deadline for registration is on the 30th of April.