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Renewtec invited to chair at IGRC 2014

International Gas Union’s (IGU) large world gas conference, International Gas Research Conference, IGRC takes place every third year.

This year IGRC 2014 takes place 17-19 September in Copenhagen hosted by the Danish Gas Technology Centre. Renewtec has been invited to chair the biogas session.

Three years ago Jörgen Held was invited as a speaker at IGRC 2011 in Seoul. At that time he was the only Swedish participant. Hopefully there will more swedes this year now when the world gas conference is arranged in our vicinity.

Two other major conferences taking place this year are REGATEC 2014 and NBC 2014.

1st International Conference on Renewable Energy Gas Technology, REGATEC 2014 is the largest gasification and biogas conference in Sweden with 40+ speakers and poster presenters from more than 16 countries. REGATEC 2014 takes place 22-23 May in Malmö.

5th Nordic Biogas Conference, NBC 2014, is the largest biogas event in the Nordic countries. NBC 2014 takes place 27-29 August in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Renewtec wishes A Happy New Year

On the last day of the year Renewtec would like to take the opportunity to thank all clients, co-financiers and project partners for the good collaboration.

2013 has been an exciting year considering the increasing interest in biogas and gasification of biomass and waste, the result of the “Fossil fuel free transportation sector 2030” investigation and the market development of gaseous and liquid biomethane. Who could guess that issues related to cross border trading of biomethane would be in the focus already this year?

2013 was also the year when GoBiGas started up. Having followed GoBiGas on a close range since 2005 it’s pleasing to note that the brave and forward-looking investment by Gothenburg Energy now is realized.

2014 is prone to be at least as interesting and eventful as 2013. Don’t miss out the opportunity to meet world leading biogas and gasification experts at REGATEC 2014, 22-23 May in Sweden. There the first experieces of the commission and operation of GoBiGas will be presented. A few months later it’s time for the biggest biogas event in the Nordic countries, NBC 2014, 27-29 August in Reykjavik, Iceland. If everything goes as planned a decision to build a demonstration plant for biomethane through gasification and methanation in Scania, the southernmost province in Sweden, may be taken.

Happy New Year,

Jörgen Held
Renewtec AB

Swedish experiences of biomethane as vehicle fuel

On the 10th of December Jörgen Held was invited to present “Challenges and pitfalls faced in the Swedish development of biomethane as transportation fuel” at the Gasum Gas Fund Seminar in Helsinki. Almost 70 people from industry and academia participated.

The seminar was opened by the CEO of Gasum, Antero Jännes, who spoke about the plans to connect Finland and the Baltic states through a pipeline and the erection of a large LNG terminal. Among the other speakers one may mention prof. Peter Lund, Aalto University  who gave an exciting presentation on how the energy system has changed over time ” World Energy Transitions” and prof. Christian Breyer, LUT who presented a 100% renewable energy system based on solar energy in combination with renewable methane.

Visit at Güstrow biogas plant + new assignment

Renewtec visited Bioenergy Park “Güstrow”, the world’s largest biogas plant based on energy crops, on the 23rd of September. The plant produces 460 GWh upgraded biogas per year. At present the upgraded biogas is injected in to the German natural gas grid.

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Dr. Jochen Tilger, CEO Bioenergy Park “Güstrow” GmbH to the left and Dr. Jörgen Held in front of a truck delivering substrate to the plant. In the background the absorption and desorption columns of the upgrading plant (water scrubber) are visible.

 

 

The visit resulted in a new assignment where Renewtec will map LNG and LBG operators and activities in Sweden.

Bioenergy Park “Güstrow” GmbH has signed up as a gold sponsor of REGATEC 2014 and experiences from operating an industrial scale biogas plant will be presented at the conference.

Visit at PSI and agnion

Jörgen Held, Renewtec AB visited Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland and agnion’s pilot plant in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm in Germany on the 29th and 30th of October.

PSI has developed a fluidised bed methanation reactor suitable for production of biomethane in the smaller scale (<100 MWth). The reactor has been tested at the gasification plant in Güssing within the European project Bio-SNG where the whole value chain from Wood chips to biomethane as vechile fuel was demonstrated. Commerical partner is CTU.

agnion has developed and commercialised a small scale gasifier suitable for biomethane production. In the pilot plant in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm has catalytic tar reforming been tested.

Renewtec AB, in collaboration with BioMil AB, conducts 4 case studies on small scale biomethane production based on PSI’s and agnion’s technology.

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Research engineer, Marco Senger, agnion (to the right) has just showed the pilot plant to Jörgen Held, Renewtec AB. In the background the catalytic tar reforming can be seen. Tests with automatic addition of active catalyst and removal of deactivated catalyst during operation have been conducted.

 

Renewtec visits Cryostar

On the 28th of October Renewtec visited Cryostar SAS in Hésingue just outside Basel.

SDC12730Jörgen Held, Renewtec together with Bruno Brethes, Executive Director, Business Unit Clean Energy, Cryostar SAS.

 

 

 

 

Cryostar SAS is a supplier of small scale natural gas (and biogas) liquefaction plants. The smallest unit has a capacity of approx. 20 tonnes/day.

The technology relies on the principles of a closed refrigerant cycle (nitrogen) to produce the Cold Power needed to condense the natural gas or biogas.

SDC12724All the machinery is assembled and tested in Hésingue before deliverd to the customer. The tests are performed with air or liquid nitrogen.

 

 

 

Cryostar provides liquefaction plants, truck loading stations and vehicle fuel LNG stations. At the moment 40 stations delivered by Cryostar are in operation. Cryostar has working relation with providers of polishing units which is a need when liquefying upgraded biogas. As a subsidiary of the Linde Group services for distribution of LNG and LBG can be included.

SDC12729Cryostar SAS has one of the largest testing facilities for cryogenic pumps in the world. The icing of the pipes is due to the moisture in the air freezing on to the cold parts.

 

 

 

Since a cryogenic pump requires much less electrical energy than a compressor L(C)NG stations are of great interest. Such stations are able to provide both LNG and CNG. The LNG is pressurized with the pump. When heated through a heat exchanger the high pressure liquid turns into compressed natural gas. The same goes for biogas, of course.

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.