INDUSTRY NEWS


INDUSTRY NEWS Biomass loading facility at Hull S


pecialist engineering business Spencer Group has constructed a facility to support a major green energy investment at the Port of Hull. The Group, which is based in the city, has erected a silo tower and associated infrastructure at the port as part of a multi-million pound contract to create a facility to load sustainable biomass on to rail wagons for transportation to Drax Power Station near Selby. The power company’s first biomass-converted generating unit began operating in April. A second will follow next year and a third by 2016, depending on securing contracts for sufficient biomass supplies. Each will burn


approximately 2.3 million tonnes of sustainable biomass a year. The silo is part of a system that will handle a million tonnes of biomass a year imported from the United States and Canada by sea to the Port of Hull in the form of


wood pellets created from forestry residues. After unloading at the port, the biomass will be stored in warehouses before being delivered by truck to the new facility and unloaded into feeders, which take it to the 250 metre long conveyor.


The silo will be filled by 60 truckloads of biomass over a three-hour period, twice a day, loading at the rate of 600 tonnes an hour. It has a capacity of 3,000 cubic metres and will be capable of storing up to 1,800 tonnes of wood pellets for discharge into rail wagons as they pass through the base of the structure. A state-of- the-art system will fill the wagons with biomass without them having to stop on the way through. Sophisticated technology will ensure an accurate and even load, without spillage, as the wagons pass through at crawling speed. The system is capable of loading up to 30 rail wagons with 1,500 tonnes of material in just 45 minutes.


Saxlund expands engineering team


A new Junior Engineer has been appointed by Saxlund International, a major player in the bulk solids handling and storage industry, to join its team of technology experts in the drive to develop UK and overseas markets.


Operating globally, Saxlund has extensive experience in the design, manufacture and installa- tion of high quality equipment of first class specification, construc- tion and performance. It is part of


the Opcon group and operates in global markets from offices in the UK, Sweden and Germany, and has around 150 employees. Colin Macalpine joins the engi- neering team at the Southampton- based business and will be respon- sible for the design of products for the bulk materials handling and biomass industries.


He commented: “This is a very exciting opportunity for me; joining a company that is one of the major


players in its field on an international level. My previous experience has certainly put me in good stead for the challenges ahead and I look forward to contributing to the grow- ing success of the business alongside my own personal development and working on large scale projects across all our specialist sectors”.


CHP plant to utilise forest residues


A complete biomass-fired power plant for combined heat and power (CHP) production in Oskarshamn, Sweden, will be supplied by Valmet Corporation (previously Metso). The town’s power company with 30 employees is owned equally by Oskarshamn Municipality and E.ON Sweden AB. It is responsible for distribution of electricity in most parts of the municipality and for district heating distribution in the urban area.


“There is great interest in district heating and our customer base


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since 2007 has grown far beyond our expectations. This has meant that production has increased by 50% and that is one of the reasons that we now invest in a new power plant. When the plant is commis- sioned, almost 99% of district heat- ing at Oskarshamn will be produced with renewable bio-fuels,” said Jöns Wahlström, Managing Director, Oskarshamn Energi.


Valmet’s delivery will include a complete power plant, including patented BioGrate combustion technology, installation, training and


commissioning. The plant will have a thermal output of 17.2 MWth for district heating to the municipality of Oskarshamn, a process steam out- put of 4 MWth to local industry and an electrical output of 3.8 MWe. The plant automation will be based on Valmet DNA technology and the company will also supply a flue gas condenser and a ventilation system.


The start-up of the plant is sched- uled for Winter, 2015, and it will utilise local forest residues such as bark and wood chips as fuel.


Denmark’s second energy revolution


As part of its recent energy strategy, the Danish government has spelled out its aim of being the first fossil fuel- free country by 2050.


As a result, in the more than 35 years between now and then, Denmark will undergo a second energy revolution (the first followed the oil crisis in the 1970s), in which bioenergy will play a fundamental role. Biomass will be the key energy component in all sectors. For example, the installation of fuel boilers will be prohibited from 2016 and the roughly six million tons of coal, which the Danish electricity sector uses every year, are being replaced by biomass.


Denmark is Europe’s largest importer of biomass pellets, reaching a figure of almost two million tons in 2012, and a number of studies have been carried out on how to double the country’s biomass potential by 2020 without affecting other sectors or the environment.


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