February 16, 2025

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Better biomass burning helps reach … – Information Centre – Research & Innovation

Amid an urgent have to have to minimize carbon emissions to beat weather modify, EU-funded researchers have formulated a new era of really economical electric power vegetation for creating heat and electrical energy from biomass.


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© Gerhard Seybert #134574292, source:stock.adobe.com 2020

Heating and cooling are accountable for nearly fifty percent of the EU’s overall strength use. In the struggle to cut down carbon emissions, it is critical that renewable resources of strength turn into a lot more economical and a lot more extensively used.

Symbolizing over ninety % of all renewable heat produced in 2014, biomass could enjoy a essential role. Strengthening the technological know-how used in biomass-fuelled blended heat and electric power (CHP) vegetation, which crank out electrical energy and seize the usable heat that is produced, has considerable probable for assisting to meet sustainable strength targets.

The EU-funded BIOFFICIENCY challenge established out to determine and tackle difficulties that at present restrict the productiveness of CHP vegetation.

The intense, a few-yr challenge concluded in Oct 2019, having succeeded in escalating CHP plant effectiveness and, as a end result, minimizing emissions (carbon dioxide, particulate issue, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide). The exploration group has also developed a blueprint for upcoming biomass-fuelled CHP vegetation.

‘We aimed to establish a holistic basis for the next era of significant-scale biomass CHP vegetation, utilising their huge probable for charge-competitive strength and heat era in environmentally pleasant disorders,’ suggests challenge coordinator Sebastian Fendt of the Specialized University of Munich in Germany.

‘Not only could the change toward renewable strength solutions like biomass make over fifty percent a million new work opportunities throughout the EU, but it would also lower the amount of emissions by changing coal-dependent strength era.’

Ash-connected challenges

When it will come to burning biomass, ash-connected difficulties are 1 of the major bottlenecks. For example, some forms of biomass make ash that corrodes the electric power plant’s interior surfaces at substantial temperatures. This probably prospects to injury and hence boosts routine maintenance charges. It also limitations the temperature of steam, which in transform cuts down the total effectiveness of the combustion procedure.

One of BIOFFICIENCY’s important investigations examined a range of heat-exchanger products within modern day electric power vegetation to obtain individuals most resistant to corrosion. Researchers recognized ways of bettering CHP vegetation by way of the selection of diverse heat-exchanger products and by working with new cleansing routines.

The group used examination services throughout Europe to establish a design of how fly ash is formed all through biomass combustion.

By evaluating present gasoline pretreatment strategies, the challenge observed that it was probable to noticeably cut down emissions and provide enhancements in the fuel’s bodily and chemical qualities. Optimising additives and introducing novel pretreatment strategies – these as steam explosion, hydrothermal carbonisation, and torrefaction – has lowered the creation of harmful emissions and authorized CHP vegetation to use a broader array of biomass feedstock.

Moreover, a significant-scale experiment examined out advanced sensor methods created to automatically blend fuels and include additives.

Biomass breakthroughs

In the long run, the project’s blended results have currently been used by several associates. For example, Mitsubishi Hitachi Ability Methods created a new three hundred thermal megawatt (MWth) biomass-fuelled CHP plant that reaches the specifications and targets demanded by the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive II.

Task companion Valmet not too long ago sold their pre-hydrolysis reactor – the world’s to start with ongoing steam explosion pretreatment plant for challenging biomasses. Other results by BIOFFICIENCY had been used to boost Valmet’s Superheater KCl Corrosion management process for controlling corrosion induced by alkali chlorides.

The researchers also formulated tips for working with the by-solutions to make the procedure even a lot more sustainable. ‘We examined diverse ways of working with ash that effects from the combustion procedure rather of dealing with it as a squander solution,’ points out Fendt. ‘Using it in development products, like geopolymers or calcium-silicate blocks, has proved to be 1 incredibly promising application.’

ENGIE, an additional challenge companion, has observed ways of working with ash to make development products these as geopolymers and calcium-silicate blocks. The business is at present wanting into how it can convey these promising apps to sector.