Wood-chips gasifier combined heat and power

During the recent decade Babcock & Wilcox Volund has devoted considerable efforts into developing a biomass updraft gasification Combined Heat and Power (CHP) technology for industrial application. Today, the Company can competitively offer plants for a fuel input up to about 20 MWTH with power efficiencies in excess of 30% and simultaneous delivery of hot water for district heating. A significant part of the work has been related to the conditioning of the gasifier product gas for use in gas engines and a reliable solution based on gas cooling, wet electrostatic precipitation and a novel technology for cleaning the resulting tar contaminated water has been demonstrated. Further, the technology has been automated to a level comparable with more old fashioned technologies for biomass based power generation and the overall environmental performance is significantly improved compared to these steam generation based approaches. Apart from a minor problem - which is not fully verified for prolonged periods - the Babcock & Wilcox Volund technology must now be considered a fully State of the Art - highly competitive - alternative to older technologies. Presently the Company is in the process of developing other uses for the technology than CHP application and also for use in connection with other kinds of waste materials.