Supplier news

RDF from Vecoplan system helps Enerkem reach commercial-scale production

Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from an alternative fuel feedstock preparation system designed, engineered and built by Vecoplan LLC was used in the first production of methanol at commercial scale at Enerkem Alberta Biofuels, in Edmonton, Alberta, in September 2015.

Vecoplan, based in Archdale, North Carolina, commissioned the multimillion dollar, state-of-the art alternative fuel feedstock preparation system for the city of Edmonton in May 2013. It is considered an integral component of Enerkem Alberta Biofuels, one of the world’s first industrial-scale municipal waste-to-biofuels facilities.

Vecoplan, under contract by the city of Edmonton, was responsible for construction of the facility, which supplies feedstock to the adjacent Enerkem facility for conversion into biofuels and renewable chemicals.

“Vecoplan is honored and proud to be selected and included in such an important project in the field of waste-to-energy,” says Greg Parent, Canadian sales, Vecoplan LLC. “We truly feel that Enerkem is breaking new and important ground in the management of MSW and the creation of renewable fuels. We do not underestimate the trust that has been placed in Vecoplan as we understand the importance of having our equipment meet both the production rate and RDF quality required to ensure Enerkem is successful in implementing and commercializing their technology.”

The Vecoplan feedstock preparation system, located within the Edmonton Waste Management Centre (EWMC), incorporates advanced receiving, preshredding, conveying, screening, separating and reshredding. The system is designed to produce 100,000 dry metric tons of RDF per year. The feedstock consists of waste that cannot be recycled or composted and has traditionally been sent to a landfill.

Materials are received on the tipping floor of the feedstock preparation facility, which includes a load enclosure and steel belt conveyor. A Hurricane VVZ310 T dual-shaft shredder performs a preshred of the materials. Waste screens filter out minus-1-inch materials. Overbelt magnets remove ferrous metals, while eddy current separators remove nonferrous metals. Wind sifters remove heavy materials such as rocks and glass. The VIC (Vecoplan Integrated Controls) automated control system integrates controls for the entire RDF processing plant.

The RDF, described as “garbage fluff” by Enerkem, is transported from the EWMC to the Enerkem facility via a Vecobelt air-ride conveyor and is stored in Vecoplan bunkers with built-in, load-unload conveyors. The RDF is meter-fed into Enerkem’s conversion process via Vecoplan screw conveyors.

Enerkem has a 25-year agreement with the city of Edmonton for the feedstock produced at the preparation facility and Parent says Vecoplan plans to continue to support its integral role ensuring successful RDF production for the conversion process.

“Vecoplan views both the city of Edmonton and Enerkem as partners, and we’re committed to supporting the facility long term,” says Parent. “We are in constant communication to ensure that the RDF being supplied optimizes Enerkem’s process and to help with any adjustments that are required. We look forward to continuing to work with the city of Edmonton and Enerkem as their needs evolve.”

Pratt Industries opens new MRF in Georgia

Conyers, Georgia-based Pratt Industries celebrated the opening of its new material recovery facility (MRF) in Conyers, Sept. 17, 2015. The system was engineered to recover mixed fiber, though it has the flexibility to process single-stream and commercial and industrial material, as well as commercial old corrugated containers (OCC).

According to Plessissville, Quebec-based Machinex, the equipment supplier, the system offers the flexibility to route the input stream differently based on operator preferences.

Originally designed to process material at 25 to 30 tons per hour (tph), the versatile system has since been tested at more than 32 tph, Machinex says. The system also can recover certain nonrecyclable materials for use in Pratt’s waste-to-energy gasification plant, which is also located on the same campus.

The advanced facility includes a shredder, a heavy-light separator, three ferrous magnets, two nonferrous separators, a drum feeder, a back-scraping drum and a truck loading station. The system also is equipped with Machinex’s latest technologies, including a MACH Ballistic Separator and three MACH Hyspec optical units to sort polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), fiber and aseptic packaging.

“When Pratt approached us with this project in 2013, we were very thankful to be one of the suppliers considered,” says Rusty Angel, sales manager at Machinex. “Due to the various streams they planned to run, the typical single-stream design would simply not fit the bill. So, over the following year, we worked with them very closely to provide them with all the flexibility they needed. The result is an extremely flexible system that gives them the recovery they require with a focus on a quality mixed paper that they can feed directly to their mill next door.”

Kurt Schmitz with Pratt Industries adds, “This project has been a long time in development, and we are excited about how the system is performing and achieving our goals. The system will enable us to process a variety of streams, producing paper for our on-site mill and fuel for our clean energy plant, which is also on-site. This facility is a key component in expanding our eco-campus capabilities.”

DCT introduces mobile odor control system

Dust Control Technology (DCT), Peoria, Illinois, has launched a new heated model in its lineup of mobile equipment engineered to manage outdoor odor vapor from landfills, waste treatment facilities, paper mills, food processing plants and other operations. The OdorBoss 60G with Heat combines an enclosure with insulation, heat tracing and internal heat generation to protect equipment and components during operation and storage in freezing conditions.

The unit uses a mixture of water and odor treatment agents to distribute a specially engineered mist over great distances using a powerful fan that propels the treatment into the air where it can attach to odor vapor. The result is a dramatic reduction in both short- and long-range odor without equipment clogging or downtime from frozen lines, the company says.

DCT says customers asked for an outdoor odor control system that could withstand freezing temperatures and be used on a daily basis.

The OB-60G with Heat has been engineered to deliver a fine mist that is suited to optimum odor control, the company says. Based on principles of matching the droplet size to the size of the targeted vapor, the system uses a special nucleator nozzle and a 10-horsepower air compressor to create an engineered fog comprising millions of tiny droplets as small as 15 microns in diameter. The droplets hang suspended in the air for long periods of time as they counteract odor-causing molecules, DCT says.

“The challenge was how to keep the whole system, from tank to nozzle, producing the same results in the winter as at any other time of the year,” says DCT President Laura Stiverson. “Each liquid-bearing component is insulated, heat traced or both, to ensure that there is no disruption in operation during cold weather.”

Powered by a 480-volt power source, the open-ended barrel design contains a 25-horsepower fan that generates 30,000 cubic feet per minute of airflow on one end, which propels the fog created by the Odor X Atomizer nozzle located at the other end. The device is mounted on a towable roadworthy trailer that is also fitted with a 500-gallon water tank housed in an insulated metal enclosure. The unit can run for as long as 16 hours on a single tank filling under normal operating conditions. During operation, a 100-watt thermostatically controlled heater keeps the tank and equipment within the enclosure well above freezing, while the atomizing nozzle, regulator and other exterior components are warmed by separate heating elements.

Florida, North Dakota projects select ElectraTherm

ElectraTherm, a distributed waste heat to power generation technology company based in Reno, Nevada, has partnered with a major oil and gas company to commission a Power+ Generator at a North Dakota oil well. The company also has partnered with Air Burners of Palm City, Florida, to develop the first whole-log wood waste burner utilizing ElectraTherm’s Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) power generating technology.

In North Dakota, ElectraTherm’s Power+ is capturing natural gas that would otherwise be flared to generate electricity. In collaboration with distributor Gulf Coast Green Energy, Bay City, Texas, the project demonstrates an effective means of flare reduction and changes the landscape for industries where flaring was previously believed to be the only solution, ElectraTherm says. Power+ Generators use waste heat for applications such as internal combustion engines, biomass and geothermal/co-produced fluids.

In Jacksonville, Florida, ElectraTherm’s ORC power generating technology is used with Air Burners’ PGFireBox to eliminate large amounts of wood waste without preprocessing. The system converts woody biomass to fossil-fuel-free electricity while reducing the methane that would have been produced by decomposition.

California waste authority taps BHS for multiline MRF

The Monterey Regional Waste Management District (MRWMD), Marina, California, has chosen Eugene, Oregon-based Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) to design, manufacture and install its new materials recovery facility (MRF). The multiline system, scheduled to open in September 2016, is expected to process more than 30 tons-per-hour (tph) of single-stream recyclables, 40 tph of mixed waste and 40 tph of construction and demolition (C&D) materials.

“This MRF improvement project will position the District and its member agencies to achieve new levels of success in support of the District’s ‘turning waste into a resource’ mission,” says district general manager Tim Flanagan.

The system features two infeeds: one for C&D materials and one for either single stream or mixed waste. A BHS bag breaker, Debris Roll screens and Nihot Single Drum separators are designed to provide the flexibility to process both material types in the mixed materials line. Also featured are polishing screens and NRT optical sorters, including a NRT FiberPure system, designed to maximize the recovery and purity of fiber and containers. The system will recover traditional commodities, plus organics, glass, wood and aggregates.

Loci Controls closes on Series A funding

Loci Controls, Somerville, Massachusetts, which has developed a line of smart wellheads to extract methane from landfills, recently closed a round of Series A funding.

The funding was led by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and includes investments from the Common Angels Venture Fund, Launch Capital and other Boston-area financiers.

Tibor Toth, MassCEC’s managing director of investments says, “Loci Controls’ cutting-edge technology provides the dual advantage of preventing the release of harmful greenhouse gases, while creating clean energy at the same time. MassCEC is proud to partner with Loci Controls on this exciting effort.”

This is the second round of funding raised by Loci Controls. The initial seed round closed in March 2014.

The seed stage funding, led by Common Angels Venture Fund, allowed Loci to develop prototypes of its product, reinforce its value proposition and begin commercialization of services.

This latest round of capital will allow Loci to further the commercialization of the company’s line of WellWatcher products for automating and optimizing the harvesting of methane from landfills.

Methane gas is generated as the organic waste in a landfill decomposes, and the gas is collected with a vacuum extraction system. The collected gas can then be processed and used as compressed natural gas, a gasoline alternative, fuel sold directly to an end user, or most commonly, fuel to generate electricity, which can be used on-site or sold to the grid.

Loci Controls develops control hardware and software to monitor the gas characteristics and optimize the performance of the gas extraction system, resulting in an increase in energy-related revenues and a decrease in emissions.

UK AD plant from Biogen uses Landia mixers

Mixers and pumps made by Landia, a Denmark-based company specializing in pumps and mixers for the biogas industry, with U.S. offices in Cary, North Carolina, are playing a role in the success of the Bygrave Lodge AD plant in Hertfordshire, U.K., designed and run by Biogen.

Processing 45,000 metric tons of food waste each year, Bygrave Lodge uses four Landia mixers.

A stainless steel 4-kilowatt (kw) DGR submersible chopper pump is utilized in the acidic environment of the food waste reception sump, while two 18.5-kw POPTR-I side-entry Landia mixers are employed in the primary digester to maintain a homogenous mix. There is also a 7.5-kw Landia MPTK chopper pump, which is used for discharging the AD plant’s pasteurizer.

Keith Knight, design manager at Biogen, says, “The mixers are living up to the Landia reputation for top quality, efficiency and reliability. This is a process that can’t be handled with standard equipment, especially with the acidity in food waste, but we are confident of the longevity with Landia’s equipment.”

Producing 2 megawatts, generating renewable electricity for up to 4,500 homes, the Bygrave Lodge AD plant also produces a nutrient-rich fertilizer.

Zero Waste Energy and Blue Line Transfer honored for innovation

Zero Waste Energy (ZWE), Lafayette, California, and Blue Line Transfer Inc., South San Francisco, California, were named the recipient of the National Waste & Recycling Association’s (NWRA’s) 2015 Recycling Equipment Innovator of the Year for the Blue Line Biogenic CNG Facility at the Waste360 Recycling Summit in Chicago. The award recognizes equipment designers and manufacturers that successfully challenge and advance recycling sector operations through innovation in design and manufacturing that increases effectiveness or efficiency.

According to the companies, the Blue Line Biogenic CNG facility is the country’s first dry anaerobic digestion (AD) facility that converts biomethane into compressed natural gas (CNG) to fuel organics collection vehicles. This unique closed-loop system transforms 11,200 tons of food and green waste per year into biogenic compressed natural gas (CNG), produces heat to run the operations and provides high-quality compost. The facility can produce up to 120,000 diesel gallon equivalent (DGE) per year of carbon negative biogenic CNG—enough to fuel up to 18 of Blue Line sister company South San Francisco (SSF) Scavenger’s collection vehicles.

Each vehicle collects enough organic waste during just one route to fuel it for an entire day, creating a true closed-loop system and the first project of its kind in the United States. Based on current projections of the amount of fuel the dry AD facility produces for its CNG fleet, SSF Scavenger plans to achieve a 43 percent reduction in emissions from its entire fleet of vehicles.

“This facility pioneers the future of organic waste processing by converting a former waste product into a fuel source for trucks while also producing quality compost. This system presents an ideal environmental model for the future of waste processing, proving that it is economically possible by producing renewable CNG that exceeds anticipated levels,” says Eric Herbert, CEO of ZWE, project developer and technology provider for the facility.