The utilization of biomass boilers is rapidly gaining prominence
as a viable option in cost and green house gas emission
reduction. To answer these challenges, Anguil Environmental
Systems, Inc. has brought together technologies which allow the
utilization of proven biomass boiler systems with
patented particulate control technology to meet the toughest
emission standards.
How the Pyrolytic Biomass Boiler Works
On a typical biomass application, the fuel source starts in the
form of a wood product which could be anything from sawdust to
bark. The biomass is then transported through one or more
auger mechanisms to the inlet of the Pyrolytic Furnace. At
the base of the Pyrolytic Furnace are air distribution ports under
a ceramic substrate. The air entering the furnace at this
point is insufficient to achieve combustion but adequate to
volatilize or gasify the biomass. This gasification is a
"starved air" phenomena and termed pyrolysis.
The gasification results in a low BTU gas being emitted from the
biomass at a relatively high temperature. As the gasified
biomass rises, combustion is completed with the introduction of
additional oxygen, yielding CO2 and water vapor.
The completely combusted gases then enter a boiler where energy
from the hot gases is transferred to heat water in the boiler,
producing hot water or steam. The totally combusted gases are
now at a reduced temperature and exit the boiler.
Biomass Combustion System Features
The underfire pyrolyzing air gasifies the fuel and the oxidizing
air combusts the resulting gases. To maximize efficient combustion,
solid fuel must remain on the grate during the gasification
process. The Anguil - Biomass Combustion design ensures
that the fuel remains on the grate and combustion is
optimized by:
• Multi-Zone Grate: Requires no adjustment to burn a wide
range of fuels from dry sander dust to green wood chips.
• Controlled Airflow: Minimizes the cooling impact
of air and maximizes temperature at the grate where gasification
occurs.
• Maximizing Residence Time: An air curtain
creates a circular convective cycle to maximize the residence
time in the furnace.
• Low Maintenance Costs: No moving parts in the grate
and removable tiles for periodic service. .
• Easy Ash Removal: Ash at the back of
the furnace where it can easily be raked out via
back and side access doors.
• Conservative Sizing: This ensures rated capacity
without excessive wear.
Particulate Control
With the introduction of the EPA Boiler MACT, particulate
emission control has become essential. The standard solution
has been high temperatures fabric filters, electrostatic
precipitators (ESPs) or redundant cyclones.
However, filters have the risk of being attacked through
glowing ambers, ESPs historically have high operating
costs and multiple cyclones cannot capture the smaller
particulates..
Today, a numerically optimized and patented cyclone is
available through Anguil which eliminates all of these
concerns while achieving higher removal
efficiency.
The Mechanical Recyclone® (MH) uses a
recirculator downstream of the cyclone. The main purpose
of the recirculator is to reintroduce the fine uncaptured particles
into the cyclone after they have been driven to the outer walls of
the recirculator by centrifugal forces.
Since the recirculation system only serves the purpose of dust
concentration, the particles are exclusively collected in the
cyclone and the need for moving parts is thus avoided.
Efficiency increases due to recirculation and agglomeration of very
small particles with larger ones coming directly from the
process. The technology is also very robust
with no temperature limitations or moving
parts.
When required, an electrostatic charge is added to
recirculation device to further reduce particle emissions,
even in the 1.5 micron particle size range. This assures
future regulation compliance, particularly where legal limits are
very tight.
A high voltage is applied to the concentrator, allowing the
recirculation of very fine nanometric particles, more resistant to
centrifugal forces, to the cyclone collector. After having
been separated in the recirculator and concentrated in the
recirculation flow, electrically charged fine particles are
attracted by the cyclone walls, while agglomerating with larger
particles entering the system - both promoting their easier
capture.
Since particles are not captured on the walls of the
recirculator, contrary to ESPs, Recyclones EH are immune to either
low or high dust electrical resistivity and the power required is
only 10 to 15% of that used in ESPs.
Other Features Include:
• Very High Efficiencies
• Robust Construction / Abrasion Resistance
• Low Operating Cost
• Near Zero Maintenance and Downtime Costs
• Normal Materials of Construction in Carbon or Docol
Steel
• Modular Design
The Pollution Control Partnership
Anguil Environmental Systems, Inc., has partnered with Biomass
Combustion Systems, Inc. (BCS) and Advanced Cyclone Systems (ACS)
to supply engineered solutions for converting biomass into usable
energy while meeting the new emission standards. Over
20 years of biomass boiler and furnace development from BCS
integrated with Anguil's 30 plus years of experience supplying air
pollution control technologies will provide industry with a viable,
efficient turnkey solution.
To meet the requirements of the new EPA MACT standard, Anguil
has partnered with Advanced Cyclone Systems (ACS) of Portugal to
supply the numerically optimized and patented Hurricane
recirculation system. This integrated approach assures
that biomass projects maintain an effective, clean energy status
meeting all US standards. Together the companies have the
ability to supply a turnkey package, including mechanical erection,
piping, electrical tie-ins, start-up and support
services.