A change in the material used as a bed in biomass operations has been found to make the process far less expensive to run and maintain while improving efficiency, according to Biomass Magazine.
The process is being developed by researchers from energy firm EON and Chalmers University of Technology, which is in Gothenburg, Sweden. The work focused on oxygen-carrying properties of metal oxide and its use as a bed material. It showed the benefits of using the material in circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers.
The story says that the iron-titanium mineral ilmenite — along with other metal oxides — is better than regular sand as a bed material because it has the ability to transport oxygen. This tends to distribute oxygen more evenly in the biomass bed.
The research was conducted from November 2014 to last May in a state-of-the-art combined heat-and-power (CHP) boiler. The research, which is described in detail in the article, has been scaled up to commercial status.
Earlier this month, Sumitomo said that it is constructing a 50 MW biomass facility for Summit Energy on Honshu island, which is in the Yamagata prefecture of Japan.