Biomass power plants: sustainable heat for industrial companies
Industry is responsible for a significant share of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, especially from heat generation. Biomass such as woodchips or wood pellets offer companies a cost-effective way of reducing their carbon footprint as well as their operating costs. KSB supplies all components for the fluid handling processes in biomass power stations from a single source. At the example of their own woodchip heater they demonstrate how this approach can be realised successfully.
Wood is a climate-neutral fuel.
According to estimates by the International Energy Agency (IEA)(opens in a new tab), the energy consumption of industry produces around 24 percent of carbon emissions worldwide. A large share of this is attributable to generating thermal energy for process heat and heating applications from fossil fuels, such as oil and natural gas. Biomass is a sustainable alternative.
The combustion of one kilogram of wood, for example, releases 18 megajoules of heat(opens in a new tab), the energy equivalent to half a litre of fuel oil. Even though burning wood generates carbon dioxide, wood is considered a climate-neutral energy source. Why? During their growth, plants bind the exact amount of CO₂ that will later be released when they are used energetically. This closed circuit sets biomass apart from fossil energy sources, such as coal, oil and gas, the burning of which emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that was previously stored in the earth as carbon for millions of years.
The use of biomass is a tried and true technology: Compared with alternatives such as generating electrical energy from renewable sources or burning hydrogen, it is highly developed, readily available and much easier to implement. It is particularly suited for companies that require heating or process heat of up to about 200 °C, especially in industries in which biomass occurs as a by-product.
Sawmills as well as pulp and paper factories have successfully been using their wood residues for many years. However, biomass does not necessarily have to be wood: Nestlé use the spent coffee grounds of their Nescafé factory in Girona as fuel(opens in a new tab). Other producers may use straw, bone meal, chicken manure or olive kernels.
Pumps are decisive for using biomass efficiently.
What does a biomass power plant look like in practice? In KSB’s new heating station in Frankenthal, two biomass boilers with an output of 1.2 and 0.7 megawatts generate sustainable heat. To be able to respond flexibly to daily or yearly cycles of fluctuating demand, they are supplemented by two natural gas boilers of 4 megawatts each. Together, the boilers generate heat at a temperature of 105 °C and a pressure of 10 bar. The heat is temporarily stored in two buffer storage tanks with a total capacity of 56,000 litres. The combustion process is entirely automatic.
Pumps transport the heat generated through a local heating pipeline to the production and office buildings to provide hot water, air-conditioning and process heat, e.g. for paint shops.
The most crucial aspect of running such a biomass power plant is ensuring not just reliability but also low life cycle costs. It goes without saying that for all fluid handling processes involved KSB opted for its own pumps and valves as these are optimised for this application. Here are two examples of KSB pumps that ensure the efficient operation of biomass power plants.
