john thompson biomass- fired package boilers · boiler house complete with one of their europac...
TRANSCRIPT
As the price of biomass fuels on a R/kJ basis is becoming more competitive with traditional fuels such as coal, oil and gas, the need for biomass-fired boilers is steadily increasing. To meet this need and the growing demand worldwide for a cleaner and more sustainable environment, John Thompson, the Cape Town based designer and manufacturer of industrial boilers with 80 years of service to South Africa’s industries has, in the past few years, carried out a series of tests firing a variety of biomass fuels on sites, and on the boiler installed in their test & development centre. These fuels include: wood-pellets, wood-chips, wood-pucks, grape pomace, nut shells, sunflower seed husks, corncobs, dried-hops and torrefied biomass.
Boiler Output - The test boiler installation is a fully operational boiler house complete with one of their Europac coal-fired boilers with chaingrate stoker, fuel and ash handling plant, deaerator, water treatment and chemical dosing, flue-gas clean-up equipment and an integrated boiler plant control system. When firing biomass fuels, steam outputs of between 50 and 85% of the coal-fired rating were achieved under efficient combustion conditions. As many boiler installations have surplus capacity this means that some boilers could be converted from coal to biomass-firing without the need to purchase additional boilers.
Conversions and Retrofits - The high outputs achieved during the tests were largely due to John Thompson’s modified chaingrate stoker and their Micropac boiler management system which was easily fine-tuned for the different fuels. Both of these can be retrofitted to existing coal-fired boilers when a change from coal to biomass fuel is required. Upgrades and conversions to existing plant can be engineered to achieve optimal boiler efficiency and emissions in compliance with the latest Air Quality Act.
Biogas - This is produced from the treatment of waste-water in certain industries and can offset 10 to 15% of fuel requirements for the production of steam. A number of John Thompson biogas boilers have been supplied into the local market which has reduced the owners’ carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuel.
Energy Management - For custom-ers who are interested in outsourc-ing their non-core business, John Thompson’s Energy Management Dept offers a range of negotiable contracts from operation of existing plant to a BOOT (build, own, oper-ate, transfer) contract, inclusive of all operating and maintenance costs, under which steam, for example, is purchased on an agreed combination of a fixed monthly rate and Rand per ton of steam basis.
Turnkey Projects - In addition to boiler design and manufacturing fa-cilities, John Thompson also special-ise in turnkey installations for all of their boilers. This includes responsi-bility for all civil, structural and elec-trical works, pipe-work systems, fuel and ash handling plant, installation and commissioning.
For further information please contact: Neville Sharwood, Technical Manager - Package Boilers Phone: +27 (0)21 959 8425Email: [email protected]
A typical John Thompson boiler plant installation.
John Thompson designs, manufactures, installs, operates
and maintains biomass-fired boilers and generators for
process steam and hot water applications.
Tel. Cape Town: +27 (0)21 959 8400 | Johannesburg: +27 (0)11 392 0900 | Durban: +27 (0)31 408 9700 Email: [email protected] | www.johnthompson.co.za
John Thompson Biomass-fired Package Boilers