Torrefaction technology developers and biocoal producers Clean Electricity Generation (CEG) has disclosed the successful delivery of CEG BioCoal pellets for the first of its 2019 programme of customer trials. 200 tonnes of CEG BioCoal pellets were shipped from its storage facility in the UK to the end-user in France, using bulk transport. Combusted in a circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boiler, the pellets delivered exhibited the advantages of torrefied biocoal pellets over white wood pellets.
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Netherlands-headed Clean Electricity Generation B.V (CEG), a joint venture company with Dutch equity company Momentum Capital and US-headed Transformative Energy and Materials Capital (TEM Capital), supplies proprietary torrefaction reactors for the production of CEG BioCoal, a renewable drop-in replacement for fossil coal. CEG’s proprietary torrefaction reactors produce a range of value-added torrefied products, using a range of sustainably-sourced raw biomass feedstocks.
CEG currently operates two full-scale torrefaction reactors through its UK operating entity, Bio2Carbon, located in Derby, UK. The Derby facility is producing torrefied CEG BioCoal for utility boiler trials and conducting torrefaction trials of new sustainably-sourced feedstocks.
CEG’s torrefaction reactors yield torrefied material in the range of 21 MJ/kg to 30 MJ/kg, suitable for outdoor storage, with the same grinding, combustion, and handling characteristics as fossil coal.
Support of Baltania project
The 2019 program of customer trials are in support of Baltania, a planned commercial-scale CEG BioCoal pellet production plant in Estonia. CEG plans to supply eight torrefaction reactors to Baltania, for a combined CEG BioCoal pellet output of 157 000 tonnes per annum with production estimated to begin in 2020.
According to a statement, 200 tonnes of CEG BioCoal pellets were shipped from its storage facility in the UK to the end-user in France, using bulk transport. The customer was a leading French district heating system operator. The CEG BioCoal pellets were combusted in a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler.
The CEG BioCoal pellets delivered were high-energy, approximately 23 MJ/kg, and exhibited the advantages of torrefied biocoal pellets over white wood pellets, including improved hydrophobic behaviour and improved materials handling.
The test burns were carried out successfully at the end of March 2019, and the burn results were successful at all levels of co-firing, up to and including 100 percent CEG BioCoal.
The 200 tonnes of CEG BioCoal pellets exhibited consistent quality and characteristics and demonstrated that sustainably-sourced CEG BioCoal pellets are a renewable biomass drop-in replacement for fossil coal.
A Cleantek Trade deal
The transaction was executed by Cleantek Trade, a Paris-based trader of a range of biomass within Europe, including woodchips, wood pellets, pulp logs, and olive residues. Their clients span the energy sector – major industrial utilities, local district heating networks, and regional fuel distributors – as well as the forestry sector with all end-users situated close to ports.
Cleantek Trade was the first trader to successfully market biocoal pellets to utilities. Cleantek Trade says that it is confident that this transaction provides the foundation for CEG BioCoal to be phased-in and well-received throughout Cleantek Trade’s customer base. The upcoming commissioning of the Baltania plant will provide customers with commercial-scale volumes within a short time frame.
