The Bioendev torrefaction plant in Holmsund, Sweden has suffered a setback when a fire broke out in the dryer. No one was injured in the spectacular blaze that occurred in the afternoon on 21 January but the dryer was severely damaged. The company estimates that it will take at least a month before biocoal production can be restarted at the plant.
The torrefaction facility had been shut down for scheduled maintenance and had been standing still for more than a day when the fire started. It was an internal fire in the bed dryer, which is located outside the main building. The remaining parts of the production plant with raw material handling, torrefaction reactor, pelleting line etc were entirely unaffected. No injuries were caused and no other third party property was damaged in the blaze.
Cause still unclear
– On the outer parts of the dryer is seen almost nothing, but the dryer is damaged internally. We are now waiting on what the insurance company advises we should do, said Lars-Åke Svensson, Sales Manager at Bioendev.
The investigation by the emergency services into the cause of the fire is still ongoing.
– We have our suspicions but cannot comment until the investigator has concluded his investigation. In the meantime, we are looking at options to start production again, for example by taking in dry raw material. At best, we can get started about a month, said Lars-Åke Svensson.
Fire protection was lacking in the dryer
A risk classification was carried out when the 16 000 tonne-per-annum commercial demonstration torrefaction plant in Holmsund was built. According to the requirement at the time, no fire protection was specified for the dryer itself. Other parts of the production plant have sprinkler systems installed, the pellet presses and other exposed areas are equipped with fire detection and protection systems from Firefly.
Get restarted quickly
– The fire couldn’t have occurred at more inopportune time for us, just when we have started supplying biocoal to the market. Both we and the insurance company now want to get going again as soon as possible, said Lars-Åke Svensson.
