Canadian Biomass • November/December 2013 • Page 22

COMPREHENSIVE PRODUCT & SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE WOOD PELLET INDUSTRY With 50 years of experience in the wood processing industry we offer a complete air ﬁ ltration program for all production areas of wood pellet mills. Our product line includes customized systems for air extraction, dust collection, pneumatic convey-ing, air ﬁ ltration and dryer exhaust gas cleaning. Wet and Dry Electrostatic Precipitators | Cyclones | Bag Filters | Pneumatic Conveying Systems | Fans | Rotary Valves Scheuch Inc. 2351 Huron Street, Unit 1, London, Ontario, N5V 0A8, Canada Phone: +1 (519) 951-7700 I Fax: -7711 ofﬁ [email protected] www.scheuch.ca silo (12 total), each hammer mill feeding two burners. Additional air is added to the outer ring of each burner to aid combus-tion, and the wood dust is burned inside the boiler’s combustion chamber. The boiler is designed with three burner levels and each silo feeds a single level. Each level has eight burners for a total of 24 burners in the boiler. The inside of the boiler contains tubes full of water. Heat from the 24 burners turns the water into steam. Pressure from the steam is used to turn a 300-megawatt capacity turbine, which then turns the gen-erator to produce electricity. Spent steam passes though a cold-water condenser, is then turned back to water, which re-enters the boiler in a continuous cycle. Cold water from the condenser is heated by the steam, so is circulated through a single cooling tower. According to Stevense, “We lose al-most no water in the process, just a little from evaporation in the cooling tower. So we replenish that from the river.” The absence of people is noticeable. RPS operates 24 hours a day with three eight-hour shifts. Each shift requires just three people to operate the plant: a senior opera-Canadian_Biomass_178x124_151013_RZ.indd 1 tor whose job is to manage the fuel supply; an operator who controls the power plant; and a production leader to oversee the op-eration. In addition there is a maintenance team that rotates between RPS and other power stations in Electrabel’s fleet. The Belgian power mix includes wind, solar, nuclear, and thermal electricity. Ac-cording to Stevense, electricity demand fluc-tuates with the weather, i.e., in response to demand for heat and air conditioning. When electricity demand drops off, wind, solar and nuclear energy are given priority. This means that there are times when RPS operates be-low capacity or even has to shut down. Ste-vense says, “Although the plant is rated for 240 megawatts, we usually operate at about 225 megawatts. We can go as low as 125 megawatts if we have to. And if we do shut down, it takes us about 10 hours to get back up to full capacity when we restart.” “The plant consumes about 800,000 tons of wood pellets annually, producing at about 35 per cent efficiency. When op-erating at full capacity, the plant uses about 125 tons per hour, or 3,000 tons per day,” Stevense adds. RPS sources wood pellets from Europe, the United States and Canada – including 225,000 tons annually from Pacific BioEn-ergy’s pellet plant in British Columbia, in which Electrabel is a joint venture partner. Electrabel requires each wood pellet supplier to undergo a strict independent audit and certification process to ensure that wood pellets are produced from sus-tainably sourced fibre and that each suppli-er’s wood pellets reduce greenhouse gases compared to fossil fuels by at least 60 per cent. The switch to wood pellets from coal has enabled RPS to reduce CO2 emissions by about 1.6 million tons annually, while continuing to provide enough power for 420,000 homes in Belgium. RPS is a great example of a successful coal to biomass thermal power plant conversion. Together, Electrabel and Ackermans & van Haaren have made a huge investment in helping Europe advance toward reaching its 20 per cent GHG reduction target by 2020. As Canadian pellet producers, RPS is a ma-jor consumer of our product. And we can expect more of the same from GDF SUEZ Group. The company aims to supply green energy to one million Belgian families by 2015. That’s a lot of wood pellets! • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 15.10.13 08:43 22 Canadian BIOMASS