MUNCY, PAM_Andritz_ Your global equipment supplier for the biomass industry ANDRITZ is one of the world’s leading suppliers of techno logies, systems, and services relating to equipment for the bio mass pelleting industry. We offer single machines for the production of solid and liquid biofuel and waste pellets. We have the ability to manu facture and supply each and every key processing machine in the pellet pro-duction line. the biochar production needs very little energy,” Bertrand says. When the raw material reaches the 13,000 square foot mill it is sent in two big silos by conveyor. It allows some flexibility to store different materials such as saw-dust, chips, agricultural or construction waste in different areas. A pulling screw under each silo then sends the material to the grinder. After, the matter is pre-dried to a 10 per cent moisture content, before being sent to the third silo. There, it enters a conditioning chamber where it is heated by indirect contact in a water vapour-sat-urated environment. The volatile com-pounds are recovered at that moment and burned in the combustion chamber. The biomass is then carbonized at 450 C in cyclonic reactors. In this unique patented process, rotary valves block oxygen entry while levitation rings con-trol precisely the particle transition in the reactor. When biochar leaves the reactor, it is densified from 200 kg/m3 to 700 km/ m3. Green coal then goes through the chilling room, and leaves the mill before being stored in silos, ready for shipping. When the mill reaches full operation, two 30-ton trucks will be shipped every day. “The nice thing about this technology is that it is the simplest and the most efficient on the market,” says Andrée-Lise Méthod, founder and associate director of Cycle Capital Management (CCM), the capital management fund behind the project. CCM finances just one to two per cent of the projects they receive, but they believe so much in the energy-tech startup that they invested $1.75 million in the business. BIOCHAR, CARBON NEUTRAL? Wood chips and sawdust are heated at a high temperature in an oxygen-free environment to produce the biochar. The mill can produce thermal biochar, activated biochar, biocoke, torrefied wood flour and biochar fertilizer for agricultural soils. When using forest resources to produce energy, torrefied biomass is considered as being carbon neutral, which means it does not emit new greenhouse gases. “When we extract bituminous coal and burn it, the carbon in the matter is released in the atmosphere. It is a new source of carbon. The reality is, however, different with trees, because new trees grow after a forest is cut, thus absorbing new carbon,” explains Sylvain Bertrand. The carbon neutral qualifier for bio-char is not unanimous. Claude Villeneuve, a climate change expert at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, explains, “Biomass can be considered as carbon neutral if many factors are respected. These factors include forest management, transportation, and process efficiency. This can be evaluated with lifecycle or carbon footprint analysis, where studies take into account all stages of the transformation process.” ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel A/S Europe, Asia, and South America: [email protected] USA and Canada: [email protected] Airex Energy manufacturers Dust collector and CarbonFX manufacturing: Airex Industries. Conveyor: Nordstrong. Grinder: Schutte Buffalo Hammermill. Pelletizing: Andritz. Controls: Allen-Bradley. Silo reclaimers: Produits Gilbert. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 www.andritz.com/ft 16 Canadian BIOMASS 2017-01-11 9:11 AM JanFeb17_CSA.indd 1
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