APP Validation Report

ADVANCED PLASMA POWER FICHTNER

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ADVANCED PLASMA POWER

PLASMA GASIFICATIONPROJECT

STAGE 4 VALIDATION REPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

For over thirty years, developers in various parts of the world have been trying to convertwaste derived fuels (RDF) into a gas that can be used as a fuel in a gas engine or gas

turbine, thus offering the prospect of improving the efficiency with which the thermal energy

in the waste is converted to electricity.

Building on their successful use of plasma gasification for the treatment of hazardous

residues, Tetronics have developed a process (the Gasplasma Process) for the production

from refuse derived fuel (RDF) of a synthetic fuel gas (syngas). The syngas productionprocess comprises two steps, a fluidised bed gasifier in which the volatile organic

compounds and the fixed carbon are converted to gas using a proportion of the thermal

energy in the waste and a plasma converter to complete the conversion of the complexorganics present in the gas to a fuel gas comprising primarily hydrogen, carbon monoxide,

carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

The process has been shown, through rigorous pilot plant trials at the Tetronics test facility,to be capable of producing a gas which, subject to passing through further gas treatment

systems, should be suitable for use as a fuel in a gas engine. The process chemistry

involved in the Gasplasma process is well established, and the pilot plant trials were able todemonstrate that, using an RDF with a specified range of properties, it is possible to predict

the range of input conditions for which the gas treatment system must be designed.

The use of single stage plasma gasification for the treatment of waste is not normally

economic due to the large amount of power required to convert RDF to a syngas. On the

other hand, the syngas produced by thermal gasifiers contains condensable organic

compounds which form tars when they cool and make the gas unsuitable, without complexand expensive cleaning processes, for any application other than immediate combustion. In

applying the plasma technology principally to the gaseous products from the thermal

gasifier, Tetronics are able to achieve efficient cracking of the complex organics to theprimary syngas constituents whilst limiting the electrical energy demand of the process. The

resulting gas can then be treated and cooled without precipitating large quantities of liquid

condensate and solid tars. It is the presence of these precipitates which have beenfrustrating the endeavours of developers for the past thirty years.

In preparing a syngas which remains a gas, even when cooled, Tetronics have overcome

the major obstacle to the use of waste gasification to power gas engines and gas turbines.


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From the data and analysis presented, it is also clear that the process produces a vitrified

residue with very low leaching properties making it suitable for inert landfill and more

suitable than the bench mark set by processed incinerator bottom ash for use as asecondary aggregate.

Advanced Plasma Power (APP) is a company formed to commercialise the Tetronics

Gasplasma technology. In order to bring the Gasplasma technology to the market, it isnecessary to build a demonstration plant which operates under commercial circumstances

and which can be shown to potential clients. The plant will also be used to further refine and

improve the process and to gain experience in its continuous operation.

Advanced Plasma Power’s activities to date, which are the subject of this report, have been

to undertake sufficient process design to enable proposals to be obtained for the principal

process components and to develop predicted capital and operating costs for a50,000 tonne per annum facility. Fichtner’s review of the project is limited to a process

building containing RDF reception and storage, the process and all ancillary equipment,

services and facilities to operate and maintain the Gasplasma plant. The project is not sitespecific and external works are excluded.

The next stage will be to commission the necessary detailed engineering (including pre-engineering from the suppliers selected under Stage 4) to enable priced proposals to be

obtained for every aspect of the project and also to enable technical, commercial and

contractual terms to be developed for each of the process and installation packages.

The Gasplasma process comprises the two-stage gasification system described above

followed by a number of systems to cool, clean and compress the gas prior to delivery to the

gas engines, These systems facilitate the efficient operation of the process and enable theprocess to meet the regulatory requirements which would be applied to the facility. It was

not economically feasible to test these downstream systems in the Tetronics test facility.

However, each component of the system selected has a proven track record, albeit not inthis particular application.

During the technical review, Fichtner has reviewed proposals from component suppliers,

has examined the capital and operating cost estimates for the facility and has helddiscussions with APP to clarify various matters.

APP have selected Jenbacher for the supply of the gas engine through Clarke Energy, a UKJenbacher agent and a supplier of generation sets for a wide range of applications from

natural gas CHP schemes to landfill gas generation stations. There are a number of gas

engine suppliers in the market, such as Caterpillar and Jenbacher, with a track record in

unusual gaseous fuels, including syngas, mainly from coal and biomass applications.However, Jenbacher have probably the greatest experience in unusual gases and their

reference list includes the Thermoselect demonstration waste gasification process in Italy

and two Thermoselect waste gasification plants in Japan which have been in operation formore than three years.


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With regards to establishing capital costs for major process equipment items, the approach

taken looks reasonable and detailed. Although a general layout and arrangement has been

developed, there is insufficient information available at this stage to be able to accuratelydefine and price all of the installation and erection activities. APP intend to focus on these

areas as priority items during the next stage of development and a contingency will be

applied to accommodate changes that might arise from the detailed engineering design and

possible increases in supplier prices as rigorous commercial terms are developed. It is alsopossible that, during the detailed engineering phase, some savings might be generated.

One such saving would be the use of mild steel tubing clad with a corrosion resistant alloy in

the gas cooler rather than constructing the entire assembly from the expensive alloySanicro 28 (as currently priced).

With respect to operating costs, we agree that the detailed calculations of consumables are

reasonable and also that basing the average annual maintenance on 3.5% of the capitalcost of the plant and equipment (including installation) is reasonable.

For the availability of the plant, a figure of 85% has been assumed which would be typical ofenergy from waste plants. Whilst this is a reasonable objective, at least in the first two to

three years, there are likely to be some teething troubles. We would suggest a more

conservative figure of 80% be used for sensitivity analyses.

In a development process of this nature, there are inevitably uncertainties relating to the

scaling up of the process, the parts of the process which could not be tested at pilot plant

scale and the estimates of capital and operating costs.

The next stage of the project will involve the equipment suppliers in a funded engineering

exercise that will remove much of the remaining uncertainty and give a clear understandingof the extent to which process performance can be underwritten by plant equipment

suppliers.

With respect to the selected processes, Fichtner has reviewed the documentation

associated with each process step, including an independent report by Cranfield

University on the selection of materials for the gas cooler and a Computational Fluid

Dynamics (CFD) study which was undertaken to assist in the development of an optimalplasma converter design and our judgement is that the processes selected are

appropriate, that the elements proven in the pilot plant stage are capable of scaling up

and that each process stage should be capable of fulfilling its intended function.

Nick Gamble Tony Voong

Author Reviewer

APP Validation Report

Documents

Transcript of APP Validation Report