SunCoal Industries CarboREN® Plants
Biomass-to-Biocoal Technology
Using Organic Waste to Produce Green Energy
The CarboREN® Plant
SunCoal Industries offers its customers facilities that refine organic
waste into SunCoal® biocoal with the patented CarboREN technology,
for use in generating bio-energy.
The CarboREN plant, based on the principles of hydrothermal carbonization, utilizes green waste from municipalities (grass,
leaves, etc.) or other organic waste from industrial processes (wood chips, bagasse, empty fruit bunches, etc.) to produce
dry and solid SunCoal biofuel, which has similar characteristics to dry brown coal. The CarboREN technology is unique
in that very damp organic waste can be used at a high energy efficiency to produce completely dry biocoal. The resulting
biocoal has a very high quality in comparison the raw material used (reduced ash, chlorine, nitrous oxide and sulfur content
and a high ash melting temperature). The only resulting material from the process besides the biocoal is wastewater, that
can be redirected to a water treatment facility. In the case of impure organic waste (for example, with high sand content), the
separated impurities can be forwarded to composting.
SunCoal biocoal can be used in existing power plants to generate heat and power, or can be further processed to produce
syngas and its secondary products.
Example of a CarboREN Plant for Industrial Supply
Input Material
375,000 Tons p.a.
Produced SunCoal
150,000 Tons p.a.
CO2-Savings Through Coal Substitution
270,000 Tons CO2-Eq. p.a.
Process Duration
Plant Surface
6–12 Hours
25,000 m2
Energy Yield
790 MM kWh p.a.
Equivalent Power Produced by Co-Firing
300 MM kWh p.a. (ca. 110,000 2-Person-Households)
Equivalent Syngas Produced
232 MM Nm3 p.a.
Equivalent BtL-Fuel Produced
Wastewater
49 MM l p.a.
150,000 m3 p.a.
Typical Input
> Bagasse
> Grass cuttings
> Fallen leaves
> Landscape management waste
> Rice husks
> Shrub cuttings and branches
> Straw
> Waste from fruit juice mills
> Waste from palm oil mills
(empty fruit bunches)
> Wood chips
SunCoal® Biofuel
Typical Fuel Characteristics of SunCoal Derived from Wood Chips
Lower Heating Valueca. 20 MJ/kg (ca. 5.7 kWh/kg)
Potential Syngas Yieldca. 1,550 Nm3/t
Potential BtL-Fuel Yieldca. 325 l/t
Bulk Density SunCoal Powder400 kg/m3
Bulk Density SunCoal Pellets650 kg/m3
Water Contentca. 5 %
Ash Content< 1.5 %
Chlorineca. 0.07 w %
Sulfuric Acidca. 0.2 w %
Nitrateca. 0.7 w %
Ash Melting Temperature> 1,100 °C
SunCoal® Biofuel Advantages
>A homogenous biofuel is created from damp organic waste with heterogeneous characteristics
> During refinement, impurities (sand, stones, glass, metal) and unwanted elements (sulfur, chlorine,
nitrogen, potassium) are removed or reduced
> Because of the high product quality achieved during refinement, organic waste can be used in
all types of power plants as biofuel
>The dry and hygienic SunCoal biofuel can be stored at length, and the high energy density
allows it to be easily transported
>
The energy use is CO2-neutral, since the CO2 that is released when used is the same amount that
is absorbed during biomass growth via photosynthesis
> The lower heating value (LHV) of SunCoal is much higher than that of the untreated biomass
> The production of SunCoal biofuel does not impact the production of foodstuffs, since the only
organic waste used would otherwise rot or be composted
> SunCoal powder is ideal for use in entrained flow gasifiers
CarboREN®-Technology
The patented CarboREN technology from SunCoal Industries homogenizes biomass to biocoal, which is then dried. Using
this process, damp biomass with up to 80 % water content and a low heating value is converted to biocoal, which has
similar characteristics to fossil coal. The CarboREN technology is the most effective technoloügy available for biomass-tofuel production from damp organic waste. The efficient process requires only a minimal amount of energy use (7 % of the
energy of the produced biocoal) and is designed according to customer needs. Additionally, a wide variety of organic waste
materials can be used.
1. Receiving and Storage
Before being treated, delivered organic waste is stored depending on composition. Storage in the SunCoal Industries
CarbonREN plant is designed for automatic loading on nights or weekends.
2.
Controlled Crushing and Filtering
The biomass is crushed and reduced to a grain size of <60 mm and sieved to remove impurities such as sand, stones,
metal or plastic. Accumulated waste can either be processed later or disposed of.
3.
Washing
During this phase the reduced biomass is separated from inorganic material such as sand and stones. The resulting
reduced and washed biomass is then fed into the hydrothermal carbonization.
4.
Hydrothermal Carbonization (HTC)
In just a few hours, temperatures of 200°C and pressure of 20 bars completely breaks down the structure of the
biomass and separates out water. The resulting HTC-slurry is continuously removed from the cooker, „de-stressed“
through ambient pressure and cooled.
5.
Mechanical Dehydration
During mechanical dehydration the water content of the HTC-slurry is reduced to 40-50 % by a press. The separated
water is mostly reused in the process.
6.
Thermal Drying
The resulting HTC-cake is dried, reducing the water content to less than 5 %. Surplus heat from existing plants or
existing local or district heating can further increase the economic feasibility. Wastewater produced by the process
can either be directed to a wastewater treatment plant or treated in the CarboREN plant itself.
Preparation
The resulting biocoal can be processed into SunCoal® powder, SunCoal granulate or SunCoal pellets, according to
customer specification, for storage, further refined (for example, into syngas), or used directly as fuel.
A.
SunCoal® Granulate
The powder-free SunCoal® granulate is the simplest biocoal form and can be
burned in biomass firings or power plants.
B.
SunCoal Powder
SunCoal® powder is similar to dry brown coal powder and can be used for coal
powder firings or in entrained flow gasifiers.
C.
SunCoal Pellets
SunCoal pellets have an especially high energy density and can be used in pellet
firings for heat generation, or co-fired in a power plant. Because of the high abrasion resistance and the hydrophobic characteristics, the pellets can be optimally
stored and transported, similar to fossil coal.
SunCoal Biocoal Uses
Biocoal produced from organic waste with the SunCoal Industries CarboREN® technology can be used in a variety of
applications:
7.
Decentralized Heat & Power Generation
SunCoal biocoal can be efficiently used for decentralized heat and power generation in existing plants in a typical capacity
range from 100 kW to 20 MW. The composition and characteristics of SunCoal biocoal are similar to that of dry brown coal,
allowing its use in all types of firing facilities, including grate, fluidized bed and powder firings. As an alternative to direct
combustion, biocoal can also be used in gasifiers.
8.
Production of Biomass-to-Liquid Fuels (BtL)
The current biofuel market is limited to first generation biofules, such as bio-ethanol, which are (for example) produced in Brazil
from sugar cane, and shipped abroad. The future of this space is the use of the whole plant (second generation biofuels) and
the use of organic waste. Biocoal can effectively be refined to syngas through established coal gasification technologies, and
then in synthesis (for example Fischer-Tropsch-Synthesis) processed into energy-dense biofuel (BtL-fuel).
9.
Centralized Power Generation
SunCoal biocoal can serve as an efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to fossil coal in large power plants via
co-firing. As the demand for co-firing biomass requires significant tonnages, a shipment of biocoal as pellets from abroad
is advantageous.
HTC
Biomass Processing
Organic Waste
1. Receiving and Storage
2. Controlled Crushing and Filtering
Washed
HTC
CarboREN® Technology
4. Hydrothermal Carbonization
5. Mechanical Dehydration
Fernwärme
Possible Types of
Biocoal Preparation
A. Granulate
B. Powder
Processing / Transport
Biomass Firing
Raffinerie - bio
Bio-Refinery
(Gasification
and Synthesis)
Fernwärme
Typical Uses
Fernwärme
7. Decentralized Heat & Power Generation
8. Automobiles
Inert Material
and Unfiltered
Organic Material
Composting
or Disposal
3. Washing (optional)
and Crushed Biomass
Wastewater
6. Thermal Drying
SunCoal®
C. Pellet
Bulk Freight Ship
Fernwärme
9. Power Generation in Power Plant
Sewage
Treatment Plant
SunCoal Industries Ser vices
Feasibility studies, including tests with customer samples in pilot plant
Project development
Engineering and approvals
Turnkey construction
Commissioning, test operations, optimization
After-sales service
Training and maintenance
Berlin
SunCoal
Ludwigsfelde
We look forward to hearing from you!
SunCoal Industries GmbH
phone +49-(0)3378-88122-10
Rudolf-Diesel-Straße 15
fax D-14974 Ludwigsfelde
mail [email protected]
Germany
+49-(0)3378-88122-19
www.suncoal.com