BM-SCREW TYPE ENGINE Final summary report

Contract No. NNE5/2000/467 1

Project Reference: NNE5/2000/467

EESD - PART B - PROJECT

BIOMASS-FIRED CHP PLANT BASED ON A SCREW-TYPE ENGINE CYCLE

Project Co-ordinator: Project Partners: FWG Fernwrmeversorgungsgenossenschaft Vitis reg.Gen.m.b.H. (Austria) BIOS BIOENERGIESYSTEME GmbH (Austria), Kohlbach GmbH & Co (Austria), IDEA Ingenieurgesellschaft fr dezentrale Energieanlagen mbH (Germany), MAN Turbomaschinen AG GHH BORSIG (Germany)

Location and aims of the project

The main objective of the project was the demonstration of a new small-scale biomass combined heat and power (CHP) technology applicable for the power range of 200 1,000 kWel, based on a screw-type steam engine for biomass fuels. The project was accomplished in Hartberg (Austria), where a screw-type steam engine with a nominal electric power of 730 kWel was implemented into the steam cycle of the already existing district and process heating plant. Technological targets of the project were to evaluate the overall and the electric efficiency of the innovative screw-type steam engine process. A further key objective was the demonstration of the insensitiveness of the screw-type engine to steam quality fluctuations. Additionally, it was part of the activities to improve design and performance of the individual components during the monitoring phase, which contributes to overall plant efficiency and cost effectiveness by reducing costs of production, operation and maintenance. Furthermore, the impact on the protection of the environment by reducing the CO2 emissions compared to electricity production from fossil fuels should also be demonstrated. The second key aim of the project was the improvement of plant availability and reduction of operating costs by using a new automatic boiler cleaning system. The biomass-fired CHP plant based on the screw-type steam engine process is located in Hartberg, Styria, Austria (see Figure 2). The district and process heating plant, which is equipped with a water tube steam boiler with a nominal thermal capacity of 18 MWth, started its operation in 1987 and supplies process and district heat consumers via a steam and a hot water network of pipes. In order to obtain a more efficient utilisation of the biomass fuels used (bark, wood chips, sawdust etc.) by producing not only heat but also electricity, a steam superheater and a screw-type engine were implemented into the heating plant in 2003. The electricity production of the CHP plant started in November 2003.

Grid Generator Steam drum Gear unit

Process heat consumers

Heat exchangers

District heat supply (80-110C) District heat consumers Hartberg

Dampftrommel
Superheated steam (25 bara, 255C) Superheater

Screwtype engine

Boiler

Economiser Biomass Flue gas

High pressure stage Spray Low pressure stage cooler Spray cooler tank Spray cooler pump

Condenser District heat return (50-60C)

Grate firing Feed water pump Bottom ash Feed water tank

Figure 1:

Process flow diagram of the biomass CHP plant Hartberg

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Contract No. NNE5/2000/467 2

2
2.1

Technical description of the CHP plant Hartberg

Introduction

The CHP plant Hartberg essentially consists of a biomass-fired steam boiler, a superheater equipped with a new automatic boiler cleaning system, a spray cooler behind the superheater and the CHP-module mainly composed of a screw-type engine and a condenser. In Figure 1 the process flow diagram of the biomass CHP plant is shown. The biomass-fired steam boiler produces saturated steam of 26 bara and 225C, which is partly used by both the process heat consumer (company Lactoprot producing powdered milk) and the district heat consumers (during peak and during minimum load heat demand). The main part of the saturated steam is superheated in a superheater module, which is positioned in the reversing chamber after the 3rd pass of the boiler. A spray cooler placed behind controls the steam temperature and keeps it at 255C (25 bara). The superheated steam then enters the screw-type engine (flow rate: 8.1 t/h; nominal steam power input: 5,640 kWth) utilising the steam for electricity production (gross nominal electric power: 730 kWel) and subsequently the condenser (nominal thermal power: 4,800 kWth; steam parameters: 0.5-1.5 bara, 80-110C), where the heat of condensation is transferred to the hot-water cycle to be utilised as district heat. The annual electricity production of the CHP module amounts to about 3,000 MWh/a.

Figure 2:

View of the biomass CHP plant Hartberg (Austria)

Figure 3:

Screw-type steam engine of the CHP plant

(1low-pressure stage, 2high-pressure stage, 3gear unit, 4generator)

2.2

Principle of the screw-type engine technology

In co-operation with industrial companies, the University of Dortmund (Germany) has applied the well-proven technology of screw compressors for the development of a screw-type engine. This development has been performed within the 90s and an appropriate screw-type steam engine pilot plant has also been tested at the university for several years. The screw-type engine is a displacement rotary engine. Similar to piston engines, displacement-type engines are characterised by a closed working chamber. The volume of the working chamber changes cyclically, which leads to a decrease of the energy content of the fluid in the chamber. The main parts of a screw-type engine are the male rotor, the female rotor and a casing, which together form a V-shaped working chamber whose volume depends solely on the angle of rotation (see Figure 4). The steam enters the casing through the intake port in the passage formed between the tips of the rotor teeth. During rotation the volume of the chamber increases. Intake is finished when the rotor faces pass the guiding edges and the chamber is separated from the intake port. At this stage steam expansion starts and mechanical power is produced at the output shaft. During expansion the volume of the chamber continues to increase, whereas the energy content of the fluid decreases. This process continues until the exhaust process starts and the steam is extruded. It leaves the machine through the exhaust port. How often this process takes place during one rotation of the male rotor depends on the number of teeth on the male rotor. After leaving the screw-type engine, the exhaust steam (parameters: e.g. 1 bara, 100C) enters the condenser where the heat of condensation is transferred to the hot-water cycle which is used as process and district heat.

2.3

Description of the screw-type steam engine of the CHP plant Hartberg

The screw-type engine in Hartberg is designed as a two-stage unit. The steam passes first through the smaller highpressure stage and then through the larger low-pressure stage (see Figure 3). Each stage is equipped with separate bearings and seals. Due to the high rotational speed of the screw-type engines, a gear unit is installed, which powers the asynchronous generator.

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Contract No. NNE5/2000/467 3

2.4

Description of the automatic boiler cleaning system of the CHP plant Hartberg

The automatic cleaning system specially developed for water tube boilers is positioned in the area of the reversing chamber between the 3rd and 4th pass of the steam boiler. The system is composed of two parallel units which work with pressurised air with a pressure of about 14 bar. The air is injected through the valves directly into the reversing chamber, thus periodically cleaning the tubes of the superheater.

Results of operation and measurements

The screw-type steam engine of the biomass CHP plant in Hartberg has been in successful and almost continuous operation since November 2003. In order to evaluate the performance of the plant especially regarding electric efficiency and to collect relevant basic data for the calculation of energy balances, several test runs were performed within the monitoring period.

3 4

5
Steam boiler and superheater

Radiation and heat losses 18 %

Thermal output 70 %

superheated steam

Biomass primary energy input (NCV) = 100%

Screw-type engine

Electricity output 10 %

7 6
Figure 4:

2
Section drawing of a screw-type engine
(1live steam inlet, 2exhaust steam outlet, 3male rotor, 4shaft seal, 5synchronisation gearwheels, 6friction type bearing, 7output shaft)

2% Heat and electric losses screw-type engine

Figure 5:

Energy flow chart of the biomass CHP plant in Hartberg

Table 1:

Results of the test runs of the CHP plant Hartberg

Explanations: thermal power input [measured] ... values recorded by the data acquisition system; thermal power input [revised] revised values due to the measuring tolerance of the steam flow measurement instruments (see text); gross electric efficiency = gross electric power output/ thermal power input

operating conditions

water outlet temperature [C]

thermal power input [measured] [kW]

thermal power input [revised] [kW]

thermal power output [kW]

gross electric power [kW]

heat losses [kW]

gross electric efficiency [%]

superheated steam full load full load partial load partial load saturated steam full load 97 6,425 6,553 5,527 826 200 12.60 97 90 87 80 6,334 5,839 3,036 3,210 6,284 5,787 3,291 3,435 5,295 4,855 2,812 2,910 789 732 299 345 200 200 180 180 12.56 12.65 9.08 10.03

As shown in Table 1 the stipulated value regarding the gross electric power of 730 kWel was reached respectively exceeded during full load operating conditions. The gross electric efficiency of the screw-type engine (ratio between gross electric power output and thermal power input supplied to the engine) amounts to about 12.6 % in nominal load operation and to about 9.5 % in partial load operation (75 % of nominal load). The measured auxiliary electric power needed from the scrw-type engine amounts to about 7 kWel.

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Contract No. NNE5/2000/467 4

Based on the evaluation of the operating data, an annual energy flow chart of the biomass CHP plant in Hartberg for nominal load conditions and the overall thermal and electric efficiencies (based on the net calorific value of the biomass fuel (NCV)) are illustrated in Figure 5. The overall net electric efficiency of the CHP plant amounts to about 10 % (related to the net calorific value of the biomass fuel), which relates to a gross electric efficiency of the screw-type engine of 12.6 %. The thermal efficiency is about 70 % and the overall efficiency (thermal and electric) amounts to about 80 %. The results of an evaluation of the emission situation before and after the implementation of the CHP module (comparison of electricity produced from biomass with electricity produced from fossil fuels) show that the implementation of the CHP module based on an screw-type steam engine process in Hartberg represents an important contribution to environmental protection. The screw-type steam engine process itself produces no emissions as it is designed as a closed cycle so that no losses of working fluids are to be expected. After the first start up of the automatic boiler cleaning system in December 2003, the cleaning system has been in continuous operation until the revision period of the biomass CHP plant in summer 2004. Due to the compact design, the cleaning system worked well during the whole monitoring period and no problems occurred during operation. A first evaluation of the operational experiences showed, that the aims of the automatic boiler cleaning system reducing maintenance and operating costs and impeding corrosion could be achieved.

Investment and financing of the project

The total investment costs of the project amounted to about 2.56 Mio. . National funding institutions funded the overall project with 30 % (Kommunalkredit Austria AG). Additionally the innovative components have been funded from the European Commission. Concerning the calculation of the electricity production costs, only the surplus investment costs of the CHP plant Hartberg (which amount to about 3,750 /kWel) in comparison to a conventional biomass combustion plant with a steam boiler and the same thermal output had to be considered. Taking 5,000 full load operating hours per year, a biomass fuel price of 0.015 /kWh, a funding rate of 0 %, a payback time of 13 years and an interest rate of 6 % p.a. into account, the specific electricity production costs calculated for the 730 kWel screw-type engine process in Hartberg amount to approximately 0.138 /kWhel. The most relevant cost factors are the capital costs, representing more than 60 % of the overall specific electricity production costs as well as the fuel costs, which account for about 20 % of those costs.

Summary and outlook

Looking back at the project, it has been an intensive and exciting co-operation between very skilled engineers, who have succeeded in developing the first biomass fired CHP plant based on a screw-type steam engine and running the plant for about 5,000 hours. The target values regarding the nominal capacity as well as the efficiency of the screw-type steam engine could be achieved within the project. Furthermore, the technical maturity of the screw-type steam engine has been demonstrated in the biomass CHP plant in Hartberg. Future aims of development regarding screw-type engines are in particular the standardisation and optimisation of the engines as a basis for small series production in order to reduce investment costs. Further objectives are the development of screw-type steam engines suitable for higher steam inlet temperatures (up to 300C) to achieve an additional improvement of the electric efficiency as well as the performance of technological innovations regarding the rotor clearance in order to further reduce the steam losses inside the engine stages. Due to the high stage of development of the screw-type steam engine achieved and the numerous advantages compared to conventional steam-based small-scale CHP technologies, a quick market introduction is anticipated in short term if the investment costs can be reduced.

Contact data of the project identifiers

BIOS BIOENERGIESYSTEME GmbH Kohlbach GmbH & Co Manufacturer of biomass fired furnaces and boilers Grazer Strae 26-28 A-9400 Wolfsberg
Tel: +43 (4352) 21-57-0 Fax: +43 (4352) 21-57-11 [email protected]

FWGVitis reg.Gen.m.b.H.

IDEA mbH

MAN Turbomaschinen AG Manufacturer of turbo and screw-type engines Steinbrinkstrasse 1 D-46145 Oberhausen
Tel: +49 (208) 692-2797 Fax: +49 (208) 692-2702 [email protected]

Owner and operator of Development and several biomass engineering company district heating plants in the bioenergy field Titus Appelstrae 3 A-3902 Vitis
Tel: +43 (2841) 90-09-666 Fax: +43 (2841) 90-09-513 [email protected]

Development and engineering company Tellstrasse 14 D-44143 Dortmund

Tel: +49 (231) 5315461 Fax: +49 (231) 5315462 [email protected]

Inffeldgasse 21b A-8010 Graz

Tel: +43 (316) 481300 Fax: +43 (316) 481300 4 [email protected]