Paper Technology International 2020 - Journal - Page 91

PAPERTECHNOLOGYINTERNATIONAL
Decentralized energy production through Meva Energy’s
technology
A new type of biomass gasification developed by the
Swedish company Meva Energy, spun out of Luleå Technical
University and the RISE Center for Energy Technology, has proven
to overcome these issues. The gasification principle, entrained flow
gasification, is simple and robust which gives a clean and stable gas
quality. The technology could use a variety of feedstock, even fine
fraction residues such as sawdust and wood fibre.
Meva Energy’s
philosophy is to produce and
deliver gasification units that
use local biomass residues to
generate energy on-site. Hence,
without the need for costly and
complex upgrading, unnecessary
transport and parasitic losses.
The gas needs to fulfil the
function of its use, and not meet
a standardized gas quality just
for the sake of it. These factors
are key in creating a costefficient solution that can be even
cheaper than existing, fossil,
solutions.
Biogas is normally
associated with gas produced
from anaerobic digestion of
sewage sludge or manure, i.e.
a wet slurry. The technology
developed by Meva Energy is
a thermochemical conversion
process which uses solid
biomass, e.g. wood-based
residue or agricultural residue.
Figure 2: Meva Energy’s
By contrast, the energy content
entrained flow gasification
in solid biomass differs from the
technology enables a stable
energy content of wet slurry by
gas quality.
a factor of 1000, which means
that to get the same output the
reactor of the anaerobic digestion plant must
be much larger than the plant hosting the
thermochemical conversion process. Hence,
the capex for a thermochemical conversion
process can be lower per MWh of energy.
Figure 3: Using the energy locally where it is produced means
cost-efficient and robust energy solutions.
There are several technologies for thermochemical
conversion, fixed bed, updraft, downdraft, fluidized bed etc, but
what makes the technology of Meva Energy so interesting for
this application is the patented entrained flow principle. Biomass
particles enter into the hot reactor at a continuous flow, providing a
stable process that gives a stable gas quality.
The technology was first developed for industrial scale
combined heat and power production. Therefore, the first full scale
plant built with the technology, situated in Hortlax, a small village
outside the city of Piteå in northern Sweden, was built for combined
heat and power. The plant is connected to the district heating grid
and the power grid with a capacity of 1,2MWe and 2,4MWth.
Figure 4: Meva Energy’s CHP demo plant with
Cummins Genset and capacity of producing
1,2MWe and 2,4MWth
89

Paperturn flipbook