Status of Development

30 KW Lab-Scale Installation

The lab-scale MILENA gasifier was constructed in 2003 and taken into operation in 2004. The lab-scale gasifier is coupled to a lab-scale gas cleaning and methanation installation. The original design capacity is 5 kg/h of wood.  

The installation has extensively be used to produce gas to test gas cleaning and methanation equipment.

800 KW Pilot Plant

The 800 kW MILENA pilot plant was constructed by ECN in 2007 and taken into operation in 2008. The gasifier was connected to the OLGA gas cleaning system in 2009. The figure below shows the gasifier and the OLGA gas cleaning.

In 2010 a duration test was done using demolition wood. In total 243 hours of operation of the entire plant were recorded during the 2010 duration test.

In 2012 an additional duration test was done to improve the reliability of the integrated system (gasifier + gas cleaning). During a 500 hours test period 428 hours of operation of the complete system were recorded. Overall availability was 85%. The availability of the gasifier without gas cleaning was 96%. The following picture depicts the availability of the system during this test:

4 MW Bio-Methane demonstration plant

The Bio-Methane demonstration plant (in Dutch: Groen Gas Centrale) will be built in Akmaar in 2015. The demonstration plant will be part of the Biomass Gasification Expert Centre and will include facilities to test new conversion technologies.

The MILENA gasifier will convert wood in a methane rich gas. The OLGA tar removal technology will be used to remove all the tars and dust. After removal of sulphur and chloride the gas is converted in several catalytic reactors in a mixture of methane, carbon-dioxide and water. After removal of the carbon-dioxide and the water the gas is ready for injection in the existing natural gas grid. 

Royal Dahlman (www.dahlman.nl) is the commercial supplier of the MILENA gasifier and OLGA gas cleaning technology and is responsible for the engineering and construction of the integrated plant. Gasunie, Taqa, ECN, the province of North Holland and the municipality of Alkmaar are also involved in this unique demonstration project.

The expected Bio-Methane production is 2.6 million m3/year. The produced Bio-Methane is going to be injected in the local natural gas grid.

In 2014 the project was successful in acquiring an important subsidy of 23 M€ for the production of Bio-Methane. Final investment decision is expected in the summer of 2014.

The next step will be a plant of approximately 50 MWth (0.04 bcm/year). The scale foreseen for a commercial single-train Bio-Methane production facility is between 50 and 500 MWth (0.04 – 0.4 bcm/year).

 

1 MWe demonstration plant using soya residue

Thermax is constructing an 1 MWe gasifier in India using MILENA gasification and OLGA gas cleaning technology. The gas is going to be fired in several gas engines producing 1 MWe of electricity for local usage.