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.

12 MW Bio-Methane Demonstration Plant

The Bio-Methane demonstration plant (in Dutch: Groen Gas Centrale) will be built by a consortium consisting of HVC, ECN, Dahlman and several other companies interested in Bio-Methane. HVC Group (situated in Alkmaar, North Holland) is a modern public service waste and energy company. HVC converts waste streams which cannot be recycled into usable forms of energy. HVC has a large fluidized bed waste wood boiler in operation, which produces heat and electricity. HVC expects an important role for Bio-Methane in the future. HVC plans to supply the produced Bio-Methane to its clients. HVC is also involved in several projects converting biogas from anaerobic digestion plants into gas grid quality Bio-Methane. ECN is a research institute, and is responsible for the development of the MILENA gasification technology and the OLGA tar removal technology. Dahlman (www.dahlman.nl) is the commercial supplier of the OLGA gas cleaning technology and is responsible for the basic engineering of the integrated MILENA OLGA plant. The technology supplier for the methanation unit is not selected yet. Several commercial companies have expressed that they can convert the cleaned gas into methane. 

Discussion with several other large commercial companies are ongoing to join the consortium to realize the demonstration plant. The demonstration plant will be part of the Biomass Gasification Expert Centre and will include facilities to test new conversion technologies. This will be realised together with gas company TAQA and will also include education. Changes in the plans, extension of the consortium and a possible change in location have delayed the project somewhat. Construction of the demo plant is now scheduled for 2013. The figure below shows the  MILENA gasifier as designed for the demonstration plant in Alkmaar.  The capacity of the plant will be 12 MW_th waste wood input. Expected output of Bio-Methane is 0.01 bcm/year. The demonstration plant will also delevir heat to the district heating grid. The next step will be a plant of approximately 50 MW_th (0.04 bcm/year). The scale foreseen for a commercial single-train Bio-Methane production facility is between 50 and 500 MW_th (0.04 – 0.4 bcm/year).