FEATURE: BIOENERGY IN INDUSTRY Bioenergy International No 79, 3-2015 19 Guozhen CHP THE ANHUI GUOZHEN (Guozhen) coal-fired CHP plant was built in an urban area of Fuyang City in 1995 and started operation in July 1996 with a total investment of CNY 215 million (approximately EUR 31 million or US$35 million). As the only CHP plant in Fuyang City, Guozhen plant supplies central heating to over 100 clients, including breweries, pharmaceutical factories, textile mills, wineries as well as shopping malls, hotels and big bathhouses. The annual steam supply reaches 360 000 tonnes. The heat distribution distance is about 8 km and the total pipeline is around 20 km. From 2004, the price of coal increased dramatically in China, while the power and heat price controlled by government remained relatively stable. Guozhen ran into difficulties with high fuel costs and inefficient boilers, so they looked at technologies upgrades and alternative fuels. Fuyang is a major agricultural area, with an estimated 3 million tonnes of biomass annually in the region. By repowering the plant with biomass Guozhen was able to retain employees, increase farmer income and reduce pollution from field burning of agricultural waste or from the waste being dumped and left to decay under largely aerobic conditions. The collection, compression and transportation of biomass also provides new jobs locally. With this in mind, Guozhen started research into converting the plant from coal to biomass in 2006. China’s first 100 percent biomass power plant, Shandong Shanxian Biomass Power Plant started operation in late 2006, so there was little experience converting power plants from coal to biomass in China at that time, making Guozhen a clear pioneer in China biomass industry. The existing CHP plant had three bituminous coal-fired boilers with a total capacity of 195 tonnes per hour (65 tonnes each) and two steam turbine generators with a total capacity of 24 MW (12 MW each). The conversion retrofitted three existing boilers to three fluidised bed boilers with the same 195 tonne per hour capacity, to enable a complete fuel switch from fossil fuels to biomass residues. Guozhen built two natural gas backup boilers to ensure the heat supply during the conversion period. The first retrofitted boiler started operation in June 2009 and the other two were back in operation in March and May of 2010. The storage, loading, feeding system and other auxiliary systems were all adapted to suit the biomass power system. Gradual improvements were made after the conversion. Guozhen Biomass CHP plant consumes about 4 million tonnes of biomass annually, including straw, rice husk, firewood residue, peanut hull as well as wood residue from furniture companies and recycled wood. The fuel collection radius ranges from 50-100 km. Fuels are paid for according to the fuel type and calorific value. The CHP plant’s fuel cost accounts for 65 percent of the total operational cost. New bio-industry park Anhui Guozhen has invested in the establishment of a Biomass Industrial Park in Fuyang Industrial Zone, 5 km from the old plant. The Biomass Park will combine a biomass CHP plant, biomass refining, biomass logistics, and bio-fertiliser. A new biomass CHP plant equipped two 130 tonne per hour fluidised bed boilers are under construction along with a 30 MW boiler. The existing CHP plant in urban Fuyang will be closed after the new plant starts operation, due in July 2015. Guozhen has entered into a Sinoforeign joint venture with Italian company Gruppo Mossi and Ghisolfi (M&G). M&G’s wholly owned subsidiary Chemtex has built a 40 000 tonne per annum bio-refinery in Crescentino, Italy that produces cellulosic ethanol using its PROESA Process as well as electricity. The company - Anhui M&G Guozhen Green Refinery CO, Ltd (the “Green Refinery JV”) - will employ PROESA technology licensed by Beta Renewables to convert 970 000 to 1.3 million tonnes per annum of agricultural residues into The Anhui Guozhen Biomass Combined Heat and Power $)1 1MBOUJTUIFPOMZ$)1QMBOUJO'VZBOH$JUZ$IJOBQSP- viding district heating to over 100 companies. When it TUBSUFEPQFSBUJPOTJO+VMZJUXBTDPBMmSFE*UXBT converted to biomass in 2010 making a pioneer among the few coal-to-biomass power plant conversions. As Guozhen enters its fifth year as a biomass CHP it also begins a new era into the bio-refinery space thanks to a joint-venture with Italian company M&G. cellulosic ethanol, glycols and byproducts such as lignin. Guozhen will supply the biomass under a long-term fixed price agreement, and Novozymes will supply the enzymes needed for the conversion of the biomass. M&G and Guozhen shareholdings in Green Refinery JV are 70 percent and 30 percent respectively and the total joint venture investment is estimated to be around US$325 million, to construct what will be by far the largest cellulosic (i.e. using non food biomass) biorefinery in the world. The two companies further expect to soon announce the creation of a second refinery, to convert the lignin into steam and electricity. Text & photos Xinyi Shen BI79/4845/AS Li Yonghua, CEO, Anhui Guozhen Biomass Power Co., Ltd. (Top) Post-consumer wood waste shredder, (top right) agri-residues arrive by truck. (middle right) view of the plant (bottom right) In addition to pipeline delivery, Guozhen outsources a hot water truck service that provides about 1 000 tonnes hot water at 85-90˚C to “off-pipe” clients up to 10 km away. - from coal to biomass to bio-refining plans
Bioenergy no 3 May 2015
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