HEAT & POWER #JPNBTTIBOEMJOHPOUIFSBEBS As an equipment manufacturer with over a century of experience in crushing, processing, feeding, conveying and storing of bulk materials, Jeffrey Rader has, it seems, remained under the radar for the biomass to energy sector. A “better kept” secret is a more accurate description as over the years it has supplied specialist processing, handling and conveying equipment to number of high profile biomass power and pellet plant projects such as Drax Power in the UK, Dominion Power and Green Circle (now Enviva Biomass) in the US and OPG Atikokan in Canada to mention a few. Tube feeding A more recent addition that is making a name for itself both in the forest- and biomass industries is the innovative TubeFeeder reclaim solution. Pioneered and patented by Swedish company Main Engineering AB, it is, with the exception of the UK and Japan, licensed to Jeffrey Rader. – There are over 100 Tube installations worldwide since it was first introduced in the late 1900’s. The majority of these are at pulp and paper mills. However the last couple of years have seen tremendous interest in industrial biomass heating installations, particularly in France, but also the UK and now Japan, said Göran Forsberg, CEO, Main Engineering. An under-the-pile system the TubeFeeder has a number of inherent advantages over other screw reclaim systems or crane solutions for biomass. It is composed of an outer tube with uniformly spread and identically sized slots. The tube rotates at 1-10 rpm and is reversible. The slots are furnished with activators, which reclaim material into the tube along its length when it rotates. Inside the tube is a screw auger with a fixed rpm that carries the material out to an external conveying system. This means that both the screw auger and the material being conveyed are protected from the static pressure exerted by the remaining material in the pile. – This is a key feature as it means at least 70 percent less energy and power is required to reclaim the material compared to a conventional exposed screw system while minimising equipment wear and product degradation. Furthermore it enables true first-in first-out and full homogenization of the reclaimed material, said Forsberg. The reclaim rates can be adjusted using variable frequency drives to within a 15 to 100 percent range of maximum reclaim capacity. – The feed rate is uniform and a linear function of the tube rotation. Together with the homogenization of the reclaimed material this results in improved overall boiler performance efficiency, Forsberg explained adding that this revelation is a key reason for the surge in interest in France. – Plant owner and operators have understood the advantage of taking a holistic view over the entire fuel quality, storage, reclaim, boiler feed and boiler performance treating it as one, ended Göran Forsberg. Text & photo: Alan Sherrard BI83/5109/AS Bioenergy Int Internat ional No 83, 7-2015 23 FOR THOSE IN THE COAL, mining, power generation and pulp and paper industries Jeffrey Rader is a household name. The company was formed in 2009 when Jeffrey Specialty Equipment (JSE) joined forces with Rader and since 2013 it operates as a dedicated material handling and processing brand for the energy, recycling, forest and wood products industries under TerraSource Global. Mining and forest industry heritage Tracing its roots back to 1876, JSE began with developing crushing and screening equipment for the coal and mining industry. It has been providing waste wood (hog) and bark fuel equipment and systems for the pulp and paper industry since the 1890’s. Rader on the other hand developed one of the first pneumatic conveying systems for woody materials in the 1950’s. Back then it was an innovation that revolutionised bulk handling in the pulp and paper industry worldwide. – Prior the merger in 2009 both companies were successful in the mining and the forest product industries and these are still very important to us. At the same time we recognise that the broader biomass sector has probably the greatest potential for future growth. For instance our pneumatic boiler feed systems for biomass co-firing or conversions in pulverised coal (PC) power plants, said Siniša Jakšić, European Managing Director. Having clocked 30 years of service with the company, many as design engineer, Jakšić is well positioned to reflect on where the company has been, where it is now and where it might be heading. He outlined three main areas that Jeffrey Rader’s equipment, experience and expertise come into their own; industrial and utility boiler fuel preparation and feed systems both mechanical and pneumatic; bark/wood/agricultural residue fuel shredding and screening systems for industry and finally resource recovery and waste to energy. No-knife re-chipper It makes sense as over the years the company has amassed an impressive arsenal of product offerings geared for biomass preparation and handling including truck dumps, receiving stations, size reduction and screening, conveying, storage and reclaim, boiler feed systems and pneumatics. One item from the comprehensive listing seems to be missing, a chipper. – It goes back to the coal and mining part of our heritage, knife tools aren’t used for obvious reasons, remarked Jakšić adding that while a chipper may be missing from the repertoire, it was not missed. – There are plenty of chippers out there that can convert a log into chips for the pulp, board and pellet industries. Our primary focus in the biomass and forest products sector is to utilize our core know-how with crushers, shredders, grinders and hammer mills to process the residues such as bark into fuel or screen and re-size oversized chips, he explained. The latter, a “no-knife re-chipper”, was developed by Jeffrey in 1996 in response to pulp and paper industry concerns over high maintenance costs for typical re-chippers, is a good example. – During chipping as the knives dull and wear, you get increasing proportions of non-spec sizes ‘overs’ and/or pins and fines. Our patented slow speed “Chip-sizer” re-sizes the oversize chips while minimising pins and fines, and allows you to put them back into the process. We see recovery accept rates in the region of 85-95 percent. A low capital cost piece of machinery the payback time is typically within a year, often a matter of months depending on the volume of chips, said Jakšić. Duo with a solid background in material handling, Siniša Jakšić, European Managing Director, Jeffrey Rader (left) and Göran Forsberg, CEO, Main Engineering.
Bioenergy International no 7 December 2015
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