Saxlund International, part of the Trention AB energy and environmental technology group, has been selected to provide push floor fuel storage and discharge bunkers for a new waste-to-energy (WTE) facility being built in the United Kingdom. France-based Bouygues Energies & Services, which is engineering and building a large WTE gasification plant in Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, chose Saxlund as its supplier.
Under the contract Saxlund, which is based in Southampton, U.K., is responsible for the design, installation and commissioning of two crane-fed fuel bunkers with shear walls constructed in steel, together capable of handling the 96,000 metric tons of refuse derived fuel (RDF) required by the plant each year. The bunkers will receive, store and discharge RDF to twin conveying streams feeding the gasifiers at the plant.
Saxlund says central to the design is push floor technology designed to ensure “first in first out” design principles, limiting the opportunity for the fuel to degrade or compact. The reciprocating action back and forth across the floor of the bunker continuously breaks up the material, ideally preventing any buildup or bridging and ensuring consistent and measured delivery of fuel to the discharge point.
“This green energy project, just 22 miles northeast of London, will be a landmark facility for gasification in the U.K.,” says Matt Drew, managing director of Saxlund International. “We are delighted that Saxlund equipment has been selected for the fuel handling and storage system. Continuously developed over many years and in use at dozens of waste-to-energy sites across Europe, Saxlund push floor technology is ideal for handling RDF and we are completely focused on delivering a highly resilient, robust and reliable solution for Bouygues Energies & Services.”
Says Jean-Christophe Perraud, CEO of Bouygues Energies & Services, “This contract once again confirms Bouygues Energies & Services’ capacity to deliver a large, complex industrial project in the energy infrastructure sector and I am delighted we have Saxlund International as our technology partners here.”
The £60 million ($78.5 million) 10 megawatt electrical (MWe) facility has been developed by Farnham, U.K.-based AssetGen Partners and will employ gasification technology designed by Stafford, U.K.-based Biomass Power Limited. The plant is scheduled to start operations in the first half of 2017. Once operational, the plant is being designed to output 76,000 megawatt hours (MWh )of electricity to the grid each year, enough to meet the annual energy demand of approximately 7,000 homes.
Saxlund International describes itself as a market leader in the biomass combustion and WTE industries, as well as in the bulk solid handling and storage sectors.
