By: Jim Kapron, PhD.

2 min read.

  • Improve efficiency & prevent catastrophe with safe combustion & drying
  • Location, analyzer type & conditions are critical
  • Unique situations require specific solutions
Safe combustion and drying can help improve production efficiency and prevent catastrophic loss of product and the entire plant.
When designing a plant or adapting an established plant for increased efficiency, the location, analyzer type, and conditions need to be examined carefully. Even when buying a pre-made plant, your specific conditions may benefit from specific analyzers and locations
  • Combustion results

Operators of some smaller plants only want to monitor oxygen just after the combustion burners, which provides excellent safety, but can’t ensure maximum efficiency. For increased efficiency, all plants can get closer to the optimal combustion conditions by monitoring both for the excess of oxygen and the presence of carbon monoxide. Then the boiler control can be adjusted to use only the required amount of excess oxygen to ensure complete combustion and not more. Added benefits include reduced SOx and NOx pollution with the maximum heating value of your fuel – anything from natural gas to hog fuel.

  • Dryer results

When it comes to the dryer, preventing syngas from building up is critical. It’s not enough to just have fans removing the syngas – it’s important to measure for the absence of oxygen and the dangerous presence of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Sticky tar & lignin helps bind the pellets but also can clog up gas analyzers. Placing the analyzers after the wet electrostatic precipitators goes a long way to long-lived safety.

  • Summary

Novatech Analytical Solutions does more than sell analyzers. We advise you with critical industry safety and efficiency measures. Armed with our experience, your pellet plant will go on to make your many renewable energy customers happy, for years to come.

About the author: Jim is a real-world scientist helping to move the BC economy forward with gas and liquid analyzers. In his off hours, he’s involved with music and video production. Ask him a question and he’ll locate resources to find an answer.

Interested to know more about the different solutions for safe and efficient combustion for the wood pellet industry?