Nexterra Waste Gasification System at ORNL Starts Commercial Operation

Nexterra Systems Corp., Vancouver, B.C., Canada, the U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C., and Johnson Controls Inc., Milwaukee, Wis., recently conducted a grand opening and dedication of the biomass gasification energy plant at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tenn. After a rigorous and comprehensive testing program that included a 30-day endurance trial, third party emissions tests, and an exhaustive readiness review, the system was officially declared open by the DOE and ready for full commercial operation. The system is the sixth Nexterra system to enter commercial operation.

The Nexterra system is the cornerstone of a $94 million Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) for Johnson Controls to undertake a wide range of building management and energy conservation measures at ORNL. Nexterra supplied the complete energy-from-renewable-waste system, from fuel handling and storage through to the exhaust stack. The system converts low-cost waste biomass into a clean burning syngas to produce 60,000 lb/hr of saturated steam, reducing fossil fuel consumption by 80%. The system will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20,000 metric tpy, the equivalent of removing 4,000 cars from the road each year.

The Johnson Controls contract for ORNL was among the first awarded under the DOE's Transformational Energy Action Management (TEAM) Initiative. TEAM aims to reduce energy waste and greenhouse gases at DOE facilities nationwide by 30% and have those facilities acquire at least 7.5% of all energy from renewable sources by 2015.

TAPPI
http://www.tappi.org/